The Halo Collection: Jeff & Sharona on Breathing New Life into Athenian Properties

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Jeff and Sharona at the Silk House, the newest addition to their thoughtfully curated Halo Collection. Having already established The Hive in the vibrant Kypseli neighbourhood and The Hill perched in Lycabettus, the Silk House in Metaxourgio feels like the crowning jewel of their journey so far.

From the moment I turned the corner, the house made an impression. Metaxourgio is a neighborhood known for its grit and vibrancy, filled with "hype" spots to eat and drink, but the Silk House stands out like a calm, aristocratic anchor. Even from the street, the facade is soothing, a beautiful, balanced blend of old-world elegance and contemporary lines.


The Silk House, Exterior

It is rare to find a space that masters the combination of old and new so seamlessly. It doesn't just look like a rental; it feels like a place meant to be lived in. Everything makes sense. The colors are so beautiful they immediately lift your mood, and the original flooring in the kitchen is absolutely stunning, a real showstopper.


The Silk House, Kitchen

As they gave me a tour, I realized that the house is full of hidden corners; it’s the kind of place where not everything is as it seems at first glance. I found myself stopped in my tracks by the details:

• The Heritage: Vintage suitcase trunks from Jeff’s family collection anchor the bedroom, while mid-century armchairs have been transformed with lush, modern upholstery.
• The Atmosphere: A sleek electric fireplace makes the living area feel incredibly cozy, perfectly balanced by the view through the window of a striking piece of local graffiti, a nod to the urban heart of Athens.
• The Experience: For anyone who appreciates all-time classics, the 1950s Grundig radio is a total blast to see (and hear). Even the smaller touches are elevated, from the clouds-of-comfort beds and pillows to the organic Greek olive oil toiletries in the bathroom.

Every detail, from the scent of the diffusers to the secret lighting, is a testament to their "circle of care." It was in this setting, surrounded by the warmth of their hospitality and the beauty of the Silk House, that we sat down to talk about how it all began.


The Silk House, Living Room

Jeff: Honestly, we would love to find a new area and bring the beauty of what we’ve done here into a different context. For us, it’s more about the building itself than the specific neighborhood. We’ve been looking at the potential of old warehouses, the New York-style loft vibe.

Sharona: We looked at Botanikos, which is where the big warehouses are, near the new stadium. But those are "serious" warehouses. If you try to build a home there now, you’re fighting with trucks; it might take 10 or 15 years before that area truly matures.

Jeff: We spend a lot of time just walking, looking at buildings and asking, "What about this one?" We found a warehouse in Exarchia about a year ago, but the ceiling height wasn't right. It has to be the right fit.

Jeff: That’s a really interesting question, but to be honest, I don’t think we go out specifically looking for a certain property. It’s more like a place comes along, you look at it, and you just go, "Oh." You see the high ceilings or the way the light hits, and you realize you can work with it. The first couple of properties were almost accidental, really. It wasn't until we got here and planted ourselves that our brains started working and we got that clarity on the direction we wanted to go. We always knew we wanted an old house. When we bought the Silk House, it was actually two separate units, so we had to put the staircase in ourselves. Those old houses are so hard to find.

Sharona: Initially, the dream was just to find an old house to live in ourselves! We ended up buying a place in Lycabettus that everyone called a "basement," but when you actually walk in, it’s anything but. It has this little private courtyard where no one bothers you, just total peace and quiet. For our other property in Kipseli, my sister-in-law originally sent us the pictures of that one, and it was the light and that 1930s style of living that attracted us. We really wanted to keep that. So, in the beginning, it wasn't a grand plan, but we eventually realized what was available and what we could do with it.


The Hill, Courtyard

Jeff: Well, we’ve always had this idea because my mother’s Greek and my father’s Greek-Canadian, so Greece has always played a part. Our daughters spent summers here. When I finished 40 years in Asia and retirement was knocking on my door, I thought, "What have I been doing in Asia? Building companies." So we thought, retirement should look like building something again. That was the start of the Halo Collection.

Sharona: We came back and forth from Singapore for over 20 years because we had a home in Mykonos. After a year or two, someone said, "Why don’t you rent it out?" Again, accidental! We could only spend a month there a year, so we said okay. That rental business lasted more than 20 years and did very well, but the island has changed tremendously. It’s not what it used to be.

Jeff: We learned a lot, though, about what people like on holiday. An island is different; people want to do nothing, go to the beach, and go home. Athens has more of a neighborhood feel. It’s urban. People are looking for how they can fit in and see a little bit of Greece. We took what we knew after 24 years, what people look at when they walk in the front door, the small things like arranging a car or a boat trip. Those things make them feel comfortable, rather than a flashy new place that has no soul. 

Sharona: Each of our properties is a little different, and that’s intentional. The one in Lycabettus, for instance, is such a unique little space, but when you give it to an agent, they just see "bread and butter." They want cookie-cutter. They don't want the "additional dish" or those extra touches we love giving our guests. We aren't really interested in the whole "Airbnb shoot-and-shut-up" style; we want to find a middle ground by creating unique spaces. If the market is ready for it, we’ll see it in the feedback.

Jeff: We’re still learning the market ourselves, With the Silk House, we literally just launched on Airbnb and it’s already showing its colors. People were asking for one or two-year stays within the first two days! I’m like, "Okay, now where do we go?" It’s encouraging, but it's a learning curve.

