The ‘Ultimate’ Bachelor Pad Condo

In our first Bachelor Pad Profile, Vancouver based professional Personal Trainer and competitive Martial Artist Roy Duquette describes his fully renovated condo which was dubbed by himself and friends as 'The Ultimate Bachelor Pad'. Since Roy is a freelance interior designer as well, this article should provide lots of knowledge and inspiration to readers that aspire to one day have an incredible bachelor pad condo of their own.
This is my 950 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom bachelor pad located just off of Commercial Drive in East Vancouver. I purchased it in 2004 for $220,000 and in addition to primarily being my home, used it to develop my skills as a freelance interior designer. After going through three full reno projects in ten years, this is how it looked in October 2014 when I sold it for a little under $475,000. 

The 3-in-1 Living Room

When working with a small space, versatility is key. I designed this living room as a 3-in-1 entertainment area, where I could spend time with friends while listening to music, watch the big fight on a 100” screen, or bring dates to my own private theatre for "movie night”.
 
One of my personal preferences for designing living rooms is to avoid the use of large flat-screen TV’s as they tend to visually dominate the room. So in this living room, I elected to go with a Panasonic PT-AX100U high-definition projector concealed in a wall-mounted BESTÅ storage cabinet from Ikea. The audio duties were handled by a Denon AVR 789 connected to a Bose Acoustimass 5.1 surround sound system which I modified to output 7.2 sound. The four Bose surround speakers are hidden as well. Can you find them?
 
Bachelor Pad Living Room 1
 
Up top, I went with clear, glass doors to display my movie collection whereas on the bottom, I went with a glossy white colour scheme to place extra emphasis on my wall art, splash of colour from my DVD cases, plants, bamboo rods, and the flame from the electric fireplace under the window. 
 
Some of the other components I have connected inside the lower cabinets is a PlayStation 3, a low-profile Yamaha YST FSW050 subwoofer, and an Oppo BDP 103 universal network 3D blu-ray and SACD player. All of the wiring between the projector and audio-video receiver was behind the dry wall to maintain a clean, stealth look.  
 
For furniture, I went with a modern granite-grey microfiber sofa from BoConcept, a high-quality replica Barcelona chair in white leather, and a low, floating coffee table which I had refinished in white lacquer to match my cabinetry. The grey area rug was ordered online in a custom size to go perfect in this room.
 
Bachelor Pad Living Room 2
 
On the floor, I went with high-quality vinyl flooring from Harbinger to replace dark walnut laminate flooring, which I originally used to replace the awful wall-to-wall carpet that the condo originally came with in 2004. By going with Persimmon, which is a warm, light grey — the modern white living room reflects light, making it look sleek, larger and airier. The overall look is a mish-mash of various design influences combining modern Asian-fusion with some Scandanavian elements like light floors.
 
Bachelor Pad Hardwood Floor
 
On the other side of the living room, I experimented with using projector paint as opposed to going with a projector screen so that I could maintain the freedom of going as big as I wanted without sacrificing resolution. 
 
The front speakers are two Yamaha bookshelf speakers and the centre channel is a CS10 from Polk Audio. All of the speakers up front are sitting on the Mandalay Entertainment Unit which I picked up from an Urban Barn discount outlet store for about $350. 
 
Since this is a condo — meaning that my neighbours and I are separated by only a wall — I didn’t see a point in going over-the-top with mammoth front speakers since I had to show some restraint with volume. So my decision here was to go with well-built, value speakers that simply got the job done in terms of sound without breaking the bank.
 
Bachelor Pad Entertainment Center
 

Solarium

One of the biggest highlights of my condo is the gorgeous view of the North Shore mountains from the solarium and these large, expansive windows do a great job of showcasing them. This room was totally redone from how it originally came when I bought it. I removed the cheap, sliding glass door that separated the solarium from the rest of the living room and opened up the entrance to give it continuity from the living room. Below are some views from the Solarium and Patio:
 
Bachelor Pad View 1  Bachelor Pad View 2
 
Next, I redid the flooring with these muddy grey-brown 12” x 24” Italian porcelain tiles, which contrasted nicely with the light grey vinyl flooring. For furniture, I kept it simple with this George Nelson-inspired platform bench adding a nice touch of mid-century modernism to the space.
 
Bachelor Pad Solarium 1
 
On the other side is an original Paul Ygartua painting (“Masks”) over a hand-carved, espresso-stained Indonesian console table. The white Ikea vertical book shelf worked perfectly in this space and gave me the opportunity to display my favourite books — another design characteristic that you can see in all of my interior design projects. Functional lighting is an important aspect of setting a proper mood in a space and here, I went with three spotlights with LED bulbs to showcase the art, books, and bench. 
 
Bachelor Pad Solarium 2
 

Kitchen

The kitchen is widely regarded as the “heart” of a home and in this case, you can see that the kitchen has been specifically designed to support the life of an urban bachelor.
 
Bachelor Pad Kitchen 1
 
In keeping with the overall design theme of the entire condo, I went with a very modern grey and white colour scheme with splashes of colour. Versatility was another objective as this space was designed to be a cooking and dining area, a bar, and a laundry/mudroom. This was by far the most expensive part of my interior design project and in most cases, that’s how it should be. 
 
I have always been a big fan of Ikea kitchen cabinets. With the right design strategy, you can really stretch the dollar and put together a very nice looking and functional kitchen.
 
Bachelor Pad Kitchen 2
 
In the above photo, you can see the Samsung washer and dryer with a slim European fridge from LG right beside it. I am a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and if you know anything about BJJ, it’s that as a serious practitioner, you will be doing a lot of laundry, all the time. Being able to throw my sweaty gis in the laundry as soon as I get home was a luxury that I truly valued. 
 
If you look closely, you will notice that the stove is where I opted to save some money. Since I’m a single bachelor, professional athletic trainer, and competitive martial artist, I don’t do a lot of cooking so I didn’t see the need for a high-end stove. Where I did spend a lot of money, however, is on the low-profile range hood from Kobe, since having the front entrance leading into the kitchen means that as soon as you enter the condo, you are essentially walking right into the kitchen.
 
Bachelor Pad 3
 
I went with white Caesarstone quartz countertops, which means that staining — especially wine stains — is something you have to constantly watch out for. Having lights and clear glass shelves inside the cabinets directly over the sink gave the kitchen an additional “pop”, especially when entertaining guests for drinks. I was very happy with the white quartz countertops but if I could do it again, I definitely wouldn’t do the white stone sink as it stained way too easily for it to be practical. 
 
The decision to go with a small sink meant more counterspace for making drinks, protein shakes, and food platters. And since I had a great Bosch dishwasher, I felt like that was the right move. Again, you can see from all of my design elements that this was a space designed for weekend socializing and entertaining women.
 

That concludes the first half of the tour. Be on the look out for part 2 of Roy Duquette's Bachelor Pad Profile.
spartacus gym You can learn more about Roy's personal training at: www.spartacusgym.ca See more of his Bachelor Pad on Instagram: @royduquette Did we mention tnat Roy also does freelance interior design? Hire him to help turn your space into your own ultimate Bachelor Pad