apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

pfft.

Why does what's considered good design for bachelors always resemble a hotel room? I've got to think that men can contribute more personal touches than beer signs.

Could do without the office blinds. Love the flatiron print.

I am happy with my "bachelor pad."

And I did it without a woman's touch: I touched myself. Wait...

Please please PLEASE get rid of the vertical blinds.

Being a man does not mean you do not like color.

At least a beer sign would break up the monotony of this very HGTV-inspired room.

I see color in that room. Adjust your monitor.
And on what HGTV show (excpet perhaps Cnadace) are they using Donghia wallcovering??

Click through to the story to see more pics and hear the designer's reasoning for the verticals.

Or, if only for the HILARIOUS shot of the bachelor homeowner surrounded by busty bachelorettes. HYSTERICAL.

Whoops, Candace.

If you consider yourself a "bachelor" then you will be doomed to live in a "bachelor pad."

That came out wrong...

If you define yourself as a "bachelor" then you will be doomed to live in a "bachelor pad."

Seems like one of those coyote hammocks would fit in here perfect.

I like the apartment, but I'd prefer not to have a mostly monochromatic interior. I also don't understand why designers, male and female, like to use dark or taupy colors for male occupied interiors. Do they think we all have some sort of preference for caves or are colorblind?

Yeah, they basically made it look ok. Not stunning, just respectable. It was a big mistake to leave the blinds though, they are hideous and would have been an easier fix than the (very nice) wallpaper.

Maybe the clients ask them to.

But I'm sorry, if this was not presented under the guise of "bachelor pad makeover" people would NOT be bitchin' about that bedroom (the blinds, maybe!), and I seriously doubt people would be saying this was designed for or occupied by a man if they did not already know.

And the rest of the apartment is not dark at all. Plus, he has a killer view, and (I am guessing) uses this as mostly a night-time interior, so a dark interior actually capitalizes on a night-time view better than a light one does.

i agree with the comments on the sfgate.com website - the article is a 10 on the unintentional comedy scale. the busty gold-diggers, the aging bachelor with dot-com money, the "pied a terre" in one of the tacky, anonymous high-rise in SoMa.

I have no interior decorating skills, but prints of the Flatiron building always seem to make spaces a little better.

My honey decorates his condo with spare computer parts and their empty boxes ... technosculptures, I guess.

Vertical blinds are WAY better than horizontal. In general, IMO.

Unless they are mauve or some 80s color.

ARC--

I thought the same thing about the blinds versus the wallpaper. At least you can resell window treatments when you move!

That hotel room observation is so right on.

Y'all stay in some really nice hotel rooms!

All the interesting, unique stores in the Bay Area... and the decorator ran out and did her buying at the same chains that are everywhere. No wonder the place looks like a luxury boutique hotel...

*sigh*

As far as writing, it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell the Chronicle from the Onion.

I like the bedroom.

But then again, I've always had a thing for random hookups with out-of-town businessmen staying in nice hotels.

I think the designer mined the sources well, and it does not look cookie cutter to me, or particularly revealing of her sources.

And MANY clients expect immediate gratification (fast delivery) and do not want to pay "unique" prices.

And when did "luxury boutique hotel" become bad words?

Oy.

david--

NOW we're getting somewhere! :)

look at the phone! the rotary phone on the nightstand. OK, probably fakey fakey, but still. That is the best thing in the whole damn room, which otherwise is not too creative or inspiring. But it does reflect some solid shopping.

Yeah, kind of bland. I live with two male roommates (both straight-I'm gay) and we keep the house presentable and liveable - but still interesting and colorful. I would paint my walls taupe if I could, but I would also have enough sense to pop something colorful in front of them. None of us would be ashamed to bring anyone home - but nothing is overtly frilly and girly.

I do think matching glasses/silverware is fairly essential to a well rounded apartment. It doesnt have to be fancy - but nobody likes eating food on a fork that might have come from a diner...might have come from goodwill.

And I hate the Flatiron print. It screams "I WANT YOU TO THINK I CARE ABOUT ART"

Nice catch on the rotary phone, 212gretchen. I think that's the only interesting thing in the room (even though it does seem to be fake - the only cord in the vicinity is for the table lamp).

This apartment looks like the department stores that all the furniture was bought from - it's very lowest-common-denominator...

...and what's with the b/w Flatiron Building print? The guy lives in San Francisco - not New York (and supposedly has an "Art Collection"?)

BTW - Mirrors above the bed are not only bad feng-shui, but they scream "I like watching myself have sex" in the most tragic way...

bepsf... I live in Brooklyn and I have a print of the Golden Gate Bridge on my wall. You got a problem with that?

holy crap, enough of the Flatiron Building already! so tired of prints of it .. just screams superficial taste.. just like the posters above said (they beat me to it.. :-p).

Underwhelming.

I like the monochromatic brown scheme; it comes across as a nice city-dwelling male's space to me. It isn't the height of design, but it's tastefully done and it looks livable.

Please, please let me know where that gorgeous nickel floor lamp beside the Barcelona chair comes from. Thank you!

I just don't like the vases on the sil and the blue accent table. The rest of the room looks really nice.

A mirror ABOVE a bed is NOT bad feng shui. A mirror where you are confronted with upon awakening is.

And y'all are assuming the flatiron image is a "print" but it may indeed be a "real" photo. Just sayin'.

If that mirror is so the guy can watch himself have sex, it isn't well positioned (although I guess it depends!).

I love the wallpaper and the phone (currently looking for one just like it) but I am not to fond of the rest.

It does feel like a hotel. While I've been through more than a few house tours here that were admittedly inspired by the chic hotel look, they seem to be full of a bit more interest and personality. The spaces looked really polished, but you could still see glimpses of the person who lived there. The things in their spaces didn't just look bought, but like they were acquired over time and with great care. Maybe since he only uses this place part time that's what he was going for, I dunno.

This article is caught up in all sorts of stereotypes. Some may be true, many of my friends just don't care what their place looks like, but this doesn't mean that they necessarily have no taste and can't do it, at least for the most part, by themselves. They just don't put home aesthetics on the top of their priority list. Growing up in nyc and being involved in a creative industry and considering myself a visual person, I find it important to surround myself with a pleasing space. And I think I have pretty good taste. Just because I'm a straight guy doesn't mean that I have beer signs on bare walls. I've never even met someone outside of a college dormroom that actually has one hanging on their wall. I actually find that accusation about bachelors insulting. I may be in the minority of single males with good taste, but Susan Fornoff's articles implies that there's not even one of us around.

If the mirror was for the client to watch himself having sex wouldn't it need to be on the ceiling or some other location?

I love that La-what's-her-toes's Web site has "hot young designer" in the metadata.

I had to forego a painting (not a repro) of the Flatiron Building at the flea market a year or so ago; not enough funds. I never saw it again. I have a special memory of that building, and I still think about that painting.

The photo of that guy surrounded by the bachelorettes is so sad. I'd rather have a photo of that room.

I'm with Noah (I think). I'm a bachelorette. My place is boring, but it's neater than other people's places. Besides, I'll probably be moving in two years (hopefully). Probably the only thing I have going for my place is my bookshelf full of books. What the featured place above needs is a bit more clutter - it's so...sleek = boring. Where are the books? Books at the bedstand turn me on. So do several guitars lying around the apartment and good music streaming from the speakers. And not too messy a place and maybe some houseplants. The featured apartment is for a mature professional bachelor (I mean professional at being a bachelor) - not exactly the type I want to go home with.

Both the article and the apartment featured therein appear boring and tasteless.