Art at heart of home
Distressed by monotone design trends, a Victoria homeowner sets out to take things in the opposite direction
It’s a delight to walk into an old Victoria home in one of this city’s oldest neighbourhoods and find it not only oozes history and architectural distinction, but a lively, witty charm. The owner has filled it with contemporary art and used her keen eye to select paintings by local artists such as Pat Martin Bates, Nita Forest and Karl Spreitz — as well as hats, spoons and funky necklaces, while across tables and shelves are wee sculptures of hands, travel books, ocean-blue glasses and miniature people. “I have an eclectic taste and believe that good design is good design, no matter where it comes from,” said the owner, who asked not to have her name used. “I would love to help educate people’s eyes. The naked houses we see today really distress me, although I realize it is a trend and the pendulum will probably swing back again one day.
“I think designers have taken over — even all the design books look the same now, all white, beige and grey … and all the furniture is lined up. There are no comfy corners, cushions, slipcovers.”
That’s not the story in this fascinating house, where colour and snug seating areas abound and interesting collections are arrayed in every room. The owner has a talent for creating amusing vignettes, too.
“Having designed in theatre, and been in theatre, I look at every corner as a little vignette, as being on stage, part of Act One, or Act Two. I enjoy a play on words and images, something that amuses me.”
One of these is a tiny theatre scene on a kitchen windowsill where she has placed a waving queen toy beside an elephant (“shades of the old empire”), while at her feet are two tiny elephants, looking like a version of the royal corgis.
Besides being the perfect backdrop for various settings, this home has an old upright piano, an organ and a waist-high drum from China with a “wonderful deep resonance” that was found years ago in the basement of Capital Iron. The instruments have been put to good use on many a big family occasion and gathering.
Attributed to architect Francis Rattenbury and built in 1894, the house was purchased by the owners more than four decades ago.
“It was a big old mausoleum and had been divided into suites and used as a rooming house.”
They soon replaced all the plumbing and wiring, but found the house had been very well and solidly built, with two-by-12 joists.
Everything was redone over the years — “You have to do that to keep an old house going,” said the owner — and although it has a new gas furnace, they kept the original hot-water radiators, which she says are “fantastic.”
Every room is a surprise for the eyes.
Years ago, they laid a checkerboard floor in the dining room — “We had to do something because the floor was just plywood when we bought the house” — and hung masses of art, including fabric hangings, unusual masks from around the world, carvings and more.
“I love black and white — it’s always been my thing,” said the owner, who contrasts the geometric shapes in the floor with a slew of spherical shapes in the wall art, sculpture, ceramics, trays, table and even a crystal ball.
“It is a large room and we used to have a big oak table, which was very heavy and clunky, and too big for the space,” so she refreshed it recently with a large circular black table from Restoration Hardware, as well as transparent chairs with black and white polka-dot cushions.
On the window are white wooden shutters and opposite is a mirrored chest from Pier One that replaced an ugly old sideboard.
“I love the energy now,” said the owner.
“I’ve always liked the idea of a round table, with a pedestal, where everyone can be part of the conversation.”
She likes round tables elsewhere, too, as end and occasional tables.
“I like the counterbalancing effect next to square things, and have always loved the round form. It is the first form we had … the planet, the egg, and my son learned to walk around a round table,” she said with a chuckle.
Above the table she recently hung a new chandelier that features a see-through series of squares that dangle on an angle, an effective visual counterbalance to the round table.
Years ago, architect Pamela Charlesworth redesigned the kitchen, which was once three small rooms, combining the spaces.
Where one of the home’s original chimneys jutted out from the wall, Charlesworth came up with the idea of camouflaging it by curving open shelves around it.
“I prefer open shelves because I don’t like the look of a cupboard door left open and I also want to immediately pick things up and put them away,” said the owner.
On the shelves, she has arranged a collection of ethnic and funky glasses and mugs, in various tones of blue and white.
Several are decorated with tiny red hands taken from a print by French artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois, who created the massive bronze spider that stands outside the National Gallery in Ottawa. The hands were found at the artist’s exhibition in Seattle.
One of the most dramatic rooms in the house, and the owner’s new favourite, is one she recently redecorated and redesigned from top to bottom: the guest bedroom.
“I added crown moulding and it really changed the room tremendously; it defines the space now and as it’s a very big room, the crown moulding is like a transition.”
She painted the walls a glowing shade of orange: “To me it is the colour of a flower pot. It feels brand new and lively, yet it’s also a colour from nature.”
She chose an oatmeal-toned tight twist for the wall-to-wall carpet, tossing over it a tiger carpet from Tibet and a long kilim from Afghanistan.
The bed is swathed in Thai silk, shot through with shades of teal and burgundy, and vignettes march across table tops and chests. The lights are contemporary — “I like how they reflect the past in an amusing way,” she said — and in the far corner hangs a large and lavish Pulkari embroidery from the Punjab.
It depicts 99 birds, including a peacock in one corner, whose golden orange colour inspired the entire room, and especially the choice of wall colour.