Who would have thought there could be so many elephants on the loose in Uplands?
Certainly not neighbours who live near this 1930s-era house where a major renovation and redecoration took place recently, while the exterior remained virtually untouched.
鈥淲e both love elephants and they were a big theme in my long search for wall coverings,鈥� said one of the new owners, enthusiastically explaining why they have so many of the creatures roaming across their walls in exotic jungle and East Indian wallpaper prints.
The giant pachyderms also appear on cabinets, in carvings and even trumpet their presence on wall sconces.
It is all part of the home鈥檚 unique charm.
Its interiors are decorated with a flurry of fanciful elements 鈥� such as dangling cupid lamps lighting the staircase and a lion chandelier in the guest bedroom 鈥� as well as an array of handcrafted ceramic tiles, mostly from Pratt & Larson in Oregon.
The owners, who asked not to be identified, have collected rugs from Turkey and Iran, cabinets and tables from India, mirrors and lamps from Italy as well as many second-hand finds, such as sconces and faucets from eBay.
The newly remodelled character home, which is being featured on this year鈥檚 , is tucked into a Gary Oak meadow and is almost invisible from the street.
The two owners 鈥� both Vancouver professionals, and musicians 鈥� began house hunting a couple of years ago when they began to envision retirement. They looked yearningly across Georgia Strait as both had lived in Victoria at different times and cherished the quality of life here, the peace and quiet, and gentler pace.
After months of touring a variety of neighbourhoods and looking at waterfront homes, they discovered this beautifully landscaped, large lot in Uplands on which sat an appealing older home.
It needed major renovations, so they hired Maximillion Huxley Construction, who stripped the interiors down to the studs, replaced all the wiring, plumbing, sections of the foundation, installed in-floor radiant heat, rebuilt a previous glass addition which was failing, dug down the basement to full height 鈥� and much more.
The project took 18 months and the result is an elegant, gracious home with an interior that perfectly reflects the atmosphere of its original era as well as the owners鈥� sense of creativity and fun, which includes Asian and Indian touches and wild print motifs that contrast with sedate marble in muted colours,
A favourite room is their small upstairs library. It has spicy India-yellow walls, a delicious curry shade from Farrow & Ball and wallpaper from Pierre Frey in a pattern called ginger.
The second bedroom offers eye appeal too, with vivid, Porphry pink walls from Farrow & Ball and matching wallpaper, roman shades and coverlet from Zoffany, in the Jaipur collection. The carpet is a Hereke from Turkey, cabinets are Indian and the chair is from Faith Grant Antiques.
鈥淲e are so tired of taupe and don鈥檛 know why everyone uses it,鈥� said one of the owners.
鈥淧erhaps people are used to hotels and muted colours, and think it is elegant. Not us.鈥�
Their their first trip to Turkey was an eye-opener as to what could be done with colour and pattern and one of them used to live in England and visited northern Italy often, 鈥渨here I couldn鈥檛 believe the denseness of the patterns, and the mix of patterns. When you get used to that you are no longer satisfied with beige.鈥�
The owners have travelled extensively in Europe and the Middle East, but think Victoria is heaven.
鈥淰ancouver has changed a lot and become very busy. It didn鈥檛 feel like a good place to retire. It is becoming a very wealthy city with huge inequality, which doesn鈥檛 make for a happy city.鈥�
And besides, they want to start gardening, which is one reason they decided to steer away from waterfront properties 鈥淪ea spray is not great for a garden, but we like being close to beaches鈥� as well as amenities, like the university.鈥�
The 3,500-square-foot home sits on a beautifully landscaped half acre and while they are beginner gardeners, they鈥檙e excited to learn more.
鈥淲e have cleaned out the beds because they were very overgrown. Sadly, everything became drought stricken during construction. We had terribly hot weather last summer, no rain for months and our irrigation was shut off during the digging of trenches for new services, to bring in gas and redo the sprinkler system.鈥�
The owners credit their builder for how well the project turned out, and he said they were ideal clients.
鈥淣othing was too difficult or too complicated for Max. He has a real sense of adventure, likes a challenge and is a perfectionist.鈥�
Huxley noted the scope of the project turned out to be a lot bigger than originally thought because of an infestation of rodents, water damage and failing foundations.
Because the garden was beautiful and mature, he also took extra care working around rare plants. 鈥淲e used a hydrovac to do a lot of the excavation, for service trenching around tree roots. It shoots pressurized water and then soaks everything up.鈥�
Inside the house he put extra time into all the custom moulding, baseboards, tile setting, wall coverings and extensive millwork that the owners wanted.
鈥淲e set up a workshop in the garage and built all the curved windows and doors on site as well as all the fireplace mantels.鈥�
The reno had many tricky aspects. 鈥淔or instance, the kitchen used to have a bump out window with a wide ledge. It was really tacky and not original, so we took all that out, rebuilt all the windows and sashes and put them back.鈥�
The existing wood floors were refinished and new flooring was feathered in to match where needed; two fireplaces were restored with an authentic look and gas lines; and the garage was converted into a studio.
鈥淲e think the house is fantastic now,鈥� said the owners, who said they agreed to be on the tour so they could showcase their builder鈥檚 talent and tenacity.
