Decorating 19th century style

On a hilltop near Tottenham, Ontario, the owners of High House Antiques mix the best of 19th-century decorative styles in their century farmhouse. Take a tour, they'll show you how.

Jane Stief's 1865 house is the second dwelling built by the Keoghs on the same road. The old farmhouse is just across the street, where Keogh descendents still live.

"It's a vernacular gem," says Jane Stief.

She's speaking of her historically designated 1865 house near Tottenham, Ontario. The house boasts an Italianate window out front, 1840s Scottish-style muntins, Victorian gingerbread, an unusual central fireplace and a spiral staircase.

"And the centre-hall plan is Georgian. The original owners took the best of different styles."

Stief discusses her home with well-earned authority and loads of affection: she has owned the two-acre property, with its house and barn, since 1968.

Over time, she's transformed a pragmatic family farmhouse into an atmospheric dwelling furnished with prized 19th-century pieces.

Plenty of exceptional furnishings have come Stief's way through High House Antiques, a business she has operated on the property since 1972. High House specializes in 19th- and some early 20th-century furnishings, with an emphasis on tester frame beds, tables, rag and hooked rugs and lighting.

Living in Toronto, Stief spent spare moments hunting down old pieces at the Salvation Army, delighted when she could find "nice wood under the old paint." After a highly successful yard sale (everything sold), people began asking her to find specific pieces for them.

She'd found her calling.