After buying a “plain vanilla” box, a Chicago trio brought in an interior designer who blended their aesthetics and added elements like a moody den for socializing and a three-person bed.
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) December 18, 2025
🔗: https://t.co/b2Z4qO0bzg pic.twitter.com/2P6CpcN2xI
But forget the interior decoration for a moment. I want to talk about finance. This throuple paid $1.71 million for a condo, with all 3 on the deed and a contract governing "how ownership would work in practice," including some purported way of "letting them adapt as their lives evolve and ensuring co-ownership stays harmonious." Hmm. Well, roommates. The condo has 4 bedrooms.
Real-estate agents are noticing more throuples and polycules, groups of people involved in consensual, interconnected, non-monogamous relationships, buying homes together, often with everyone's name on the deed. "Monogamy in this economy?" says Kathy "Kiki" Sloan, an employing broker with Property Dominator in Denver....
Oh, Kiki! What a Property Dominator! Reframing roommates as "throuples and polycules" is so clever.
Common Accounts, a design studio based in Madrid and Toronto, designed a cabin retreat in Ontario, Canada, with a stepped floor plan that carves out distinct zones, including two beds, an Olympic queen and a twin, so the trio of owners have a choice of sleeping arrangements.
Why not? Houses used to carve out distinct zones for children. It's the same idea.
Posts
97 comments:
Three person bed. Me and two hot Swedish stewardesses. See, that works!
I'm pretty damn open minded, and I hate to be that guy, but this is degenerate. The divorce (reorganization?) will certainly be interesting. Perhaps they can get AI to sort out a solution.
’Monogamy in this economy?’
I can only afford one girlfriend at a time in this economy, so I’m not sure I understand this analysis…
I predict tears.
My wife keeps me busy/worried/occupied enough. I don't need another responsibility. That's the nicest comment I can make.
Why does the word "cluster" immediately spring to mind upon looking at this? I am a twentieth century man, and I'm too old to pretend any more.
That said, live long and prosper.
I'd prefer the aisle seat, the one closest to the bathroom. It's rare that you find three people in agreement as to what's the most comfortable heating and how wide to open the window at night.
Oh, Kiki! What a Property Dominator!
Didn't read the article. Did it say whether or not she did their home S&M dungeon?
They should make a new "Friends" TV series with 2 condos across the hall from each other and the 3 men together in one and the 3 women in the other. The 2 groups start out as "throuples" and are theoretically more or less gay. It varies from person to person. Hilariously.
"Ann Althouse said...
They should make a new "Friends" TV series with 2 condos across the hall from each other and the 3 men together in one and the 3 women in the other. The 2 groups start out as "throuples" and are theoretically more or less gay. It varies from person to person. Hilariously."
No, just the women. Call it "Lez be friends."
This is the essential argument against gay adoption.
If 3 gay men want to adopt a kid why shouldn't they be allowed to?
Ann Althouse said...
They should make a new "Friends" TV series with 2 condos across the hall from each other and the 3 men together in one and the 3 women in the other. The 2 groups start out as "throuples" and are theoretically more or less gay. It varies from person to person. Hilariously.
Friends was just another story of degeneracy and hedonism.
6 rich beautiful children who never grew up. Never took any responsibility for the future. Never had kids.
They did it hilariously.
A full bed is adequate for sleeping with a dog. Also there's no extra arm problem.
If you lie down with dogs, you get up with dogs.
The three-person bed - who's got to sleep in the middle, with no control over the covers? That poor person can't stick a foot out or throw off the top layer if too hot.
Which makes me conclude that the three-person bed is strictly for three-person sex, not sleeping. (And the tv is for porn, not "physics documentaries." These are, after all, gay men.) Hence, I hope the other three bedrooms are for sleeping. You have to sleep SOMEtime.
The only thing about this that I find remotely interesting is how you solve the issue of being stuck in the middle at night.
To my mind, it's not human nature to really bond in two directions with equality. Someone ends up being either the pet or the pest.
it's been 4 months now, since i cancelled my WSJ subscription.
i cancelled it because it had become CRAP.
