The ‘Friends’ Apartment is Designed All Wrong–But Feng Shui Can Fix It

Architectural Digest

Monica Geller’s apartment in ‘Friends’ is iconic to sitcom fans, but could it have better feng shui? Today, AD welcomes interior designer and feng shui practitioner Julie Khuu to see how she would redesign this famous apartment to invite good qi.

Transcript

00:00While the friend's apartment has a few great design choices, there's still a lot that can

00:03be improved, which is why I transformed it from this to this. Feng shui is a practice in

00:10mindfulness. You really have to understand your space and what you want to get out of it before

00:14you make these strategic moves. I'm interior designer and feng shui practitioner Julie Ku,

00:18and I'm going to show you how the friend's apartment should have been designed using feng shui.

00:30There are quite a few issues with the living room, and it all starts with the command position.

00:34Feng shui always wants the head of the household to be in a command position,

00:37no matter where you are in your home. Command literally just means you can see who's coming

00:41in and out of the entry door. You'll see in this living room configuration, there's only one command

00:46position. It is this little club chair. It doesn't feel significant to me. I want the command

00:51position to be at the sofa, but clearly the back of the sofa is facing the entry door. You don't

00:56want anyone sneaking up behind you. It just feels like a very fragile, vulnerable state. How do we

01:01mitigate this? You might think that a really great option is to move the TV down to this south wall,

01:06place it right here. That way you can optimize a command position by putting the sofa on this

01:11wall. But you know what I hate? I hate it when I am watching television and there's people walking

01:16in and out of the space just to try and get to their room. If you're living with roommates,

01:19you know exactly how I feel. So even though you are creating a command position to watch television,

01:24you're also blocking Qi from entering Rachel's bedroom, which is like a huge taboo. Feng Shui is

01:30based on the idea that everything carries with it a universal life force. That energy is called Qi.

01:36Qi has the capacity to enter our homes and permeate our spaces to bring us more balance

01:41and harmony within our environments. So the TV is not going to stay on this wall. We're going

01:44to move it back to where it was. There are so many ways to use Feng Shui according to

01:48your conditions. Feng Shui does not require any money to begin. Start where you are, use what you

01:53have, do what you can. So let's say the girls don't have a really huge budget. What I would do

01:57to create a more substantial command position is just to replace the club chair with like a love

02:03seat. There are two people living here. You want them both to be in a command. If you have a little

02:08bit more of a budget, I would place a sectional in there. Boom, look at that. Command, command,

02:13command. Not only have you created a larger command position for every user in the home,

02:18you're also creating more seating space. That's like a win-win, especially when you host and

02:22entertain like the girls do. I like this design. It actually flows better, but you know what could

02:26be even better? Feng Shui loves curves. You know, imagine Qi kind of flowing in through your space.

02:32So imagine if you had these sharp corners on this sectional. Qi is going to bump into this corner.

02:38It's not going to know which way to go. It could go left, it could go right. Sometimes Qi does get

02:42confused. I'll be removing this sectional and adding in a custom curved sectional. I mean,

02:48look at that. Doesn't it just feel more inviting? You always want to match the shape of your

02:53furniture. Now that we have this curved sectional in this space, this square coffee table is just

02:57not going to do. Add in this really beautiful curved coffee table to mimic the shape of our

03:03new sectional. So now when Qi flows through our space, it's going to curve around the living room.

03:08It's not going to bump into any sharp corners. It's just going to follow the sinuous curves in

03:12the flow of our home. We have all of this open space right here, and it's a great opportunity

03:16to add more seating. I see you moved the green ottoman.

03:23How did that happen? I don't know. I thought it looked better there.

03:29And also, it's an extra seat around the coffee table. Yeah, it's interesting.

03:36But you know what? Just for fun, let's see what it looked like in the old spot.

03:42Monica was right. I mean, the green ottoman should never have gone there. I understand

03:46what the girls are trying to do, though. You're trying to create more open seating for your guests,

03:50but that's just the wrong spot for it because clearly, it's the most uncomfortable seat in

03:54the house. It doesn't even have a back. Who's going to sit in an ottoman? So I'll be removing

03:57this single chair and ottoman and console out of the way. I would love to place like two comfy

04:04lounge chairs in the space and make it a little bit more functional with like a side table.

04:08Now we've created like a really intimate conversational seating area. The girls can

04:13have more guest seat here. They can actually sit here and engage in conversation themselves. It's

04:17really about optimizing not only the function of the space, but just more quiet areas for you to

04:22enjoy your home. I love that we've created this conversational seating area now, but the area rug

04:27just totally feels off. You want to define a zone with area rugs. So you use the area rug to anchor

04:33this living room area. If you're confused about the sizing of your area rug, just remember that

04:38the front legs of all of your furniture that's in the space should be squarely planted on the

04:43area rug. I feel really good about the living room now. Look how much more open it is.

04:51Based on a ton of research and a really brief shot in season 5 episode 14, we do see that there

04:57are two chairs here on the fourth wall. I love the idea of having two chairs here at the entry.

