It’s been a while since my last Condo Chronicles project! 

One of the things Josh moved in with was his computer gaming set-up. I knew it was coming and well aware that it was going in my office, but I freaked out a bit the day he actually moved in and started setting it all up. He was using a different desk at home, which he left there, so his temporary solution was a white plastic folding table and a folding chair. 

Me being me, I immediately started looking at better desk and chair options online that would match with the other furniture in my office. We both knew this was a “just for now” situation and we’d look into getting him a new desk and chair since it was preventing him from really rangling all of those cords.

So, to Target and Staples online I go. I found the exact chair I use from Staples, which Josh likes for the back support, so that was pretty easy. When it came to the desk, the original plan was to get him a new desk, and I had found a few affordable options at Target but they didn’t have the best reviews. I also found the identical desk that I have now, but we didn’t want to have everything be so matchy-matchy. 

Then I thought, what if I give Josh the desk I currently have a buy myself a new one? My current desk has a rollout keyboard tray that I don’t use but he could definitely use with the separate keyboard he has. Plus the desk was deep enough on the top to hold everything: laptop, monitor, speakers, etc. We started to roll with that new plan, and after looking at a few options online, I found one from Target that I liked.

I went to order them online but then saw that Target and Staples in town had both the chair and desk in stock. We decided to stop by there after date night dinner with my parents before going grocery shopping. Yep, a real fun Friday night. 

The desk was the last one in stock and we were able to get the chair at Staples—after turning down the sales guy multiple times for a protection plan. I joked with Josh that there was a 50% chance he’d come home from work on Saturday to everything assembled, but I ended up waiting until after dinner that night to set everything up.

Between the two of us, it took about an hour and a half to build the desk and chair as well as move my desk into Josh’s spot and reorganize our desk items. I forgot to take a before picture, but it’s easy to imagine: a white folding table, an old folding chair, a laptop, keyboard, monitor, speakers, and a gaggle of cords.

And here’s the finished product! (My set-up is the first two pictures, then the next two are Josh’s, and the final photo is both desks.)

Having two actual desks and two actual chairs makes the office look a lot better and cleaner. My set-up works well for the two days a week that I work from home, and Josh’s set-up works for him when he games or just uses his laptop. He doesn’t work from home, so we don’t have to really worry about both of us being in the office at the same time; however on Fridays sometimes he’ll play a game (he’ll wear earbuds) while I’m working but Fridays are usually quiet for me so it’s not that big of a deal.

Our next projects include maybe a reading chair to go in the corner of the office (to the right of Josh’s desk where I now have a butterfly chair from college) and getting a TV for the bedroom. We’re taking it slow, making sure we don’t rush into buying stuff and end up with things we don’t need. But we’re both really happy with how the office looks now!