Central Perk

Every Home has that one room that no one knows what to do with. It could be too small, have too many windows, or be located in an area frequently less traveled. For us, this room was in our basement, and was accessed off our great room. With a size of 9'-0" x 13'-0", this room came equipped with a large storefront window, glass door, and very little privacy. We initially thought about transforming it into an office or gym, until we discovered other spaces that best suited those functions. So, we were still left with the question: What to do with this room?

If you could live without this room, then why not come up with a fun use for it; something that will keep people talking whenever you're entertaining; something that will make people want to share photos on social media. Or, if you own investment property, maybe it's a cute theme could bring in more airBnB guests.

Early into our relationship, and by early, I mean Date #1, I invited my now-husband over to my apartment for dinner. Since I'm not one for absolute silence, I thought it would be best to have a tv show playing in the background. That way, if we ran out of discussion topics, we could always comment on the show. Any guesses what show I selected???

Friends.

What I didn't realize is I would soon discover that both of us could easily quote the show, and before we knew it, we would insert lines from "Friends" into our daily conversations. So, when faced with what to do with this random room in our home, we came to the conclusion that it should be Central Perk.

Before

As you can see, the Great Room in our basement was a lovely shade of Beige. And while we knew the room with the French doors would be our gym and recreation space, we needed some creativity in making Central Perk not appear too random. With this being the Basement, we thought, why not let our Great Room serve as a Basement Main Street? Central Perk would have its own storefront, but the moment you walked through the glass door, you would walk straight into the 90's glory of Central Perk and no longer be in the basement.

The Basement Main Street

Defining the Paint Colors. We knew we needed a dark green to mimic the exterior walls of Central Perk, and a burnt red as a complimentary contrast for the doors. We selected the following colors:

• Sherwin Williams "Dard Hunter Green" SW 0041

• Sherwin Williams "Barn Red" SW 7591

The Signage

Now that we had green walls and red doors, it was time to define the look of Central Perk. Not only did we need the exact signage that was featured on "Friends," but we also needed to define the basement main street. I knew I wanted a faux street light next to Central Perk's main entrance, and found one at Kohl's for relatively cheap. When trying to replicate the signage, I found that several independent makers on Etsy already had the "Central Perk" sign template ready to print on peel-and-stick vinyl. So, that was a no brainer.

Defining the Street Scape of the Basement Main Street

With the Central Perk signage installed on the large storefront window, I thought it would be cute to feature cafe dining in front of the window. So, a guest could still be in the living room watching tv or socializing, but be part of the Central Perk experience by simply sitting outside the Central Perk entrance.

• Marble Cafe Table - Pottery Barn

• White Metal Chairs - Amazon in a Set of 4.

• Welcome Mat - Amazon

Central Perk... in Christmas?

Do you hate packing up all the Christmas decor at the end of the year? Is it not depressing? Well, if you're like us, we dread the moment our ornaments of peace and comfort must come down. But, then we asked ourselves, why couldn't a portion of our basement be Christmas year round? What if we didn't pack up all the Christmas decor, and just let some of it remain in place? And that's what we did. Instead of packing up some of the lights, ribbon, garland, and small accent tree, we let these items define the Winter Main Street of our Basement.

Since the Metal Chairs came in a set of 4, I was left with two chairs that needed a home. With Cafe seating outside of Central Perk, I introduced bar seating inside of Central Perk, using the same storefront window.

• Console Table - Amazon

The Orange Couch

No Central Perk is complete without the infamous orange couch. Utilizing the only wall without windows or doors, we knew this would be the place for the couch, but that brown just wasn't doing Central Perk any justice, so with the extra green paint we had on hand, this accent wall got a makeover.

While the couch does not mimic the original, we realized not everything had to be identical to the original Central Perk. After wall, we were dealing with a 9'-0" x 13'-0" space, not a tv set. We decided to search for a more contemporary velvet sofa and found this beauty at 1StopBedroom for a very reasonable price.

Time to Accessorize

With the key elements completed, Central Perk was almost ready for it's grand opening. All that remained were the accessories: End Tables, Coffee Table, Glasses, Mugs, Magazines, Napkins, you name it. Any item that had the words "Central Perk" on it was an eligible accessory.

• Coffee Table - Amazon

  • While not identical, we thought it had the same vibe as the velvet couch and green wall. And after all, this is supposed to be a 90's coffee shop, right?

• End Tables - Target

  • The brass finish matched the legs of the orange, velvet couch, and I knew this was the winner. Since our space was small, we had to search for the tiniest of end tables, but hey, they're just holding coffee, right?

If you have board games or old checker sets, like I did, this is the perfect opportunity to put them on display. This checker set dates back to my childhood, and yes, there is a missing red piece.

The Grand Opening

See? He's Her Lobster!