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House Beautiful: A taste of the Greek islands in Oak Bay

By stirring together the deep, saturated blues of the Greek islands with the hot and tawny tones of Mexico, the owners of this property have concocted a unique and tasty look for their Oak Bay home.

By stirring together the deep, saturated blues of the Greek islands with the hot and tawny tones of Mexico, the owners of this property have concocted a unique and tasty look for their Oak Bay home.

The 1912 house is distinctly un-spicy from the outside, but a keen observer will pick up on the eggplant-brown stairs, the teal-trimmed windows and pineapple-yellow begonias that hint at what lies within.

Visitors are greeted with walls that radiate yellow in every shade, from butterscotch and banana to Dijon and dandelion — a crisp contrast to the Aegean blues of the dining room, stairwell ceiling and various ceramics and artworks the owners have collected over the years.

Consulting psychologist Sally Glover loves to play with sizzling colour and being a wellness coach, she appreciates the cheering value of bright and lively hues.

Her husband — actor, fiddle player and children’s performer Stuart Nemtin — has never shied away from colour, either, especially when assuming his clown character of Major Conrad Flapps. Nemtin has performed on television, in film and theatre for more than 30 years across Canada and in seven countries.

Both are semi-retired now, but their passion for bold, optimistic design continues unchecked, augmented by mementos of their world travels that are found in every corner of their funky, bohemian house.

“At the heart of everything I create or do is this playful and whimsical spirit,” said Glover. “Colour plays an important part, but if it makes me smile and feel good, it usually has that whimsical element.”

Much of her career has been spent “lightening up” organizations and communities, mostly in the past 15 years while working with First Nations in communities across Canada.

The owners explained the interior of their home wasn’t always this uplifting.

For many years, they were absorbed in raising their son and daughter and didn’t have time for painting walls or decorating.

Then one day, after returning from a trip to Africa and Greece, it suddenly struck them how bland everything was.

he house had fabulous old bones, and we loved its character and the wood floors, but the horrible, dull grey on the walls had to go,” said Glover.

They have since renovated the bathrooms and kitchen and repainted every inch of the 1,800-square-foot home.

“I mixed all the colours and painted almost everything myself, including all the new windows,” she said, noting they took advantage of the Power Smart program to upgrade the home’s energy efficiency.

Nemtin, who painted the ceiling in the stairwell a deep marine blue so visitors would stop bumping their heads, said: “We had seen so many wonderful colours in other cultures that we wanted to bring them home.”

One time, he surprised his wife by painting the front hall burnt orange while she was away on a trip.

The kitchen is honeyed amber, the dining room is Mediterranean blue and the former front porch, now enclosed and part of the living room, is painted a soft vicuna, a camel-coloured shade.

It’s one of their favourite rooms.

“In the winter, it is the sunniest place in the house, so we have a desk and a table there. It’s the best work space and happy-hour place,” said Glover.

After tearing out all the old carpeting, they refinished the fir floors, despite many warnings that the wood was too thin, having been sanded down three times before. But they boldly went ahead and today the floors glow like old gold.

Many suggested they throw out the old kitchen cabinets, but thanks to the creativity of carpenter Kim Martin, they salvaged all the old cupboards and freestanding hutches, just replacing some cabinet doors.

They moved an awkwardly located door to the basement out of the corner of the kitchen, and turned the stairs so they now lead off the front hall. They also removed a back kitchen door that led into the pantry, and repurposed it for the newly renovated main-floor bathroom. They relocated one of the tall kitchen hutches to the pantry, adding space in the former and storage in the latter.

Lack of closet space has long been an issue, but when they first spied the large master bedroom, they knew they had to have the house. Over the years, they have added extra storage in the form of blanket boxes in various rooms, and built-in units.

“The master bedroom glows in the afternoon,” thanks to the warm yellow walls and ceiling, said Glover. They painted the sloping walls a slightly lighter shade on the advice of designer friend Jenica Waymen.

Because the living room is long and narrow, they chose not to cluster furniture around the fireplace, which stands in the middle of the space, with its handsome 300-year-old mantle.

“We decided to separate the room — so we have a cozy sitting area at the dining-room end and a music room at the front of the house,” she said.

Many of the spaces are alive with references to Greece, which they both adore.

“I’ve been there 18 times, and went the first time in 1969,” said Glover, who learned to speak the language because she wanted to live and study in the region. “I love the culture, the music, the hospitality. We have a community over there.”

When they visit Greece, Nemtin takes his fiddle and Glover picks up some spoons, so they can jam with the locals. “We like to connect with musicians every time we go and always enjoy playing together,” he said.

Glover is a keen collector of beautiful rocks, which are displayed all over the house, the garden and in jewelry pieces she has designed.

When replacing the previously tired-looking white kitchen countertop with a textured, coloured-concrete slab and backsplash, she had it embedded with a scattering of marble stones and cat’s eyes that she had collected along beaches from Greece to Kenya.

“We have enjoyed mixing things up with pieces that remind us of places we’ve been … and I’m really good at finding remnants, checking out secondhand stores and shopping at the [Habitat for Humanity] ReStore,” she said with a chuckle.

Nemtin was also able to occasionally trade clowning gigs for antique furniture, which is seen throughout the house and adds to the eclectic atmosphere.

“We love to entertain in this house and we love the openness and connection to the outside,” said Nemtin, whose wide-ranging career has included working on every major movie that has come to Victoria in the last 10 years.

“This home meets all kinds of different needs for us, like playing music or having friends over, and it is so comfortable. It’s our forever house. We’ve been here 30 years already and we love the neighbourhood, the closeness to downtown and the fact we can bicycle everywhere.

“And the big back deck is great for parties and gives us easy access to the garden.”