“It’s like stepping into a warm hug,” is how a friend described retiree Anne Scrimger’s home and the space she has created in her bright Fairfield condo.

“I want people who come into my house to feel welcome, relaxed and peaceful,” says Scrimger.

Scrimger’s cozy 1,000 square foot condo does just that and more, using handmade elements to add a personal touch and incorporating heirlooms showing the owner’s history in Canada and Ireland, where she was born.

Scrimger spent most of her adult life traveling between Calgary, where she worked as a voice and vocal coach, and her cabin in Nova Scotia, where she eventually retired. However, with her family on the West Coast, she decided to move to Victoria and purchased the condo in 2017 to be closer to her two children and grandchildren.

Scrimger naturally brought seaside chic from his East Coast cottage to his three-bedroom corner condo here.

His new home definitely has a cottage vibe, which is understandable since Scrimger’s family in Ireland had a cottage and later built it on the LaHave River in Nova Scotia.

“I like to live in several places. You have your life in the [principal] house and your life at the cottage. It goes into different environments,” she says.

Living so close to nature in Victoria, where Scrimger can just walk to the ocean, she really doesn’t need a second home to get away from it all anymore. Instead, her love of the ocean is evident in her nautical-inspired condo.

She decorated it in a classic white and blue palette and brought other seaside touches inside the house, like a small driftwood boat in the entryway, seashells and a corral on display in the backyard. living room and many works of art, with boats and lighthouses, throughout the house.

There is also a striking work table in a guest bedroom with a hand painted scene of colorful dories, another image of a yellow dory above the kitchen table alongside a painting of sailboats and even folk art wooden ornaments of sailboats on display.

All of Scrimger’s pieces tell a story, like the collection of blue bottles that grew after a friend gave him one and others soon followed; the heart-shaped stones she found along the many beaches she traveled and a painting of a rowboat, just like the one she owned in Nova Scotia.

Although she had to store her possessions for two years after selling her house in Nova Scotia, Scrimger says it was easy for her to come to Vancouver Island in 2017 when she finally made the decision to buy the condo.

“It’s all about the ocean and when you start on an island, you have to be near the water,” she says. “This affinity for the sea never leaves you. There is something different in the air. When you stand by the ocean, no matter what you think, you can’t help but think that it was here long before me and I will be here long after. And whatever anxiety you have, you might as well let it go.

Scrimger’s primary focus in home design is comfort. This is why its main pieces of furniture have been selected for their cozy side, such as the soft sofas, the white wicker armchairs with thick padded cushions and a blue wooden coffee table, where guests are invited to “put their feet up”. the air”.

Equally important to Scrimger are the family pieces that recall childhood memories, such as the clock that once belonged to his grandfather and the oil paintings made by his grandmother.

“Family heritage is really important,” she says.

Although she’s a fan of garage sales and Marketplace, e Scrimger smiles when she says she “probably needs to quit” now.

These days she spends a lot of time playing bridge with friends or with her grandchildren in Victoria.

She kept herself busy after moving to Victoria by being her own project manager when it came to remodeling the condo.

She changed all the doors, had the wall-to-wall carpeting ripped out and replaced with laminate flooring, and redone the fireplace hearth. She also had the workers remove one of the bedroom closets to create more space in the room and painted the entire condo her favorite white – Benjamin Moore’s Cloud White.

One of the major renovations was in the kitchen, where white shaker-style cabinets were installed and new appliances were brought in.

Knowing it was a small space, Scrimger said that design-wise it was important that it flow, which is why the same flooring was used throughout the condo.

And although she’s a fan of wide-plank pine flooring, the more economical laminate that looks like parquet proved to be the perfect, easy-to-maintain choice.

“I probably spent more time choosing my flooring than anything else and honestly, I love it,” she says.

“I like to make a place with a budget.”

Scrimger once dreamed of being a decorator and with all her homes, she brought her own style to them.

Her first home in Nova Scotia was a two-bedroom cottage, where she tore down walls and turned an attached garage into a den with sleeping space.

His second home was an 1,800 square foot heritage home that was 130 years old.

And while her condo, built in 1984, is significantly smaller, its maximalist style has allowed Scrimger to surround herself with the things she loves and celebrate the life she’s led elsewhere.

“I love that everywhere you look there’s something to see,” she says of her neatly curated home.

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