This is why Monica’s apartment was painted purple on ‘Friends’
Finally, an answer to one of the show's longest running questions
Monica’s apartment on Friends has got to be one of the most iconic – and, quite frankly, stunning – fictional TV homes of all time. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the legends like Rory and Lorelai’s Stars Hollow property on Gilmore Girls, Fraiser’s ridiculously HUGE apartment in Seattle and, of course, the Banks’ Bel Air mansion on Fresh Prince.
Back in the day (and in recent months after the show was put on Netflix), fans questioned how a struggling New York chef could afford such prime Manhattan real estate. But if you really watched the show you’d know she inherited it from her grandmother – plus, it was rent-controlled. So there!
However, Bustle did some calculations and worked out that an abode the size of Monica’s – which spans some 1,500 square feet – would nowadays cost an eye-watering $14,000 per month. Better keep making that jam, Monica!
There were so many instantly memorable moments that took place in that purple apartment:
1. Brad Pitt coming over for Thanksgiving dinner
2. Poking the ugly naked guy with a giant poking device
3. Monica’s ‘seven erogenous zones’
4. “I’m Chandler, could I BE wearing any more clothes?”
Now, the genius set designer responsible for bringing the apartment into our lives has revealed how – and why – he decided to go with the famous lilac hue.
Speaking to Great Big Story, John Shaffner revealed: “I said, ‘I think we should paint the wall purple’. Everybody was really anxious about it.”
“[But] colour is really important in establishing the show’s identity,” he said, making the important point that just the sight of Monica’s apartment was enough to lift people’s moods and keep them watching. “When you switch to Friends, you see that it is purple and you stay tuned,” he added.
He also spoke a little about Central Perk, another extremely important setting in the show’s history.
Shaffner says: “I definitely think the coffee house on Friends influenced our culture of where people like to meet and hang around. And now, of course, there’s a coffee house on every corner.
“In the pilot, the moment when Rachel walks through that door in a wedding dress, it’s a pivotal moment. We decided to put the door up here on a diagonal so she walks through those doors and straight into the camera, and everybody had to physically turn around and look at her.”
Read more: Quiz: How well do you really remember ‘Friends’?
(Image: Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions / Warner Bros. Television)
