Bang up bachelor’s pad

By Shirley Genga

Eddie Kirindo is best known as a fashion stylist and when it comes to home décor, he also proves that he has a keen eye for finding diamonds in the rough.

 When Eddie first moved into his bachelor’s pad, his vision was to create a space that was not only warm and bright, but also maintained a masculine appeal. He claims it was a challenge. Although he has always loved warm and bright colours — they are often associated with femininity. So to deal with this, he decided to ditch a monochromatic colour scheme and instead went for a mix and match type of colour palette. He chose orange as his main living room colour; he mixed and matched it with different shades of brown, blue, black and grey-for a masculine effect.

When it comes to his living room furniture choices, he incorporated modern, casual and eclectic pieces with the living room centrepiece being a dark hardwood cabinet, which he personally made and designed.

Eddie also loves photography and all through his home you will find photos of the different things he loves. Within the living room area, he has created a photo shrine, which he has dedicated to his love of photography and fashion. Here, Eddie has placed photos of his first styling photo-shoot and newspaper cuttings of designs by his favourite designer, Valentino.

The living room easily flows into the dining room, which continues to radiate with the orange theme but with a tinge of masculine colours that come in blue and brown. But the ambiance here is a little different, while the living room is more indoor cosy; the dining room is more outdoorsy. When Eddie was decorating this area, he says he wanted to create a woodsy savannah-java type of ambiance. To do this, he infused a dark hardwood wine rack.

Manikin decoration

Instead of decorating it with wine bottles alone, he also included; a manikin — the upper body of a woman, interesting red pots and a 1950s Elder typewriter, which he bought at an auction a few years back. Further on top of the wine rack are pictures of entertainment legends such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, which manage to add a stimulating retro vibe. Eddie is quite the collector and apart from his antique typewriter, he also owns a vintage mahogany sewing machine.

 What also stands out in the dinning room area is an elongated rectangular flower holder. According to Eddie, when he found the flower holder it was junk that had been thrown away, but he instinctively saw decor potential when he first laid eyes on it.

He thus brought it home, made some adjustments and created a unique flower holder. Just next to the flower piece is a sculpture of a flamingo, which together with the canvas drapes, adds to the outdoor feel.

To further his cause to create a dining room with an outdoor feel, he has notably played around well with texture. For the dining room sit, he was very bold when he picked a floral printed backless sit.

Visual spread

Together with a multi-coloured straw mat and a vintage wooden table, the combination is quite the visual spread. Just behind the floral sit is a huge photo of a woman, who Eddie claims is the artistic representation of his ideal woman-an African queen who stays true to her culture but still manages to be modern.

When he found the photo of the woman in his dining room, it was part of a poster, but after he framed it, it become the centrepiece for his dining room.

 The master bedroom takes on a very masculine theme. Everything from the colour scheme to the accessories is manly. Adjacent to the master bedroom is a walk in wardrobe, which Eddie keeps, quite neat and organised.

 All in all, the choice of colour palette, materials and furnishings all nod to a modern, warm theme. Eddie has impressively managed to create a vibrant and modern living space.