Personal Space: At Home with Mon Pitou’s Jesse Hawes and Triet Duong

We really didn’t need to rush to capture the holiday decor on display in Jesse Hawes and Triet Duong’s chic Olympic Village condo: Hawes likes to keep the Christmas vibe going for nearly three months of the year. “I am a Christmas Gay. I love it and always have,” laughs Hawes, who decorates the day after Remembrance Day and keeps it all up until the end of January. “I’m like, why not?” he adds. “Most people, especially around our age, don’t decorate for Christmas, which I think is crazy.”

The couple has been living in their apartment for nine years (or nine Christmases, if you, too, are a Christmas Gay), originally picked for its easy commute for Duong, who used to work at a biotech firm across the street. At the time, Hawes was working as a flight attendant. Things have changed a lot since they moved in, though: their French food store, Mon Pitou, celebrated its fifth anniversary in February and is a neighbourhood favourite for its Parisian-inspired baked goods and charming, European-style interiors. (And it’s always decked out for the holidays, of course.)

As their professional lives have changed, so too has their condo, with the input of friend and interior designer Alanna Dunn, who’s based in Calgary. “We didn’t want to break the bank, but we slapped some lipstick on so it didn’t just feel like a builder-grade Vancouver condo, and now it feels warm and cozy,” says Hawes. A sliding door was knocked out to connect the living room to the den. Dunn recommended key pieces, like a 120-year-old round dining table and an 80-pound mirror from CB2, that unify Hawes’s penchant for classic, East Coast interiors (the couple travels to New York and the Hamptons frequently) with Duong’s more modern tastes.

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Hawes and Duong aren’t the only residents of the cozy, festive apartment. The duo share a pair of bulldogs named Jellybean and Ru—yes, that’s Ru as in RuPaul. (“We were young gays,” says Duong. “We used to be fun,” deadpans Hawes.)

And in addition to the Christmas tree, you’ll find one other prominent plant: in the study lives a towering fig tree, adopted from a couple down the street who were moving away. “They said, ‘This is our baby, his name is Mr. Fig.’ So we still call him Mr. Fig,” says Duong. “He was too big for the car so we had to bring a wagon and walk it down Main Street. We send them updates about how he’s doing.”

Holiday Cheer

The couple collects ornaments from European Christmas markets. You’ll find quite a few nutcrackers and bulldogs on the branches here.

The Throne

Hawes bought the Eames chair to commemorate his 30th birthday a few years ago.

Cool Canvas

The painting is from an artist friend, Diana Brambila. “The more we look at it, the more we find different interpretations,” says Hawes. It also has the benefit of bridging the couple’s aesthetic tastes.

Travel Treasures

Little French caramels and matchboxes from New York sit on the coffee table in a tray that was also procured in NYC. “There are a few destinations in the world we hit on repeat,” says Duong. The Hamptons are a fave, too, which explains some of the East Coast design nods you’ll find around the space.

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Frame the Moment

In the office, a gallery wall showcases moments from Hawes’s and Duong’s families. “You’re going to see a lot of pictures of my immigrant parents,” says Duong, pointing to one of his mom and dad in front of the Kingsway grocery store they ran through all of Duong’s childhood. Hawes’s family vacations to Newfoundland and childhood in Nova Scotia are well documented here, too. Even the more modern pics are printed in black and white to blend in with the vintage photos.

Going Green

The couple picked up the artichoke sculpture in Italy—which happened to be the beginning of an elaborate international journey. “He carried that thing to Egypt, I went to France, and the whole time I didn’t care for his safety, I just wanted to make sure the artichoke was going to make it back in one piece,” laughs Duong.

Pretty and Practical

The Restoration Hardware chairs that are placed around the antique zebrawood table were selected not just for their style, but also for their comfort… and dog-proof nature. “English bulldogs drool everywhere, and get stains everywhere. These have a performance fabric that’s easy to wash,” says Hawes.

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Cut a Rug

The sofa, from Bunny Williams, sits on a custom wool rug. It’s actually wall-to-wall carpet that’s been cut to size and bound, so it saved the couple a few bucks (and ensured they got the right size for the long, skinny space). Dunn recommended the choice of wool, so that it could stand up to the dogs. “She explained to us that it was the only material that would be durable enough. She was like, ‘If you spill wine on a sheep, you’re going to be able to wash it out,’” says Hawes.