05:02It's the perfect place for you to take your shoes on and off. The issue is that we never see the

05:07characters actually utilize these chairs in the show. In feng shui, some would say that these two

05:13empty chairs are inviting ghosts into our home. That doesn't happen if you are utilizing these

05:18chairs. So I'll be removing these two chairs from the entry to create better balance and a more

05:23functional flow. In feng shui, the front door is the mouth of qi. So we want to create a very open

05:28and inviting environment. We want to purge all the items from the entry that we're not using. Get rid

05:33of the boxes. Get rid of your shoes. I mean you want to hide all of your junk. I'll be redesigning

05:37this entry with a console. It's a place for you to hold your keys, your purses, your wallet, your

05:41glasses, pretty much anything you need to get in and out of the door in a flash. And right above

05:45the console is a really great opportunity to invite more welcoming energy. You can do this

05:50with like a statement mirror which is great because you know you can check yourself out as

05:54you come in and out. I also love to promote like better qi with plants. Feng shui loves symmetry.

05:59That's a really good tip for you to remember. So always buy in duplicates. You can place one on

06:04either side of the console to create that symmetry. We want to create an open bright

06:08entry experience and I love using synthetic lighting for that. Symmetrical wall sconces

06:13are really great installed on either side of a statement mirror. Try to think about ways that

06:17you can layer lighting in the entry because that is where qi is going to be welcomed into your home.

06:24Your desk represents your career and life path. So being in a command position at your desk

06:29is very essential. This desk is clearly not in a command position. There's a really easy fix for

06:35that. Just get rid of the chair. Use this bench as your office chair instead and that way you can be

06:40in a command position and see who's coming in and out of the entry door. But now I have this like

06:45really awkward chair. This single chair was just floating in space. You want to anchor it with like

06:50a solid wall behind you. In space it's blocking qi. You know it's blocking qi through your bathroom.

06:55It's blocking a path that's going into the common areas. So moving that away from the center of the

07:00room and more on the perimeter of the space is really going to open the space up and create

07:03better flow. Doesn't this just feel so much better? Look at that. Look at qi flowing through your entry

07:08going through your living room. Now it's going to move through your office area and now we're

07:14landing in the kitchen which is the heart of the home and really the most important room according

07:18to feng shui. In feng shui there are five elements that combine to harmonize ourselves within our

07:26environment. It's water, wood, earth, metal, and fire. In the kitchen water is represented by the sink.

07:34Fire is the stove. So anytime you have a fire element and a water element right next to each

07:39other or right across from each other those elements cancel each other out. So the sink

07:43is in the northwest direction which is great because water is actually in the north direction

07:48on the bagua map according to feng shui principles. But the stove is on the west wall where it should

07:53be on the south wall. Monica's a chef. I want her to be in a command position. I'm going to be

07:58removing the stove, rotating it so that she can see who's coming in and out of the entry door.

08:03Now that we moved the stove here, qi is going to walk right into this fire element. That's just too

08:09much energy for a space but I have a really great solution. I want to erect a brand new

08:13partition wall here to help divide the energies. It's also a really great solution to install a new

08:18hood. Kitchen layout is done. I love it. We've got sink in the north, fire in the south. In an open

08:23concept space I love round tables for dining areas and so does feng shui. Remember feng shui loves

08:30curves. There's no sharp corners for you to bump into. Plus you can scale. You can always add in

08:34two more chairs because you'll see there's four and there's six friends right? So add in two more

08:38chairs and a round dining table. There's no hierarchy. I love that. In season three episode

08:43eight we see Monica bang Ben's head right on an overhead ceiling beam. Feng shui believes that

08:48overhead ceiling beams are an oppressive energy. They could block or hinder your wealth or growth.

08:53It's a literal physical obstacle as well. Just imagine sitting at your dining table, you're

08:58looking up and all of a sudden there's this big beam that's like an oppressive energy right on

09:02top of you. That can't feel good. Ceiling beams are potential poison arrow enhancers. A straight line

09:08is considered a poison arrow. It's bad energy that can permeate the space and actually hinder

09:14and block qi. Oftentimes these beams are structural. One of the easiest ways for you to block the energy

09:20of oppressive ceiling beams is simply to install a light. You can install a really beautiful

09:24chandelier. Just think the more faceted and the brighter the light, the more you're able to combat

09:28the oppressive energies from the ceiling beams. If you don't have an opportunity where you can

09:32install a ceiling light, you can also wrap like vines or plants around the ceiling beam. Just

09:37think about ways that you can soften the appearance of the ceiling beams that you cannot

09:41move in your home. You can also find poison arrows in plants. Now if you have plants in your home,

09:47definitely pay attention to plants with like spiky leaves, thorns. Think cactus. No cactus in the home.

09:52If you're bringing in roses into your home, make sure you dethorn all of them as well. We have our

09:57beautiful new chandelier here. It's going to light up the space, but I feel really good about the

10:01kitchen and the dining area. So this is my final design. What do you think? Remember that feng shui

10:07is a practice in mindfulness. Feng shui only works if you do. There's so much more that I can talk

10:11about in the bedrooms that we haven't even gotten there yet. There's a coffin position, there's a

10:15command position, there's colors, there's lighting, there's so much more. So definitely let us know in

10:19the comments below if you want to see part two.

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