SHELTER Sets: "I'll Be There For You..."

Recognize this room?

Do you recognize it now?

The One Where Ross Finds Out

Yup, it's Monica and Phoebe's --> Monica and Rachel's --> Chandler and Joey's to finally Monica and Chandler's huge apartment in New York City. Hmmm, the only person who never lived there was Ross...

Looking back at these pictures I don't think I ever realized how many different colors were in this apartment. How had I not noticed that the kitchen windows, ceiling, moldings, and lower cabinets were bright turquoise blue and the upper cabinets were yellow? The only thing I did remember was that the mismatched kitchen chairs were painted, and now it seems in the same yellow and a different shade of blue.

The hallway which led to the dark plum bathroom ended at a green closet door (the "secret closet") while the walls of the hallway and all other living room walls were a strong lavender color. How did they get away with that, without it looking like a carnival house?

Well, I guess to many people, it did look like a carnival. It was meant to show young women finding their style by using family hand-me-downs, thrift stores, a little DIY, and every once in a while splurging on actual antiques.

Key details for this look:

• Aubusson rug, probably bought at a thrift shop that did not know how much it was worth

The One With Barry and Mindy's Wedding

• TV console constructed from an actual antique buffet
• Lavender walls with molding that sometimes looked blue and at other times a very vivid purple

• White vintage refrigerator
• Pink tiled counter and brick-lined kitchen walls
• Decorative plates attached to the brick walls
• Blue-green painted window frames and molding in the small open kitchen
• Kitschy vintage fabric used for the kitchen, living room windows and as a sink skirt
• Mix-matched chairs either painted in different colors or unified by being the same color

Trivia: You know that little frame around the peephole? It was a mistake, not a design choice, it was originally a mirror that hung on the door that someone accidentally smashed during filming. I think it turned out to be the most iconic object in the whole apartment!

This apartment; the funky colors, feminine furnishings, and the use of large vintage florals make me think of these clippings that I have of designer Betsey Johnson's apartment in the late 90's. Not a bad style muse, huh?

*Some details and first picture from this article in STYLE at HOME magazine. Article was excerpted from Sitcom Style by Diana Friedman.

**Betsey Johnson home shots from Metropolitan Home magazine, May/June 1997.