I don't miss it.. AT ALL
I cancelled the WSJ 25 years ago for going feminine even in the editorials.
So who’s “sleeping bitch”?
so, in thirty years, this guys will be in their 60s, with NO children;
living in a Muslim Town, with Sharia law..
Oh Wait; their livestyle will be thrown out the window by then.
Remember The Olden Days?
back when white people had babies?
Well at least an all male throuple has a fighting chance of being a true 3-way. As opposed to an MFM throuple which is just an excuse for the husband to keep paying the bills while the wife bangs the new boyf. Or worse, the wife bangs neither one of them. CC, JSM
Right after the 3 gay men become all the rage...
sexual abuse of adopted children is just something you need to accept - hater.
Cappy said...
Three person bed. Me and two hot Swedish stewardesses. See, that works!
Swedish flight attendants are overrated. First chance you get you should fly IcelandAir to see the word “pulchritude” defined.
A lawyer friend has a good practice with partition actions for unmarried people who buy property together. I doubt these three geniuses did it right. Probably asked AI.
Lots and lots of criticism about how far the WSJ has sunk with this article.
Another WSJ mile marker on the road to decline.
...all 3 on the deed and a contract governing "how ownership would work in practice," including some purported way of "letting them adapt as their lives evolve and ensuring co-ownership stays harmonious."
A three-person bed? With all those potentialities, they'll need a clause governing "crossing swords."
"Achilles said...
Friends was just another story of degeneracy and hedonism.
6 rich beautiful children who never grew up. Never took any responsibility for the future. Never had kids."
I wasn't a regular viewer of the show but know that the "no kids" is incorrect. I think 5/6 had a kid or kids.
No, just the women. Call it "Lez be friends."
Les beaux.
I was taught the proper way to respond to pronouncements of people’s intimate arrangements was “How wonderful for you!”
Gilbar:” so, in thirty years, this guys will be in their 60s, with NO children; living in a Muslim Town, with Sharia law..”
Most Muslim cultures have no problem with a bunch of guys hanging out all night together. As long as they don’t talk about it, have parades with their chaps on, demand baking of cakes, etc.
Ask Achilles about the Stan. Or me about Saudi. CC, JSM
From the article: Designing for a [heterosexual]couple is tricky enough.
FIFY: Designing for a woman is tricky enough. For three women? Nightmare fuel.
When we bought our house, a new build, we had some time with an Interior Consultant. I spent a day and a half as useless as a kickstand on a tricycle.
But at least I was assured I could pick the color of the garage floor. Who knew there were so many colors? I picked gray.
The Consultant and my wife looked at each other, silently communicating to each other: "Who is going to tell him, you, or me?"
Whereupon I learned that my color choice "didn't flow well" into the mudroom, and was therefore outré.
"Fine. I'm going across the street to the sports bar. You two figure it out."
gilbar said...
so, in thirty years, this guys will be in their 60s, with NO children;
of their own.
We can only hope it stays that way.
john mosby said...
Gilbar:” so, in thirty years, this guys will be in their 60s, with NO children; living in a Muslim Town, with Sharia law..”
Most Muslim cultures have no problem with a bunch of guys hanging out all night together. As long as they don’t talk about it, have parades with their chaps on, demand baking of cakes, etc.
Ask Achilles about the Stan. Or me about Saudi. CC, JSM
The rich guys take multiple wives in muslim cultures.
The other men have to find something to do if they don't have any wars going on.
Curious George said...
"Achilles said...
Friends was just another story of degeneracy and hedonism.
6 rich beautiful children who never grew up. Never took any responsibility for the future. Never had kids."
I wasn't a regular viewer of the show but know that the "no kids" is incorrect. I think 5/6 had a kid or kids.
That makes it so much worse. What a degenerate shitty show.
I let my WSJ lapse last year. The coverage of the tech business is first rate, but I don't miss anything else.
