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Antiques match

A new business in a Somerville barn combines extensive inventory with restoration service.

When antiques dealer Jerry Freeman goes treasure hunting in England and France, some of his best finds come from what he describes as antiques warehouses in lesser-known sections of cities or country towns. Now, he and his business partner, Dan McAuliffe, have duplicated the concept themselves, setting up a restoration service and antiques showroom in a big old carriage barn tucked away on a side street in Somerville.

To Freeman, the comparison to a European location isn't that far-fetched. "Times change, and so do places," he says. "Somerville is hot now. It's even been called the Paris of the new millennium. Look at Davis Square, with its art galleries, summertime outdoor cafes, boutique shopping, and variety of ethnic restaurants."

And now, on Murdock Street, not far from Davis and Powderhouse Squares, Freeman and McAuliffe have added to that lineup The Barn at 17.

Inside the warehouse is Blackstone Furniture Restorers & Makers, McAuliffe's four-man business, which supplies just what its name promises. "There's not much we don't do," says McAuliffe, whose staff can even restore musical instruments, including pianos. From Blackstone's - presided over by Isabelle, McAuliffe's chocolate Labrador, who acts as warehouse mascot - visitors can step through a doorway into 4,000 square feet of open space packed with American and Continental antiques and new and old decorative accessories.

Freeman and McAuliffe operate the retail antiques business jointly. Each has an impressive pedigree in his field. Both are native New Englanders who came back to this area after working elsewhere. Freeman, a longtime antiques dealer as well as interior and furniture designer, started his career working in visual merchandising at Tiffany & Co. in Manhattan. After returning to Boston, he was display director at Filene's and at R. H. Stearns before opening his own business in Brookline and Boston.

But he always felt he needed more room. "I've got great resources, both here and abroad, and I'm out buying constantly," he says. "I wanted space and parking, but not at Back Bay overhead. My goal is to keep my own expenses down, so that I can offer wonderfully affordable prices." Freeman's purpose in selling reasonably isn't entirely altruistic. "If I can't sell, I can't buy," he says. "And then I go crazy, because I get very turned on by buying beautiful things. It's as simple as that."

McAuliffe's journey has been different. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering but missed working with his hands. "As a kid, I was a model-maker. I even made my own guitar. Then I went on to making furniture, and in the end I missed it too much," he says. In San Diego, he worked first for a furniture and cabinet maker, then for an antiques restorer who became his mentor. "He encouraged me to buy good antiques, which I started doing, then went from there to buying and selling."

McAuliffe, a Cambridge native, returned to Greater Boston in 1993 to be closer to his family. With minimal capital, he rented space in Charlestown and sent letters of introduction to dealers and decorators, which is how he met Freeman. He picked the name Blackstone because it sounded "Old World." His business flourished, and he expanded to Somerville in 1999, drawn by McAuliffe's presence. "It's so helpful to have expert craftsmen and restoration on the property," says Freeman.

It's a new partnership that's working well. Their antiques inventory covers the gamut from late-18th-century to mid-1950s and selective reproductions. In the ever-changing stock, there's a variety of old dining tables and chairs, for which McAuliffe's special service is in demand. "We often do custom modifying: reducing or raising the height of tables, adding missing leaves, changing the style of a leg," he says. He can even improve chair sets by building arms for a pair of the side chairs.

McAuliffe's commissions come from decorators, antiques dealers, high-end pickers, and private customers who come to him directly. The shop does a lot of finish matching, veneer and marquetry repair, gilding, decorative faux painting and lacquering, and replacement of missing carved elements. He can convert a traditional turn-of-the-century chest into a media center by changing the drawer front into fold-down doors that still look like drawers. He also makes contemporary furniture for clients.

Freeman and McAuliffe also collaborate on designing new coffee tables, consoles, and pairs of demilune tables - "things that aren't readily available that people need," Freeman says. For instance, because coffee tables are a 20th-century innovation, there's a real demand for tables of that genre styled to work well with pieces from earlier eras. And because today's sofas are so varied, they often require consoles of unusual dimensions.

Freeman says the trend in decorating is toward more luxurious furnishings, so he concentrates on finding furniture made of beautiful wood and inlays. But the stock includes lighthearted items, too, such as a late-19th-century Victorian child's pedal car ("great family room decor") or an early-20th-century mahogany sunfish that looks like a piece of sculpture hung from a high ceiling. A 19th-century perfume bottle with a silver top is $50, or there's a Scottish Empire bureau that has barley-twist corners and pulls with mother-of-pearl inlay, for $4,650.

Whatever the purchase, Freeman says, it should be gut-governed. "When you fall in love with a piece, whether it's $5 or $5,000, or whether you truly need it or not, that's the time to buy it," he says. "Antiques are one-of-a-kind, and chances are, you'll never see it again and never forget it. Always follow your heart when it comes to antiquing."

The truth is we never forget the one that got away.

The Barn at 17 is at 17 Murdock Street, Somerville. For store hours and directions, call 617-625-5204 or 617-236-4945.