Every square inch of Mark and Elizabeth Sloan's three-bedroom, split-level home in St. Peters is filled with antiques, most over 150 years old. The retired antiques dealers couldn't afford new furniture when they married 50 years ago — everything they had was second hand. When they began to make some money, they wanted pieces that would complement the old furniture they had, so they started looking at antiques. A lifelong obsession was born.

"I mostly stick to pieces from the 1800s, but I also have some early 1900s," says Elizabeth Sloan. "I prefer European traditional, because I love the mahogany."

Many stunning pieces, such as a blue velvet settee from the 1700s with original fabric and feather stuffing and a mahogany flame high boy armoire, were purchased from the late Clarksville, Mo., antiques dealer Mary Ann Allison, who died in a fire in her home in February.

The Sloans have a number of smaller collections within their overall antiques collection, including 75 clocks of various shapes, sizes and styles. The walls throughout the house are adorned with more than 15 cuckoo clocks. A rare one with an eagle carved into the top is the only kind made in the United States during World War II (most were made in Germany). "Clocks gravitate to me," says Elizabeth.

In the kitchen, she has a display of 10 Lux sample clocks. The Lux Clock Manufacturing Co. made these smaller sample versions of their clocks for salesmen to show. "Folks liked the smaller ones better," Elizabeth says. "They are very hard to come by."

Many of the clocks in the Sloans' collection were purchased from an old shop on Historic Main Street in St. Charles called Pop's General Store. The owner was a clock collector/dealer and helped foster Elizbeth's love of antique clocks.

Another of Elizabeth's collections is Flow Blue dishes, pitcher/bowl sets and butter pats. Flow Blue was a type of stoneware, sometimes porcelain, that originated in Victorian England. The name is derived from the blue glaze that blurred or "flowed" during the firing process.

In the lower-level family room, stacks of Shaker boxes in every size sit alongside an old piano. "The oval ones were for clothes, and the round ones were for the pantry," says Elizabeth. "Each one has a specific purpose."

The Sloans' beautiful and rare collections will someday help save the lives of children with cancer. They plan to leave everything their immediate family members don't want to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, an organization they have supported for many years.