We are said to be a nation of shopkeepers and, although the spread of supermarkets and chain stores has taken the individuality out of our high streets, the spirit of the salesman clearly still lurks within many of us — even within the privacy of our own homes.

One such "shopkeeper" is Donna Flower, who transformed a first-floor bedroom at her seaside home in north Devon into a drapery store. Flower is a passionate collector of vintage fabrics. In her shop, kitted out with original glass-fronted cabinets, jars of buttons and buckles, and a size-22 model called Bertha, she happily folds and smooths the hundreds of yards of brightly coloured material she has accrued. But this is a private indulgence, not open to the public; only a few special guests are invited to walk through its door.

When Flower's passion for fabrics reached overwhelming proportions, she decided to part with some of her treasures and set up a website through which to sell them. She now sells materials dating from the last century and before to collectors, museums, fashion designers and quilting "bees", across the country and abroad. But even with this outlet, her home is still generously supplied.

The shop is behind one of nine doors on a long, uneven corridor that runs across the top floor of a house that comprises sections from the 17th century with Victorian additions. The other doors lead to the bedrooms of Flower and her husband Paul Diamond, their daughters Jasmine, 17, and Lizzie, two, and seven-year-old son, Alfie. There are two bathrooms and two guest rooms, and each room is decorated with printed, vintage textiles in the form of lampshades, curtains, cushions, quilts and toys — many of them handmade by Donna.

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The only relatively textile-free spaces are Paul's ground-floor music room and bar (complete with jukebox), but even here a love of all things vintage is evident — it is filled with vinyl records and music memorabilia. In this boy's den, annexed to the conservatory, there are stacks of 45s by the Vandellas, the Supremes, Dusty Springfield and The Who, with a smattering of LPs, including several by Lulu and the original soundtrack of Hair. As if to create a barrier between him and his wife's material world, the back of the door is adorned with a collection of prized 45s in a sectioned plastic holder.

The large kitchen has also remained fairly unscathed, but the shelves are laden with Flower's collections of enamel jugs, china and tinware. She explains the transformation of this room since the family moved in three years ago. "It was all yellow pine, which I painted cream. I removed the broken louvred doors by the Aga and replaced them with panels of fabrics pinned behind wire mesh. The whole place needed to be rewired, and it has taken Paul two years to unstick all the windows and paint the exterior of the house." Much of the furniture that the family had in their previous homes had to be replaced because it was modern and didn't sit comfortably in the period property. They bought the large wooden kitchen table from the previous owners. "It just seemed right in here," says Flower. "Then we trawled various local sales and auction houses and bought a mix of old chairs, some with hymn-book holders in the back, others with barley-sugar twist spindles." Between the kitchen and sitting room, with its deep stone chimney and hearth, there is a small lobby with a walk-in pantry. "In most houses, this would have been made into a utility room, but I loved it the way it was, so I filled it with old sweet jars of dried ingredients, vintage storage tins and baskets," she says. In the corner, sitting on a cool slate shelf, is an old-fashioned meat safe and a basket of vegetables recently harvested from the couple's garden.

Diamond describes the long, rambling house as "a work in progress", with areas still in need of restoration or repair. Outside, he has a thriving family of hens who ignore the confines of their fenced-off area to sunbathe in the flowerbeds or take a cool break in the apple orchard. The view beyond is of green fields and the sea, which is just a ten-minute cycle ride away.

The joy of this rural but accessible location, within 20 minutes' drive of the market town of Barnstaple and its mainline station, is that Flower can travel easily to textile shows and fairs, and she has found that her blossoming business via the internet works around her family: "I can answer e-mail enquiries when the children are at school or in the evening when they are in bed." But she is never far from her fabrics. "I regard myself as their custodian. I like to find something special and keep it for a while, and then I'm happy to sell it on to a good home. But there are a few extra-special pieces that I could never part with," she adds, keeping them out of view and "under the counter".

Country House Antique Textiles (01237 420679; www.countryhouseantiquetextiles.co.uk)

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