Interior design inspiration: Monica’s apartment & how to DIY the room

Ever since I visited FriendsFest last year I’ve been desperate to write an interior design blog post about Monica’s apartment. One of the main attractions of FriendsFest is a tour of the iconic apartment from Friends and, as I walked around Monica’s living room, I couldn’t believe that I was really there. I sat on the sofa, I peeked into her kitchen cabinets and even looked through the framed spy hole in the front door. It’s a home that I know as well as I know my own and I enjoyed every minute of noseying around.The set was fantastic – surprisingly big – and it was filled with all kinds of personal touches that you don’t always notice when watching on TV. Did you know that Monica has a writing desk, for example? I think that’s an addition from a later series of the show and she’s put it right in front of the window with a view of New York city. I don’t blame her, I’d do the same.The whole style of the apartment is very ‘granny chic’. I guess that some pieces of furniture were left in the apartment when Monica inherited it from her grandma, so there are a lot of classic pieces (the sideboard,kitchen table and lampshades, for example) but there are definitely hints that we’re in the 90s, such that metal side table that everyone has owned at some point and the dusky purple walls.The window dressing is a little too flouncy for my taste but who wants to spend a small fortune on new curtains when grandma’s old ones work perfectly well and stop the apartment from being overlooked by ugly naked guy. There are more important things to spend your money on, such as coffee. All the other soft furnishings are definitely to my taste; a big squishy sofa in neutral colours dressed up with squishy cushions just begging to be napped on.

Looking at the kitchen, it’s clear that Monica has upcycled the cabinets and kitchen chairs herself to inject a little colour into the space and separate it from the rest of the room. I didn’t realise that I’d been so influenced by Monica’s apartment but, after looking back at the photos I took of the kitchen, I’ve discovered that the paint is the same turquoise blue colour that I’m painting my own kitchen cupboards with. Monica and I have great taste in paint colours, eh?? After immersing myself in the world of Friends for a whole day, I knew I wanted to try to recreate this classic 90s home on the blog, so I decided to create the budget version. I picked out some craft and upcycling projects from Cut Out and Keep, and created an article for their ‘DIY The Room’ feature so be sure to check it out. There are 10 projects, all of which will help you to get one step closer to owning an apartment just like Monica’s. And be sure to let me know if you have a go at making the homemade furniture polish to get rid of the whiff of smelly cat yourself!