For those who don't know what that means (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PotteryBarnPoor):
Pottery Barn Poor (https://youtu.be/laLiNn7f4H8?t=666) is when you see a family who are implied to be poor (or simply think they are), but the decor of their house does not even remotely match their claims. Nothing is worn from use, nothing is broken, everything looks new and out of the box. This often happens as a result of Product Placement — the moviemakers can defray costs by showcasing a furniture chain's decor line, even though it doesn't make much sense to the actual poor families watching the film. The discrepancy is simply Handwaved.

If it's a sitcom, especially a long-running one, Progressively Prettier typically makes this trope even more noticeable. When the actors clearly have access to personal trainers, high-class hairstylists, and plastic surgery, it just draws attention to how nice all their surroundings really are.

It could be that Katy (and Maya) simply spent what little they had on Maya's clothes and decor (and maybe the rent) but had like zilch left over for food and other real necessities (like roofing material).

I've actually known folks who had few liquid assets but made sure that they ALWAYS looked good and had nice decor regardless of their actual disposable incomes.

P.S. But then again, who's to say that Maya or even Katy was above shoplifting some of the nicer stuff they had!

The first person that I thought of when reading what this chat is about is Kyle from the show named Last Man Standing. Before he gets married to Mandy, his "bachelor pad" is shown a few times and I couldn't help but wonder how he was able to have all that was shown inside of his address. I could be wrong, but I don't believe that it was ever once said what kind of jobs he worked before the Outdoor Man store was ever in his picture.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. In one episode, he helped out a homeless man and that man ended up stealing Kyle's TV. You would think that there wouldn't even be a TV for anyone to steal from the address since Kyle was pretty much all by himself except for having a grandmother who I guess was already in a senior citizen's home.

I still think that Maya (and Katy) simply spent what monies they got on dressing themselves and their apartment up - even though it meant they went without. By no means is this confined to sitcoms!

Any way you slice it, I always got the vibe she was more fortunate than Shawn was as a kid, even before Shawn came into her life.

Any way you slice it, I always got the vibe she was more fortunate than Shawn was as a kid, even before Shawn came into her life.

True- especially considering that Katy WAS doing her best to parent Maya under very trying circumstances and had not intentionally left her to fend for herself as opposed to Chet and Virna who, via their constant neglect and frequent abandonments showed that they literally couldn't have cared less what happened to Shawn but sought to manipulate him whenever doing so suited them.

Any way you slice it, I always got the vibe she was more fortunate than Shawn was as a kid, even before Shawn came into her life.

Maya was supposed to be GMW's analogue to Shawn but whereas Shawn grew up dirt poor, lived in a trailer park, had a dysfunctional family, and dressed modestly, Maya in comparison, already had the support of her mother and grandmother (the former had a steady job), lived in a decent apartment in New York City, had had a wardrobe that was fancy and varied. Maya's biggest "problem" it seemed, was that she has a flip phone instead of a smartphone.