Design tips, from one ‘dude’ to another
A manly perspective on decor
Simon Eisner feels he did everything right when he converted his first property into two units — at least on a structural level.
Eisner, 36, bought a Leslieville semi-detached last May and gutted the top floor, turning it into a combination kitchen-living-dining area by removing two bedrooms and installing an Ikea kitchen in the resulting open space. He turned the second floor into a self-contained one-bedroom apartment, where he lives. Downstairs remained largely as it was, and he pays his mortgage by renting it out.
He’s pleased with the arrangement, except for one thing: The sea foam-green colour of the walls.
“I’m not happy with this paint colour,” admits Eisner, a software developer. “But the thing is, I don’t know how to pick that stuff. I picked it off a paint chip. I thought, ‘This’ll look good.’ And I came in here when it was done and went, ‘Aww, this is a little girlie.’”
Scenes from male decor specialist Damon Snider’s home.
Eisner shouldn’t feel bad. Plenty of younger single men who buy a home for the first time come in with ideas about how they want to lay out their space, but hardly a clue about how to decorate and furnish it.
Damon Snider wants to help. After establishing himself as a custom furniture designer, Snider, 28, has embarked on a new venture: an interior decoration and design side to his firm, TypeD. He’s aiming the service at single men, 25 to 45, many of whom are decorating the first home they’ve ever purchased.
A press release cited Snider’s “experience as a ‘dude’” and promised he can help men create a living space that is “both dope and refined.”
The need for such a service became evident to Snider when he witnessed how his single male friends were navigating the transition to home ownership. “You’d walk into their place and see a lot of frat-inspired decor that a typical dude would inevitably decorate their place with,” Snider says. Their homes brimmed with overflow from their university days and even earlier: handme-down furniture, bikini and Bob Marley posters, and scattered music and sports equipment.
Snider, by contrast, takes pride in the clean, contemporary look of his house in the Bathurst and Sheppard area of Toronto. He says he was encouraged to start his decorating enterprise after receiving positive feedback from men and women alike. “Bringing females back, they basically saw that it was a really masculine decor; however, it was move-in ready and chick-friendly,” Snider says. He argues it’s important for single men to fight their inclination to do things on the quick and cheap, and truly invest in their environment. A well-appointed home exudes attentiveness and a sense of responsibility. These are things that women want to see, he reasons.
Men “have an idea about what they want. They just don’t know how to execute it,” he says. “If you’re just going to take your old milk crates to your new place, you may as well have stayed in your old apartment.”
While some single men may have a vague idea about the kind of furniture they want, they typically have no idea where to find it, casual furniture shopping not being a favourite pastime of many single men. Snider introduces them to stores like Umbra and others that carry items that give off a manly vibe. (For men who want more of a Mad Menesque, midcentury look, they could add Morba, available online at Morba.ca.)
One of Snider’s early clients is Brandon Kaplan, who works in sales in the telecommunications sector. Kaplan, 28, heard about Snider’s business through a mutual friend.
The decorator came to Kaplan’s King West-area loft in Toronto for an initial consultation. He immediately impressed the new homeowner with a manfriendly, respectful approach to giving advice. At first, Kaplan says, “he wasn’t telling so much as he was listening.”
And by listening to Kaplan’s interests, specifically basketball and guitar, Snider was able to come up with the idea of mounting vintage guitars and a retro basketball hoop against the condo’s brick walls. Great ideas, Kaplan thought.
He also appreciates Snider’s teach-a-man-to-fish philosophy. “I teach them while I’m consulting,” Snider says. “This is why you can’t paint all your walls red. This is why you can’t clump all your furniture in one area.”
Snider also counsels men to be patient and get a feel for their new homes before rushing to fill them up. The transformation of Kaplan’s loft should take a few months.
Importantly, Kaplan says the plans have his girlfriend’s approval. Snider says that’s often a consideration for men in a relationship that hasn’t reached the move-in stage.
In all, Kaplan says hiring Type-D was money well spent. “I don’t know if every guy would actively seek this type of thing, but I can tell you with 100-per-cent certainty that every guy in my age group could greatly benefit,” he says.
Yet Eisner may be echoing the feelings of a lot of younger single men when he says, “I don’t think I’m that vain that I would need a decorator.
“... I’m living in a bachelor pad with my stuff everywhere. It doesn’t matter if I pay a guy to design my space. It’s always going to be a little messy.”