How a designer created a better bachelor pad

Location: Manning Avenue and Dundas Street West Designer: Shirley Meisels, MHouse Inc.

Bachelor pads tend to come in two styles: sparse or dishevelled. This masculine Trinity Bellwoods townhome is neither. A custom steel DJ booth on the third floor sets the tone for what is essentially an ultra-sleek, 3,000-square-foot man cave. The aesthetic continues in the master bedroom, where a wall mural evokes a tattoo parlour flash sheet. The interior design, achieved with a budget of about $300,000, is by Shirley Meisels, of MHouse Inc. Her other touches included refacing the fireplace with a smoky grey marble slab and converting a fourth bedroom into a sprawling dressing room with built-in closets and storage for shoes. She used warm wood tones and soft textures like shearling, linen and wool to balance the coolness of the glass, steel, marble and stone surfaces. For pops of colour, she framed the homeowner’s collection of band posters.

The owner brought nothing with him from his previous home, so all of the furniture is new. This lounge chair is an Eames:

A black hex-tile backsplash from Cera Gres adds a masculine touch to the bathroom:

The bed and nightstands are from Commute Design:

The custom closets were designed by Shirley Meisels and built by Millworx. A simple bench from Elte is spruced up with a velvet cushion, strapped on with leather belts: