Since the 2000s, Nina Dobrev has starred in Hollywood hits like Degrassi, The Vampire Diaries, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Her four-bedroom West Hollywood home is unusual.

The interiors were inspired by Bulgarian-born Dobrev’s youth in southern France. Sleek brass elements and locally-sourced art and furniture give the property an airy California cool, while her careful preservation of the late-1920s Spanish-style construction gives it European charm.

Dobrev remodeled because of the epidemic, like many others. “I used to say that I lived most of my life on planes, because I’m constantly traveling for work and pleasure,” Nina Dobrev tells AD. “But the pandemic was the first time that I was in my home for an extended period of time,” she recalls, adding that she painted the house herself.

“Maybe it’s the frugal side of me, the Eastern European Bulgarian girl that was like, I don’t want to pay a lot of money to have a bunch of people come and paint this, and I’m bored,” she laughs. She bought a pressure washer and paint at The Home Depot and painted the mustard-yellow exterior matte white.

“Oh no, Nina wasn’t scared of color,” says Charlie Barstein, who remodeled Dobrev’s home during the pandemic. Dobrev’s kitchen was his toughest task and home’s centerpiece. It has olive green cabinets and terra-cotta floors, resembling a rustic kitchen meant to be used. Italian terra-cotta tiles and the retro-looking Ilve series are further European inspirations. Barstein installed a butler’s pantry with Joe Henry Baker artwork.

Dobrev calls the rest of the house a “facelift,” not a renovation. An extended breakfast nook with fluffier cushions and smart living room color choices were added. Her boyfriend, snowboarder Shaun White, gave her a Bowie print and an enlarged safari photo in that room. Dobrev prefers her “very adult Nina” spice rack to these bright pops. “It’s the best part of the house—it makes me feel grown up.”