Alex MacArthur describes being an antiques dealer as “the best job ever, like being a compulsive shopper. It’s also about artistic judgment, putting together a look and then finding someone who appreciates it. In a way, it’s similar to being an artist or sculptor, a form of self-expression.”

And if antiques have inspired MacArthur’s career, Brighton has provided the perfect backdrop. Kemptown is an up-and-coming seaside area full of unusual fashion, style and antiques shops. “It’s a place with great character. The community is very friendly and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else,” says MacArthur, who opened a shop “for decadent living” in St George’s Road last year.

While the shop is obviously open to all callers, a select few are invited to visit MacArthur’s home a few streets away in an elegant Regency terrace, where some of the larger and more unusual pieces can be seen in all their decorative splendour.

From the front door, a staircase covered in black and white checkerboard tiles leads up to the kitchen, which is furnished with zinc-top tables and oversized industrial lights. The french windows at the back of the room open out on to a flight of stairs that lead down to a small garden. Turning towards the front of the house, a short flight of stairs stops at a landing outside the long, grand living room, which doubles as a private showroom.

“The furniture in here is seldom the same from one week to another,” says MacArthur, settling into a Gothic-backed leather armchair by the carved stone fireplace, over which hangs one of a pair of split mirrors. A 19th-century solicitor’s clerk’s desk by the door will soon leave, having been bought, quite appropriately, by a solicitor. In the bow window, an old-fashioned vaulting horse has come from one of the shop’s more unusual suppliers, a specialist in old East European gym equipment and mats. The leather from the mats is apparently ideal for upholstering chairs and sofas.

Ornate crystal chandeliers and lights, dating from the 17th century to recent times, distract your line of vision and demand a second look, as do the shelves, mantels and table tops covered with ammonites, antique glass bottles, small porcelain bowls and flints.

There is a common decorative theme in all the rooms of the house – antlers and horns. Antlers of every shape and size as well as pictures, illustrations and anatomical drawings of skulls and horns abound, and a horn is even used to hold back the generous furls of the red silk curtain at the smaller, garden-facing window. “I just like the shape, the natural pattern and design of horns and antlers,” says MacArthur. “I’m not into stuffed and mounted heads or taxidermy, but one thing I couldn’t part with is the pair of antler drawings by the door. They have great sentimental value.”

On the half-landing up from the sitting room, there is a simple white-tiled bathroom with a tentacle light and large steel travelling trunk. On the next floor is the TV room and guest bedroom, and above, in the attic, one finds the main bedroom. Although the windows are noticeably smaller and the ceiling is lower than those in the main rooms, it is a light, bright space. The walls, floor and ceiling have all been painted white and there is little clutter. Another steel travelling trunk provides ample storage at the foot of the bed, and a filing cabinet holds smaller items.

Once again the telltale antlers and horns are found here, some straight from the beast, others sculpted in clay. But it is the bleached simplicity of a real skull and the hard blackness of the horns that best sum up MacArthur’s style – strong, unfussy and coolly appealing.

Alex MacArthur, 101 St George’s Road, Kemptown, Brighton, East Sussex(01273 607533; www.alexmacarthur.com)

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