The dining room, with its mid-19th- century American walnut table, is a standout of period elegance. Circa-1790 mahogany English Hepplewhite chairs encircle the table, and period decorative accessories, such as Baccarat and Irish cut glass, a large majolica pot and 18th-century French and Swedish wall mirrors with a basket motif, complete the look. Basket and floral motifs are recurring themes on other mirrors and decorative art pieces around the home, reflecting Millena’s other passion—gardening. Their grounds are lovingly landscaped with Millena’s green thumb. An all-white floral area is dominated with white lilies and impatiens, and ground-cover plants lusciously carpet the property. A babbling brook and beautiful natural waterfall border the back yard. The tennis court was in such disrepair that the Coffeys transformed it into a splendid Versailles-style formal garden with planters containing espaliered fruit trees. Antique wrought-iron furniture and statuary frame the perimeter. Inside, there’s plenty of space for grand parties, as the Coffeys love to share their home with friends and family.

An international ambience abounds in the bedrooms with their many period furnishings and decorative objects, but each room bears its own stamp. In the master bedroom, one exceptional piece is an 18th-century Georgian Irish wardrobe; the “French” Blue Toile room’s “Le Clos” (“enclosed”) bed, very popular with guests, is made of chestnut wood and adorned with antique French linens; and the nature theme flourishes in the Pink Cottage room’s extensive pink lustreware with hand-painted bird and floral designs. Other bedrooms, decorated with Victoriana, and American and French landscape paintings also bring the majestic outdoors inside.

Downstairs, the Garden Room and Summer Kitchen are a medley of 19th-century Americana: a tavern table, hooked rug, Pennsylvania bench, blanket chest, goose decoy and pewter tankards. A jelly cupboard holds American Bennington ware as well as antique and contemporary mochaware, which have particular appeal to collectors because of their striking surface bands of black, white or other colors on backgrounds of tan and terra cotta.
 
“Our house is more like a collector’s house than one where everything needs to be coordinated,” says Millena, who notes that they have just acquired an antique French carved-marble fireplace and have started collecting 19th-century reverse-painted glass florals backed by copper foil. “We buy pieces we like, and then we find a home for them.” The search to find that special object, both here and abroad, is always on the agenda for these two worldly, but not weary, travelers.

Donna Pulese-Murphy writes on the decorative arts for Art & Antiques.