I'm so tired of this stuff. When will they do an article about old guys who want to live alone, not see anyone for weeks, and are looking for small, practical cabins in a place like rural Labrador?
Without my glasses I read "How did they manage a revolution?" That works too, I guess.
I wonder if the French Revolution was accompanied with style pieces about Robespierre's knee-britches, Danton's daring hairstyles, and Marat's fab new bathroom.
Sometimes I think we’ve made a collective deal with the devil.
>Ann Althouse said...
You can get a "three-person bed." How does that work?<
For the love of all that’s holy - don't ask...
"6 rich beautiful children who never grew up. Never took any responsibility for the future. Never had kids."
You might try watching the show! There were PLENTY of kids.
Ross had a child from the very beginning and he was out of the family because his wife rejected him for someone else (a woman). Rachel had a baby (which she never even contemplated giving up and she ultimately married the father). Phoebe went through a surrogate pregnancy so that her brother and his wife could have a child. Monica and Chandler pursued adoption then also had a baby of their own. Only Joey failed to have a child and yet even he attempted to become the stepfather to Rachel's baby.
I think I got all those facts right. But my point is, children were part of their life.
Sorry... "Monica and Chandler pursued adoption then also had a baby of their own"... no, they are unable to have a baby of their own. They adopt.
They adopt twins, by the way. And Phoebe's surrogate pregnancy yields triplets.
"Friends" was directly targeted at women. Sienfeld at men. The TV producers know how to structure their shows. Althouse's sitcom seems like a perfect Friends follow-on.
These sorts of arrangements are how real estate attorneys keep up their alimony and boat payments.
Jersey Fled,
I think that ALL the time. Stories like this just provide ongoing assurance that I didn't get it wrong.
Ann Althouse said...
Ross had a child from the very beginning and he was out of the family because his wife rejected him for someone else (a woman). Rachel had a baby (which she never even contemplated giving up and she ultimately married the father). Phoebe went through a surrogate pregnancy so that her brother and his wife could have a child. Monica and Chandler pursued adoption then also had a baby of their own. Only Joey failed to have a child and yet even he attempted to become the stepfather to Rachel's baby.
I think I got all those facts right. But my point is, children were part of their life.
Are you defending the show or trying to make it look worse?
How many years was this show going? What percentage of time did these "adults" spend raising their children during all those years?
How could I see a cultural phenomena like this without a single image of a child being associated with it?
It sounds like children were vanity objects. Boomers turned children into an afterthought.
“ The 2 groups start out as "throuples" and are theoretically more or less gay. It varies from person to person. Hilariously.”
It varies from person to person and from time to time, in the spirit of universality. In the words of the old song, “concave or convex it could handle each sex, but oh what a bastard to clean.”
So now have we reduced white women to “Plain Vanilla Boxes?” How rude.
Be careful going into that house: there are going to be stray Lube prints on EVERYTHING.
I am Laslo.
Nice that the WSJ and NYT are now reporting on the last days of the empire. Not with a bang, but a whimper, or three at a time.
Or a look into the lives of people I thankfully have never met, and again, thankfully, never will.
I'm curious how these stories originate. I'm guessing the "journalist" was doomscrolling on some subreddit and came upon this newsworthy item.
You can get a "three-person bed." How does that work?
Three bunks? The question is who is the top, the middle, the bottom.
OK, I had to Google how big a 3-person bed is. We have a California King since we're in California (the Mrs and I are just a couple, LOL). I wonder if these guys have an Alaskan King, an Alberta/Vermont King or a Family Bed.
No, Kiki is not the "Property Dominator." Tampa_bre is!
https://www.instagram.com/tampa_bre/
There were three in the bed
And the little one said,
"Roll over, roll over."
King, queen, and double are confusing enough. What will they call the three-person bed? A web search for 3-person beds turns up adult bunk beds, but I don't think that's what they have.
And is it all really about polyamory and homosexuality, or just about nostalgia for the days one had to share a room with one's siblings?