Sharona: It’s a very specific niche. Three-bedroom houses only make up about 5% of the Airbnb market as most of it is studios and one-bedrooms. So we don’t really fit in a standard category. We’re appealing to a whole different group of people,

Jeff: Exactly. People who want a certain aesthetic and they’re willing to pay for it. To add to that, we put in a heated plunge pool here at the Silk House, which was my idea. Sharona was like, "Oh my god, the bloody plunge pool," but now she sees it’s a great move because nobody else has one. It’s outdoor but partially covered, so in the July heat, people can just cool off.


The Silk House, Plunge Pool

Sharona: It was almost an accident! But it works because a halo is a circle, and it implies a "circle of care" around the space and the neighborhood. That’s the thread across all three properties. We were just sitting around thinking, "What are we going to do?" and that name just came out. It represents the experience of all the different bits and pieces of the neighborhood coming together.

Jeff: Exactly! This is the The Silk House because in the back studio, they used to make silk, as the area used to have lots of silk-making workshops. The Hive is because they used to keep bees in Kypseli, they had honey there. At least that's what we were told! Kypseli in Greek means Beehive.


The Hive

Sharona: They’re actually going into urban honey now. There’s a guy with an NGO who encourages beehives on rooftops. We thought about doing one here, but then I thought, we have guests going up the stairs, what if they touch the beehive? Maybe that’s a good reason for them not to go up! "Please don't go up, we've got lots of bees."

Jeff: But it's an alternative experience. Having honey on the table and knowing where it came from. The Hill is the last one, which is up on Lycabettus. So every name has to do with the neighborhood.


The Hill

Jeff: To keep true to the area and the look, despite what people might want. Today, everyone wants a bathroom associated with every bedroom. Greek houses weren't built that way. We could do it, but we feel it would lose the flavor of the house. Likewise, we wanted to add a floor to this building, but structurally it would have changed too much. We want to tell people, "This is original."

Sharona: Another example are the kitchens which were often tiny and isolated. In a modern world, that doesn't work. We renovate for flow, but keep the soul. A big challenge is also the historical value of the area. You have to worry about ruins. If we dig and find something, everything stops. There’s a sign out front saying this was the road from Kerameikos to Plato's Academy. If we dig too deep and find something, the whole project stops! In the historical center, everything is historical.


The Silk House, Dining Room

Jeff: Plumbing and electricity. We put in the best. I think Greeks sometimes think, "How can we fix this just for the next few months?" No, when we do something, we do it for the next ten years.

Sharona: You have to do the foundation properly. We almost had a fire here because the previous people did the wiring poorly. When our engineers dig, they don’t cut corners.

Jeff: It’s tempting to save 50% on something like air conditioning, but we use the most expensive VRV systems because they last and they are sustainable. They read the room and shut off when the temperature is right, which is much more economical.

Sharona: It’s all about the mix. You try to weave the old in with the new so it feels intentional. For example, if you look at the cabinetry here, we built in new storage but kept the paneling around it to give that immediate sense of history. You have your 65-inch TV and your electric fireplace, which are obviously very new, but then you surround them with old books and pieces that have a story. 

Jeff: We’re very protective of the original character. In this house, the floors are original and the ceilings are exactly as they were in the 1930s. Actually, we would have lost all of that if we had tried to add another floor. Even the furniture has a history. Most of our chairs and tables are things people literally threw away. We find them in these massive Monastiraki “junk” stores where people are just letting treasures go. I take them to "my guy" just down the road; he has a great eye and he refurbishes them. We even have pieces that I brought over, vintage items from my mother’s collection, that just add to that lived-in feeling. And then there’s the 1950s Grundig radio. It’s a beautiful old stereo system that actually works! We found an old man, one of the few people left in Greece who can still fix them, and he got it running perfectly. You can actually turn it on and listen to the radio right now. 


The Silk House, One of the two old radios

Sharona: It’s interesting because in places like Glyfada or Kifisia, everyone is chasing that modern 'Australian glass' style. They’re beautiful houses, but you have to wonder whether they will hold their style in 20 or 30 years. We prefer a different approach. You don’t have to throw things away to make a space feel modern. Sometimes it’s just about taking a dark cabinet that feels a bit too heavy and refurbishing the color or changing the handles to something more contemporary. It creates this slight, sophisticated shift while keeping the soul of the piece intact. You simply cannot find things like that in the 'new world' in Asia—it would cost you an arm and a leg—but here, the treasures are right in front of you if you're willing to look.

Sharona: The weather, for sure. 

Jeff: And the people are so genuine. You don't see that as much in Asia; people are more guarded.The amount of time people have reached out to help us! Our carpenter is 50 meters up the road; he’s always keeping an eye out. He’ll text Sharona and say, "You left your keys in the door." It’s a neighborhood thing. Neighborhoods are disappearing everywhere else, but this element is still very strong in Greece. The culture is just so strong here. Take Easter, for example; we recently celebrated it, and seeing it done so joyously... it’s incredibly inviting.

Sharona: We met a guy down the street fixing his house, and he just said, "Come in, come in!" He told us when he's finished, he'll invite us for coffee. We like the neighborhood so much we might even live here ourselves in a few years. It just feels like a home.


The Hive, Balcony View

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Thank you so much, Jeff and Sharona, for opening your doors and sharing the heart behind these incredible spaces. It was a true pleasure to experience the "circle of care" you’ve built within the Halo Collection firsthand.