As much as we’ve always wanted to be Carrie Bradshaw, I think it’s safe to say we all knew the Sex and The City writers were probably a little unrealistic about her lifestyle. For a journalist literally writing one column a week, she was living quite extravagantly. Now I’ve never been there myself, but when New York comes to mind I think busy streets filled with yellow taxis and crammed apartments with a load of unnecessary furniture and a typical overused lounge that looks like someone picked it up from Salvos. But for some reason, probably because I’ve binge-watched too much SATC I don’t get the same NYC visual when I think of Carrie’s apartment.
Like Carrie, I too am a journalist and I can tell you now that I do not regularly splurge on Manolo Blahnik nor do I ever splurge at all really. Carrie literally had hundreds of shoes, and good for her that Vogue was paying her enough to afford these but this is nothing like reality. She even had a walk-in closet. I live on a 600sqm block and I don’t even have a walk-in closet. To put that into perspective, the average studio apartment in Manhattan is 51sqm. So realistically, if Carrie was living in a real life NY apartment her whole apartment would be the walk-in closet, just saying.
If you haven’t watched Girls yet then I strongly suggest you stop reading here, put your jammies on, grab some maltesers and pizza shapes (cause they finally brought the god damn things back), jump into bed and don’t stop watching until you’ve finished. Yes, that’s an order. And no, when a show’s that good sleep isn’t a priority.
Allison Williams (Marnie from Girls) has brought to our attention the impractical nature of Carrie’s apartment in an Instagram post that compares Carrie and Marnie’s apartments. It shows side-by-side the floor plans of both women’s apartments that featured in the New York Times.
So absurd, right? I think it’s fair to say the majority of us would choose Carrie’s apartment in a heartbeat but the reality of it is that if we were to pack our bags and move to New York, we’d probably end up in something more like Marnie’s. And hey, having a shower in the kitchen can have it’s perks. If you get hungry while waiting to wash out your conditioner you can easily grab an avocado to snack on from the kitchen. A random snack I know, but they taste good, got all these nutrients your body will love you for and they’re currently in season.
Carrie lived at 66 Perry Street and believe it or not, that place does actually exist. It was built in 1866 by architect Robert Mook as an Italianate style single family home. It was later split up into three apartments and in 1996 and the current owner bought the entire building for $241,000 but one realtor now estimates it to be over $2M. Anyone can come see the apartment but the owners aren’t too enthusiastic about people making a commotion. There is currently a sign that says “Do NOT go on the staircase please” and the owners have got Google Maps to blur their building on street view.
So as much as we will forever wish to have Carrie’s life, it’s just probably never gonna happen even if we wanted it to. If we won the lottery that’s a different story but living so lavishly while working as a journalist is a fantasy of our wildest dreams. Marnie’s life is a little more attainable although it isn’t exactly #goals considering she’s a high-strung perfectionist. So you’re better off opting for something in between, where you have a good job that will get you by that might allow you to splurge on those Manolo’s even if it’s just once in your life.
