Jeddo Mill Antiques – A World of Wonder

Off of Route 104 after crossing lines from Niagara to Orleans county, there's a little old red house with 3 most peculiar giant sized bowling pins on a white porch.  This is Jeddo Mill Antiques and this has to be one of the biggest surprises of exploring Buffalo, New York.

A vintage wonderland

Walking in was like taking a step into time.  With soft classical music playing in the background of days gone past and warm lighting, we started roaming around.  

As with most antique stores, we discovered many period pieces dating back to the early to mid 1900s but what I was impressed with was the collection of things that you usually don't expect to see in an antique store.  

Your eyes just can't stop darting from piece to piece on display and your mind starts jogging about how many of these could become excellent décor or furniture pieces.

Todd's Story

We soon met the mastermind, curator, artistic director and all around design genius – Todd Belfield.   As Todd walked us through the ground floor, we learned about his humbled beginnings in DC where he started in the event space but took a chance to work part-time at a friend's antique store in the area.  

Only after 6 months of working there, the owner decided to let the store go.  Presented with a great opportunity, Todd decided to take over the store and ended up running this antique store for 8 years.  

Yearning to come back home to his roots, Todd eventually made the decision to pack up and move back to the Gasport area.

Inspiration for Jeddo Mills Antiques

Originally an old flour mill, it's gone through different ownership over the years but the name has always stayed the same.  

Todd toyed with the idea of changing it to something else when he bought it but decided not to and so it continued to be called Jeddo Mills.

It's truly through Todd's creative imagination and ability to take old cast away objects and repurpose them for something brand new.  

Take an old side rear view mirror off of a classic Chevy for instance.  By itself, it isn't much but turn it around, mount it on the wall and you have a beautiful candle holder.  

Or there's the old tray trolley from a bakery.  I wouldn't know what to do with that but Todd would be able to take that and turn it into a brilliant new shelving unit to give any space that industrial look in lofts that people look for these days.

Some of my personal favourites in his store are the decorative ladders which can also be used as a shelving piece, metal watering cans which have a country rural feel to them, vintage luggage, and carry cases.

Todd's insane loft

If the main floor of the antique store wasn't eye candy enough, take a look at the second floor loft where Todd lives in.  He was graceful enough to let us tour his loft and wow was I blown away or what.  Believe it or not, HGTV featured Todd's loft in an episode of “You Live in What?” which aired last June which further makes the case for Jeddo's as a hidden gem in the area.

The amount of detail that he's put into the design of the loft is incredible.  The color palettes selected from the wall are directly tied to the building's origins as a flour mill – yellow for the golden wheat in the area and blue metal panelling in the ceiling for the water running through the mill.  Todd even crafted his own concrete milling stone to sit right below the fire place to further reinforce the theme.

We then asked where his bed was and that's when we learned that it is actually hidden underneath the raised platform for the study.  Not only does the raised platform allow for the study to be sectioned off but it also allows the bed to be hidden and only be pulled out when needed which opens up the space for more goodies.  Similarly, his closet doors are camouflaged to look like hanging art pieces with pages out of a Socrates philosophy book so you'd never know clothes were inside unless you looked inside

Delving deeper, we learned from Todd that a lot of the furniture and fixtures in the loft were reclaimed pieces from all over town.  For instance, some of the paneling in the house was from old doors thrown in the trash, the trim for a house someone was tearing down and the chandelier in the study from his grandparents' place that he painted red.  There are endless examples here of ingenious ways Todd has been able to take things that people didn't want and convert them into pieces of art.

Even though it's one open space, Todd's been able to break it into different areas.  Each section of the loft has its own personality and each is filled with artifacts that I could probably spend a day there just asking Todd about the story behind each one.   I could go on and on but it's probably best for you to feast your eyes with some of the photos that I captured.

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Bottom line

If you want to add a conversation starter piece of furniture or décor in your home, Jeddo Mill Antiques is a must visit.  

Even the Drake Hotel in Toronto comes all the way out here to pick up decor pieces from here so you know there's something special happening here.  

The prices are extremely reasonable and really has a bit of everything if you're looking to give your place a vintage, rustic or industrial feel.

I even managed to snag a vintage Kodak film camera before leaving which now happily sitting on my bookshelf giving my room added character and a great story of Jeddo Mill Antiques that I'll be able to tell anyone that wonders “where did you get that?”

Location of Jeddo Mill Antiques

FAQ

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This trip was sponsored by the Greater Niagara Region of New York State, however the opinions expressed in this post are my own.