The Flat of a Twenty Something

This post may or may not have been inspired by my old place in Bethnal Green...

There we all are, making our way home from our long days at our internships, or if we are lucky entry level grad jobs, ready to kick back in our luxurious 3 bed penthouse with impeccably high ceilings, a skyline view and walk-in wardrobe. Sorry what? OH you’re right, this isn’t an episode of GIRLS, this is real life, and I’m actually returning back to my shoebox sized room where we steal internet from next door and the ceiling leaks when it rains. 

One of the reasons Girls has been so successful is its incredibly accurate depiction of life as a struggling twenty-something trying to make a mark in the world. Now surely I can’t be the only one that has noticed how well furnished Hannah’s flat is? Crate and Barrel Ming chairs – really?! Most of us are lucky to even have a dining room, let alone one with chairs fit for a Homes and Gardens mag.

When speaking to our parents we spin the old lines “I’m living the dream mum!” with our Zone 2, East-London flats, but in reality we can’t wait to leave our squalid little hell-holes.  Earlier I mentioned the flats of those oh-so likeable characters in Girls, but they aren’t anywhere close to the main offenders of unrealistic TV flats that frequently grace our screens. 

Let’s talk about New Girl.  This four bedroom warehouse style ‘loft’ has a huge living room with exposed brick work and a urinal in the changing room style bathroom. Schmidt is the only one with a stable job and the rest of them are supposed to be struggling. On the realistic scale it scores pretty low, but on the envy scale its right at the top, I’d kill for Jess’s room.

 

(image source: http://www.thelovelyside.com/2012/01/jess-apartment-new-girl.html)

 I’m not an avid watcher of 2 Broke Girls so don’t know the story, but these girls are clearly not bloody broke if they can afford to live in a flat like that. OK it’s in Brooklyn and one of them sleeps on the sofa but they have an outdoor area, and no amount of shabby chic décor can pretend that’s affordable.

(image source: http://www.thelovelyside.com/2012/01/max-carolines-apartment-2-broke-girls.html)

 The worst offender in this series is Sex and the City.  Until Carrie landed her $4 per word Vogue deal and various other book deals, she wrote a weekly column for the New York Star which would in absolutely no way fund her upper-east side apartment, designer shoe hoarding and cosmopolitan sipping lifestyle.  And that my friends, is why Carrie Bradshaw was full of shit.

(image source: http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/09/20/the-sex-and-the-city-movie-real-estate-heaven/)  

With all of these unbelievable abodes being shoved in our faces on a daily basis it’s no wonder we all have such unobtainable flat fantasies. The harsh reality is that whilst we are getting to grips with life, our careers and money, we have a decade of shitty flats to look forward to, so we better start finding cute and innovative ways to cover up those mould patches.