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trio
That started with an exhaust port
Attacked by two, con brio
The QB was a guy named Cowell,
Receiver’s name was Ted
The third was Bruce, they all signed on
For a three person bed, a three person bed
“Nice that the WSJ and NYT are now reporting on the last days of the empire. Not with a bang, but a whimper, or three at a time.”
Well, the young people doing the heavy lifting tend not to feature in the WSJ or the NYT. But they’re out there in abundance. I know a plethora of young couples who remind me of nothing so much as my own parents, starting out in a Quonset hut after WW II.
We have an extra large king sized bed, Texas king suze, because we have 2 large figs that sleep with us. Everyone gets their space.
"Children were a part of their lives" in the sense that they had children, but how much a part of the series were the children? Much controversy in the 90s about "Murphy Brown's" disappearing baby. Then there was the daughter who was dropped from "Family Matters" when Urkel became the focus of the show. I'm not sure that one can really build a case one way or another on the role of children in a sitcom, since the kids are transparently just an expendable plot device.
Shame that the Wall Street Journal prints degenerate, anti-social shit like this. "Throuples"... Despicable.
I had no idea that Juvenal had been resurrected and undertook a career writing for the WSJ.
Throuples. Was a thing even before SSM. But we were assured there was no slippery slope. Gays would normalize into marriage! Andrew Sullivan said so!
Perhaps it was true in the sense that we were already at the bottom of the slope. Anything goes. Complaining about decadence and degeneracy assumes legitimate standards. There aren't any. As the WSJ rubs in.
Megthered said...
We have an extra large king sized bed, Texas king suze, because we have 2 large figs that sleep with us. Everyone gets their space.
Good grief, Megthered. You have figs that are how big? And you sleep with them? To each his own. ;-)
This stuff is printed to tittliate (sic) the readers.
Friends had it all. Good acting and Good writing. But I never found it funny. David Schwinner was especially unfunny. Oh wait, on 2nd thought Lisa Kudrow was good for a laugh.
i don't mean to belabor the points,
but there Were two REALLY NICE things about the show Friends
John Mosby said:
"..Most Muslim cultures have no problem with a bunch of guys hanging out all night together.."
my point is that MOST Muslim cultures have children..
MOST western cultures no longer do.
The Future Belongs, to those who show up
“Are you defending the show or trying to make it look worse?”
I am just responding to an incorrect statement that there were no children on the show.
“How many years was this show going? What percentage of time did these "adults" spend raising their children during all those years?”
It was a show about young people in the earliest stage of their adulthood in which they were trying to figure out what they were going to do with their lives. It went on for perhaps more years than it would in an average life, but that was because the show was a hit. It was a sitcom and it’s inherent in the nature of a sitcom that the situation remains basically the same, and that the characters keep into relating to each other then that situation. Maybe it went on too long, but that’s because it was so popular and they did advance the characters into parenthood, so I think your peevishness is ridiculous
You know, it’s hard to use child actors and probably not that good for the actual children who are the actors. Meanwhile, they’re going to obviously get older and it’s hard to maintain the stable situation that is the basis of your comedy. But there are many comedies about families with children. There’s a room for other things. There’s room for unsettled persons in their 20s and that’s what this show was.
Wasn’t it terrible that The Honeymooners didn’t have children. Wasn’t I love Lucy better when they got Little Ricky on board? There’s good reason to stick with adult characters.
I'd be happy with a plain vanilla box. I doubt that any of these three would.
Iman said...
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trio
That started with an exhaust port
Attacked by two, con brio
The QB was a guy named Cowell,
Receiver’s name was Ted
The third was Bruce, they all signed on
For a three person bed, a three person bed
Killed it, again..
"Wasn’t I love Lucy better when they got Little Ricky on board?"
Sometimes. Anyway, shocked and dismayed to find that Little Ricky was not D.J. , but was an actor.
