Coexist

Pictured first is Sofi and then Isabelle

Interview and all photography by Olivia Pink

Living with your best friend sounds amazing until someone leaves dishes in the sink, "borrows" your favorite sweatshirt without asking, or forgets it's their turn to take out the trash. In New York City, where apartments are small and you're sharing just about everything, being roommates takes a lot more than signing a lease.

Sofi and Isabelle have been roommates since their freshman year at NYU. After spending two years living together in the dorms, they recently graduated to a two-bedroom apartment in the East Village. While they've figured out how to split chores and respect each other's space, what really makes their living situation work is the friendship they've built along the way.

I stopped by their apartment to talk about the little things that make sharing a home successful from the objects they can't live without, to what they admire most about each other, and the advice they'd give anyone moving in with a roommate for the first time.

HG:  What’s your favorite thing about living with each other?

Sofi: We both have very similar interests, and we know each other so well. We can be alone, we can be together, and we just live together in a really organic way.

HG: If you had to describe each other in three words?

Sofi: Witty, thoughtful, and charismatic.

Isabelle: Goofy, confident, and strong-willed.

HG: What makes a space feel like home?

Isabelle: Filling it with the things that you love. We're excited to decorate the place, put our posters up, get the things we like, and fill the space. We have really similar taste, so that helps too.

HG: What's your favorite item in your room?

Isabelle: My Bag

Sofi: My Guitar

HG: Have you changed each other's routines in any way?

Isabelle: We kind of just have similar ways of living. We keep each other accountable for little things like taking out the trash, cleaning, and doing the dishes.

HG: What's something you've become more comfortable with since living together?

Sofi:  It's okay to be lazy and naked around your friends. Just being vulnerable.

HG: What's the key to sharing a space successfully 

Isabelle: Communication. Knowing the other person's boundaries and limits, and actually listening if there's an issue. 

Sofi: Don't hold back if something is bothering you. You should feel like you can tell the other person. I think that's why it works living together because we're already so close. We're not afraid to call each other out.

HG: What's a small moment with each other that you remember?

SofI: I think it was after the first month we moved into the apartment. We went up on the roof one evening and shared a big tin of peanuts while watching the sunset. We were just sitting there saying, "Oh my God, I can't believe this is our life." We were in New York City, young, thriving, eating canned peanuts on the roof.

Isabelle: Mine is actually from our dorm, but we still lived together. It was the day before Christmas break, and we were packing because we were going to be away for a month. We turned on music and just started dancing. We were genuinely going at it, authentically dancing. There was no judgment. It was just really funny.

HG: What's the funniest thing that's happened since living together?

Isabelle: We were doing the dishes one night, and Sofi said, "Isabel, there's something really bad in there." I thought she was just being dramatic, but when I looked, there were all these little maggots in our trash can. We didn't know what to do, so we duct-taped the whole trash bag shut and threw the entire trash can away. Then we came back later, and someone had ripped the trash can open. It was so gross, but looking back, it's really funny.

HG: What's the best piece of advice you'd give new roommates?

Isabelle: Establish boundaries and have unfiltered communication in the beginning without hard feelings. 

Sofi: We've had a lot of friends who moved in with people, and it didn't turn out the way they expected. It can make or break your friendship. At the end of the day, we're all human, and we all have feelings. Learn to take criticism without feeling like you're being attacked.