Reimagining Friends: The Iconic Friends Apartment In Different Interior Styles 8th Dec 2021 Posted by Seeker on 8th Dec 2021 Facebook Instagram Pinterest Linkedin Friends: 10 seasons, 236 episodes, 1 iconic apartment. Friends is one of the most popular TV shows. Period. It attracted an enormous following during its original airing and continues to draw a huge audience, recording chart-topping viewing figures when it was added to the Netflix catalogue in 2018. The long-awaited Friends: The Reunion episode was watched by an estimated 29% of streaming audiences in the United States and broke a series of viewership records in the United Kingdom too. So, as 52.5 million fans said goodbye to the Friends apartment in 2004, the purple door with the gold frame never truly closed. Ross left it on the latch, slightly ajar for people to revisit and cosy up to time and again. But what makes this show so timeless? Besides making excellent comedy look easy, the team here at Furniturebox think the Friends apartment itself has a unique role to play. Throughout the show’s ten season run, the Friends apartment became a home away from home. Not just for the group, but the audience too. From the sofa where the Holiday Armadillo taught Ben all about Hanukkah to the dining table where Joey devoured Rachel's English trifle, the sense of familiarity is what makes the apartment so iconic. Much like the impact Rachel’s bob (‘the Rachel’) had on hairdressers in the 1990s, the Friends apartment is a symbol for interior design. Located in Greenwich Village, the apartment boasts two bedrooms, one bathroom and a glorious open-plan kitchen-dining-living space. Data from Ahrefs tells us the Friends apartment is Googled 22,000 times per month around the world, beating apartment searches for other TV classics like New Girl, Frasier and Sex in the City. To that end, the show transcends time with fondly remembered characters and an iconic apartment known across the globe. So, how can we channel this sentiment into a fresh take on interior design? Friends in an art deco interior A splash of visual art in the gang’s New York apartment. The art deco interior design trend works with symmetry and geometric patterns to create a simple yet bold finish that’s highly structured and pleasing to the eye. How does this look in the Friends apartment? We've channelled New York’s own Empire State Building. We’ve achieved this by replacing the old coffee table with a striking black marble and gold feature, as well as renovating the kitchen-diner by using dark tones paired with refreshing royal blue bucket seats. Elements of gold are integral to art deco. So, as well as incorporating this into our changes, we also couldn’t resist keeping the iconic picture frame on the entrance door. Friends in a contemporary interior Talk about bringing Friends up to date! Contemporary interior style is all about simplicity and sophistication. It focuses on bright colours and smart use of space, plus the furniture should be simple yet bold. To reimagine the Friends apartment in contemporary style, we’ve renovated the kitchen-diner. The original cluttered space and loud colour palette of the Friends apartment has been redesigned with muted colours and clean lines — anchored by a Santorini dining table found on our site. In our design, we’ve opted to complement the functional nature of the Friends apartment with a defining living area at its heart. This includes a deep blue sofa and a low sitting coffee table, as well as a unique side table inspired by the ambiguous style of modern art. We think Monica and her keen eye for the organisation would approve! Friends in a Victorian interior Friends meets Downton Abbey in this Victorian-inspired interior design trend. Rachel and the gang are living in lavish style as high-status Victorian living makes its mark on the Big Apple in this interpretation of New York’s most famous apartment. Extravagant design and prominent accessories are all classic staples of prosperous Victorian interiors and the Friends apartments is no exception. In perhaps our most drastic reimagining of the Friends apartment, we’ve made a big statement by replacing the window with an oval design. This brings a gothic feel to the apartment. Strong upholstered features like the Victorian-inspired Belgravia velvet scoop dining chairs also make a big impact, complementing the grand oak and oriental tones. Friends in a minimalist interior This design clears the clutter from the Friends apartment. Minimalist interior design is all about using the bare essentials to keep things simple. It uses a monochrome colour palette to exude a sense of calmness. The Friends apartment has been stripped back to the necessities, featuring a black, white, and grey palette with a touch of green from the plant life to breathe fresh life into the space. We imagine the gang would appreciate our changes in The One Where No One’s Ready, though Joey and Chandler would be fighting over our Miami velvet accent chair. Friends in a Scandinavian interior Sprucing up the Friends apartment with cosy and functional Nordic expression. At the heart of the living space is a plush, soft textured Piper right-hand corner sofa paired with a shaggy white rug. There’s no need for Central Perk when you can cosy up amongst the pillows and watch Days of Our Lives. We’ve also used soft hues and curved furnishings to bring a sense of structured comfort to the Friends apartment. Each element is slightly different, yet neatly fits together like a jigsaw puzzle solved on a rainy afternoon. Friends in an industrial interior A gritty reimagining of the Friends apartment. Industrial interior design is defined by the architecture of a building. It embraces the raw and unfurnished materials in a home, making them a feature of the room rather than something to hide away under paint and wallpaper. While raw materials do play a big role in industrial design, we’ve thankfully avoided the tragedy of Ross’s leather pants in The One With All The Resolutions. Notice the exposed brick wall in the kitchen-dining area, the metallic trimmings, the leather sofa and the eye-catching industrial light feature. We think this interior trend fits perfectly with the vibe of New York, as well as the Friends apartment. Friends in a farmhouse interior Bringing a little rustic charm to the Friends high-rise apartment, this design looks to blend rural architecture with a few modern comforts. We’ve incorporated rustic wood in the flooring and various furniture features, blending this with soft pastel furnishings. A cosy fabric sofa, plump patterned pillows and long draping curtains round off the homely farmhouse feel. We like to think Ross and Rachel might have raised Emma in a place like this. Commenting on the transformation of the Friends apartment, Dan Beckles, Co-founder and Manager here at Furniturebox was blown away to see the iconic set reimagining in these seven interior design styles: “We’ve loved reimagining the iconic Friends apartment in today’s trending interior designs. “Despite the show's evergreen popularity, the 90s was a long time ago. It’s been a pleasure to bring this globally renowned apartment back to life with a fresh take on the design. “It’s incredible to see the unique spin each interior style has on the apartment, yet the space never loses that familiar Friends feel. That stamp is unmistakable, no matter what we do”. So, if you were in the iconic Friends apartment, where the dining room, kitchen and living room blend into one, how would you style the open plan living? Tell us what you think of Friends reimagining on socials and which one made you think “Oh. My. God!” Fair Use Statement If you enjoyed our reimaging of the iconic Friends apartment in different interior styles and would like to feature the designs or story, then please, be our guest! We only ask that you please credit Furniturebox and link to this page. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Meet The Artist A huge thank you to Iveta Trifonova, the graphic designer who created these images alongside our creative team and helped make our vision a reality!
