Italian Influence: Green Couple's Tuscan Dream House

As a child, Mike Sarver used to swim at the former Pine Valley swim park in Green. Now, he lives with his wife, Traci, in his dream home on the same property.

In 2006, the land was sold and slated to become a housing development, Mike says. Soon after, however, the Great Recession hit, and those plans never materialized. The land went up for auction, and the Sarvers bought 40 acres of it. Mike initially envisioned using the area for outdoor activities — camping, riding snowmobiles and driving dirt bikes.

About 60 homes were originally set to be built on the property. Now, instead, there are three. Two of the Sarvers' family members built houses on the land, and while the Sarvers’ son, Jordan, was attending Archbishop Hoban High School, the Sarvers decided to do the same. In 2015, Mike and Traci moved from a 2,500-square-foot home in Coventry Crossing into a 5,400-square-foot Tuscan-inspired home on the Green property.

It took 2 1/2 years from the beginning of construction until move-in, Mike says, and the process — between the homeowners and KNL Custom Homes, the builders — was collaborative.

“It just evolved,” says Mike. “I didn’t have a square footage in mind, and I don’t think Traci did either. It was just what we wanted, and they designed it around that.”

The Sarvers have three sons: Jordan, a urologist in Detroit; Justin, a lineman for Penn Power in the Pittsburgh area, and Josh, a student and athlete at Walsh University in North Canton. Between the boys and friends, the Sarver home was a hub of activity for years. The family took to asking visitors to sign a space on a wall in the hall leading from the garage to the kitchen. This quirk is just one example of the Italian influences they implemented in their home after falling in love with Italy on a 2013 family trip and seeing a similar signed wall there.

Surrounded by mirrored metallic foil wallpaper, the heavy wrought-iron and glass front doors open into a foyer and living room, featuring a view of the back patio. A two-story tall stone fireplace and in-ground pool can be seen outside. On the left, as you walk in, is Mike’s home office — which he uses occasionally for his job as a financial planner. It boasts gem green walls, a tan tufted leather sofa, a gold horse lamp with crystals, a wood tray ceiling and an oversized gold-framed mirror.

By design, the house has no formal dining room. “I wanted an extra-large kitchen so we could have big family dinners and get-togethers, and we’d all be able to be in the same room,” Traci says. A tulipwood dining room table with an Italian finish seats eight, and the kitchen includes an rectangular 7-by-12-foot two-tier island that can accommodate 10 more — and has, Traci says. “This is where the boys and all their friends hang out,” she says. “They stand and chitchat. We really love it.”

The kitchen countertops are granite — as are the fibers in the wallpaper on some walls in the kitchen area, which the Sarvers found at January Paint & Wallpaper in Akron. There are dark wood beams across the ceiling — another Mediterranean cue, Traci says — and a custom wood-and-copper hood above a six-burner stove with a griddle.

“They finished the copper to the patina that was exactly the color I liked,” Traci says of the hood. There is a limestone patterned backsplash under the cabinets, and behind the stove is a bold handmade Arabesque backsplash — painted in metallic brown, cocoa and old pyrite. Both backsplashes are from Morris Flooring & Design in Canton.

The main living space has an open floor plan, but the kitchen and living room are separated by a double-sided stone and brick fireplace — one of two double-sided fireplaces in the home. There are four gas fireplaces overall. Off the dining room is a hearth room: a cozy study with an ornate crystal chandelier, a dark leather couch, a brown easy chair and, as the name implies, another fireplace — limestone with an Italian finish.

The living room features a barreled, gunmetal-painted two-story-tall ceiling, a crystal and metal orb chandelier and dark wallpaper flecked with gold. “I like dark, warm colors, especially against gold light fixtures,” Traci says. “It’s cozier.”

The Sarvers did a lot of their own decorating but consulted Colleen Vincent of Colleen Vincent Designs when it came time to finish the main floor suite.

“She asks a lot of questions and puts a lot of your personality into the designs,” Traci says of Vincent. “It’s her flair, but it’s still me.”

The main bedroom features sharply contrasting design elements, highlighting a color scheme of pink and white with a dark green accent wall, ceiling and fireplace surround.

“The house is pretty earthy in general, so she wanted a little more color,” Vincent says. “We tried to stay with the atmosphere of the outdoors. That’s why we chose the dark green.”

The bedroom is also accented with close-up black-and-white, gold-framed portraits of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Audrey Hepburn. Traci cites the decor of Akron’s Diamond Grille as an inspiration.

This suite contains the home's other double-sided fireplace, facing the bedroom on one side and the bathtub in the bathroom on the other. A large shower with multiple jets offers relaxation.

Upstairs are four bedrooms — one for each of the three boys and a fourth, used as storage for Traci’s new business: Traci’s Back Door Boutique, located in the Pinnacle Sports complex in Medina.

The basement totals 3,000 square feet and is an unfinished rec and fitness center. There’s a pool table, a dartboard, a pingpong table and a workout room, but most of the space is taken up by a 20-by-60-foot FieldTurf soccer field — with a goal at each end. Jordan and Josh were both soccer players in high school, and Josh continues to play at Walsh.

While Traci and Mike are now empty nesters, they built their house with the intention of hosting. With family close by, the home's gathering spaces get plenty of use.

“We love to entertain throughout the year," Traci says.

Closer Look

On a trip to Florence, Italy, homeowners Mike and Traci Sarver encountered a wine stand — a room full of wine bottles with a service window for customers.

“You go in, you knock, and they’ll pass you a glass of wine through the window,” Traci says. “We wanted the same kind of concept.”

They built a version in their home — with a 6-by-15-foot room separated from the kitchen by a wrought iron door. Made by Glas Ornamental Metals in Barberton, it’s surrounded by red brick. Nearby, a sign, written in Italian, reads: Welcome. Enter as friends. Leave as Family. Inside the room, there’s a unique Tuscan-patterned limestone backsplash under the cabinets. “We searched for that Italian tile in that room for about a year,” Traci says.

The room also serves as storage for the Sarvers’ glassware collection, ranging from wine stemware to frosted mid-century modern highball glasses and tumblers — which Traci often finds at estate sales.