"Keith Thibodeaux showed skill on the drums at a young age, and was making $500 ($5,876 in 2024 dollars [2]) a week at the age of 3 while touring with the Horace Heidt Orchestra. His father took him to audition for the part of Little Ricky in 1955, "I walked on the set and there was Lucy, she was standing there and she was looking at me," he said. "She said 'OK he's cute, but what does he do?' My dad said, 'Well he plays the drums' and she said, 'Oh, come on--I can't believe that.' Then, she says 'Look, we have a drum set over there, go ahead and let him play.' Eventually Desi Arnaz himself came over and started jamming with me on the drums and then he kind of stood up and said 'Well, I think we found Little Ricky"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Keith_(actor)
"They should make a new "Friends" TV series with 2 condos across the hall from each other and the 3 men together in one and the 3 women in the other."
I'm here for The Brady Quadruple.
Well, I'll just say it: The only purpose of a story like this, is to read the comments about it.
Achilles said...
The rich guys take multiple wives in muslim cultures.
The other men have to find something to do if they don't have any wars going on.
That's why they have beauty contests for camels.
You knew All in the Family jumped the shark when they adopted a kid.
Bob Newhart always turned down Sitcoms with kids in the 70s and 80s. He didnt want to do a "Daddy is a dummy" show. So its just him and Suzanne Pleshchette. And later "Joanne" - forgot the actress.
You can argue Bill daily was the substitute kid in the 1st show, and michael and stephanie in the 2nd. But they were grown up.
Seinfeld = no kids no marriage. Cheers = no marriage no kids.
People wanted cartoon families. Not live action family comedies.
"...Be careful going into that house: there are going to be stray Lube prints on EVERYTHING...." ... and not all of them from fingers.
So they have a 'contract', huh? I guess the fourth bedroom is for the Enforcer.
End of the world as we know it. Throuple. Wonder when the children arrive to populate this throuple household.
My favorite kid show was Malcolm in the Middle (streaming on Disney+). There’s going to be a 4 episode revival in 2026 on Disney+. Yay
Actually, Bob Newhart did a short-lived series in 1992-93, "Bob", in which he had a daughter played by the very charming Cynthia Stephenson.
Ann Althouse said...
You know, it’s hard to use child actors and probably not that good for the actual children who are the actors. Meanwhile, they’re going to obviously get older and it’s hard to maintain the stable situation that is the basis of your comedy. But there are many comedies about families with children. There’s a room for other things. There’s room for unsettled persons in their 20s and that’s what this show was.
There is always room for degenerate hedonism. A lot of people like that sort of entertainment. Nobody ever said anything different.
The problem is when a critical mass of people in your society emulate the degenerate hedonism.
"David Schwinner was especially unfunny."
Funniest thing in the whole series to me was Schwimmer's delivery of the line "They're still not coming on man and the lotion and the powder have made a paste!"
The episode is: "The One with All the Resolutions."
Kids in American sitcoms are often used to deliver overly wise wisecracks. I think I got my fill of sitcom kids in the 1950s and 60s... when I was actually a kid myself. I don't think I cared about any sitcom with kids after that. I asked Grok to try to prove me wrong on that, and it couldn't. I didn't watch Family Ties or Brady Bunch or The Cosby Show, etc etc
Wait. I thought of ONE: "Lucky Louie." Louie CK had a 4-year-old daughter on that 1-season HBO sitcom.
And another: "Roseanne."
“So its just him and Suzanne Pleshchette. “
She was at her peak in the Hitchcock “Birds” as the wild school teacher, she even smoked cigarettes.
Kids in sitcoms are just annoying AF.
"Kids in sitcoms are just annoying AF."
I thought Jake in Two and a Half Men was okay for a kid. But then as a teenager, he became AF.
"Annoying AF", I meant.
A double queen bed would be the right size for three homos.
The three stooges had a triple bunk bed. Three Men and a Baby.
"The three stooges had a triple bunk bed."
I would check out a sitcom of the 3 Gay Stooges.
“ALTHOUSE” the situation comedy. Every show starts with a sunrise. Then roll the theme song and opening credits. Inga as the annoying neighbor. Meade wearing Bib overalls and armed with pruning shears. Madcap commenters dropping by with axes to grind. The mailman wears shorts all winter.
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