That old saying about shoemakers never having any shoes for themselves hardly finds a parallel among antiques dealers. At least, as far as New Orleans dealer Tara Shaw is concerned, there are always many more glittering treasures in the cupboard - not to mention the warehouse. That embarrassment of riches is precisely the reason she purchased her spacious house,  a grand dowager of a residence built 137 years ago on a leafy street between Uptown and the Garden District. "I love everything I buy so much," confesses Shaw "that it can become an occupational hazard." In the early nineties, she launched an antiques concern, importing eighteenth - and nineteenth century furniture and decorative accessories from Europe. Not content to rely on middlemen, Shaw, blessed with an adventurous streak, does her own buying, traveling the back roads of France, Italy, Holland, Belgium and the Czech Republic gathering wares and locating new sources. The dealers and decorators, who are Shaw's customers - she sells only to the trade - eagerly anticipate the arrival of new shipments, announced by mailed invitations to visit the vintage cotton warehouse that serves as her showroom. Items are quickly tagged "sold."  But when a piece fails to find a buyer, it goes home with Shaw. Over seven years, that has added up to an accumulation of treasures. Shaw has a keen eye for shapely forms and rich surfaces. "I am crazy about burled-wood pieces with clean lines. Great chairs, beautiful urns." An unusual torcheres and candleabra she converts t modern lighting. Painted and gilded furniture, French daybeds and European paintings are also sought - the grander the better. There is room for all that and more in Shaw's rambling house. "So many New Orleans houses were altered between the 1950's and the 1970's, but this one was not." To enhance it's natural flow of space, Shaw orchestrated a neutral palette, with "warm bisque" walls, creamy upholstered pieces and flaxen-hued silk taffeta curtains billowing at windows. The champagne toned backdrop is ideal for showing off old master paintings, burled-wood furniture and gilt-sparkled French and Italian chairs. Interspersed among the antiques are other treasures: decorative pieces created by talented local designers. Glowing in the center of the living room is a gold leaf coffee table by Christopher Maier. Plumped on the sofa are silk pillows with crystal baubles, the handiwork of Angele Parlange, who's pewter wallpaper glimmers in the powder room. Bedrooms display the skills of other New Orleans talents. Broad stripes were painted on guest room walls by Pamela Ayer Frey. "This was my sister's bedroom" the artist told a startled Shaw. "I grew up in this house." The master bedroom canopy bed, displaying posts in the shape of palm leaves, was designed by Mario Villa, whose Magazine Street shop is a mecca for enthusiasts of unusual, often one-of-a-kind metal furniture. To gather wares for her antiques business, Shaw is a frequent flyer to Europe, but for the decorative flourishes that give her home its signature personality, she knows there is little need to venture further than a few streets from her front door. When it comes to design panache, she notes, "You do not need to look outside New Orleans."

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