Everywhere Antiques -- But At This Dealers' Home Some Furniture Is Just Visiting

Have you ever wondered how antique dealers decorate their own homes? As the buyer and importer, imagine that rare opportunity to get first dibs on the shipment. Or does it really work that way?

The temptations are there, but so is the need to stock quality merchandise for sale. Your house often becomes a lay-over spot for chairs, tables and chests in various stages of repair, restoration and reupholstery. The decor, in such cases, can be a truly eclectic mix of early and more recent collecting. Welcome to the home of Marshall and Deborah Stuteville.

Their Phinney Ridge house was built in 1906. When the Stutevilles took over, it was not a pretty sight. They removed four layers of roof and the composition siding that covered clapboard and shingles. They restored and replaced moldings, sanded, primed and painted. These projects came naturally to Marshall Stuteville, whose livelihood is in antiques and restoration.

Marshall slipped into the antiques business through the back door, learning restoration at the hands of an experienced English restorer. In 1973, Betty Balcom of Globe Antiques hired him to assist with a backload of work, primarily English 17th- and 18th-century furniture. After 10 years, the showroom moved downtown and Stuteville took over the basement restoration studio on Capitol Hill. In 1987, he moved upstairs to set up shop on his own.

Subsequently, he and his wife started making trips to England, bought antiques and shipped containers of 30 to 40 pieces at a time back to Seattle. Surveying their living and dining rooms over mint tea served in Wedgwood ivy-covered cups, Stuteville observes, "What we have in the house reflects that journey - pieces from the beginning, and as recent as last week, and undoubtedly there will be new old furniture brought home in years to come. If there is one theme, it's that we try to pick pieces that have a certain charm to them."

Traces of the very beginning - Mission period oak - are no longer in evidence. The last Arts and Crafts pieces left the house about six years ago. But while there, they were integrated with their first Georgian pieces, which were, by no coincidence, English oak. An oak chest and tall case clock in the dining room are remnants of that period. Gradually, walnut and mahogany pieces from the late 18th and early 19th centuries found niches.

Stuteville explains, "We've tried to achieve a layered look that English country houses have, where each succeeding generation adds a thing or two to the house. There's a bit of mid-Georgian, late-Georgian, Regency. We haven't chosen furniture that is the finest example possible, partly because we can't afford it, but also because the house isn't grand enough to handle it."

Several pieces have stories about them. The tall case clock evokes memories of a 1981 trip through Wiltshire with little money to spend.

A simple mahogany chest in the dining room has importance for other reasons. Stuteville dates it to Regency or Early George IV. Purchased years ago for $35 at a local antiques store, "It was literally a pile. I completely rebuilt it. It was one of my first restoration experiments. I couldn't give it up."

Chairs are everywhere - part of Marshall Stuteville's growing collection. Deborah Stuteville is understanding of the obsession, to a point. And while it is obvious that he does more of the decorating and designing, she says, "I have veto power. I like to be comfortable. If it's something I can't use or for some reason its not practical, I do veto."

She points out a particular table with gate legs that was fine when the children were younger. Now they hit their legs and knees against the gates. It will get recycled.

The most recent house project included creating a library in the basement and adding a small powder room on the main floor. Stuteville's woodworking skills came in handy when the plywood cut for the bookcases didn't go together. By changing the design to make four bookcases across instead of three, he managed to salvage much of the wood by re-cutting it himself.

He dressed up the two supporting fir posts and constructed one false pilaster to add balance, and painted them white to complement the green walls.

He describes the feeling he was trying to achieve as "Neoclassical Gustavian Swedish with a few Georgian undertones" - quite a mouthful. Yet that doesn't represent fully the diverse mood-setters present. There is a mid-19th century Turkish inlaid table, the kind that would have been at home in the gaming and smoking rooms of the upper classes. Asian accessories are scattered about.

An English George III period chair in the neoclassical style vies for attention with Victorian "his" and "hers" armchairs upholstered in mohair. Furniture is on stage; the backdrops are shelves filled with another of Stuteville's collecting interests - books on English history, architecture and customs, along with regional guidebooks.

Antiques fill the house, including the children's rooms. The 10-year-old daughter sleeps on a French 19th century walnut sleigh bed. "Camille is absolutely in love with it. I think she sees it as a boat that takes her on journeys at night." The children have grown up with an appreciation for older things and are proud of them. They also notice that their household is quite different than those of their friends.

Deborah recalls an incident in her dining room. "One little boy was sitting in a chair, tipping back and rocking on the chair leg. Fifteen-year-old Sara said to him, `I wish you wouldn't do that. That's almost 150 years old.' He jumped to his feet. `Wow,' he said, `how old is that chair?' " In their household, it has never been a case of having children or antiques. As Deborah Stuteville puts it, "Everything is well used and it does get broken. But we have an in-house restorer, you see."

Lawrence Kreisman is author of six publications on regional architecture and historic preservation. He writes regularly for Pacific Magazine. Greg Gilbert is a Seattle Times photographer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A BROWSERS GUIDE. TO ENGLISH FURNITURE.

While many area antique shops carry English furniture as part of wider collections, the following are sure bets for the Anglophile in search of that certain piece. Chelsea Antiques . 3622 N.E. 45th St.. Seattle, WA 98105 . 525-2727 . . David C. Gaines Antiques . 1122 First Ave.. Seattle, WA 99101 . 464-0807 . . David Weatherford Antiques and Interiors . 133 14th Ave. E. . Seattle, WA 98112 . 329-6533 . . Hageman Antiques . 119 S. Jackson St.. Seattle, WA 98104 . 467-1535 . . Jean Williams Antiques . 115 S. Jackson St.. Seattle, WA 98104 . 622-1110 . . Pelayo Antiques . 8421 Greenwood Ave. N.. Seattle, WA 98117 . 789-1333 . . Pelayo Antiques . 7601 Greenwood Ave. N.. Seattle, WA 98117 . 789-1999 . . Porter Davis Antiques . 103 University St.. Seattle, WA 98101 . . Stuteville Antiques . 1518 E. Olive Way . Seattle, WA 98122 . 329-5666 . . Walker-Poinsett Antiques and Fine Art . Four Seasons Olympic Hotel . 411 University St.. Seattle, WA 98101 . 624-4973 .

In addition to antique dealers, be sure to check auction previews at Pacific Galleries, Bushells, Satori's, etc., and estate sales advertised weekly in the Seattle Times Classified section.

If you can't find just what you want, there are a number of highly skilled woodworkers in town who specialize in reproductions of period English and American furniture.

Michael Mueller . 412 S. Orcas St.. Seattle, WA 98108 . 763-6919 . . Steven Balter . 324 N.E. 88th St.. Seattle, WA 98115 . 528-0129 . . Joel Shepard Furniture . 602 19th Ave. E.. Seattle, WA 98112 . 329-9161 . . Richard Hall . 1246 19th Ave. E. . Seattle, WA 98112 . 325-3876 . . George Levin . 7315 34th Ave. N.W.. Seattle WA 98117 . 783-4593 .