Earlier this year, we got new office furniture shortly after Josh moved in, and it took us 10 months later to make another update to the office. Life happens, ya know? We’ve definitely settled into living together and having our stuff in the condo, so I figured it was time to make a change.

The plan? Get rid of the butterfly chair and 5-headed lamp and replace them with a book case and a more adult lamp. Both the butterfly chair and 5-headed lamp were from my college days and came with me when I moved into the condo. They served their purpose.

I once had dreams of replacing the butterfly chair with an actual chair for reading in the office, but as we’ve been living together, that hasn’t been the case. Usually, if I’m reading, I’m in the living room and Josh will be in the office playing a game. And I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a chair that I didn’t end up using.

After some searching, I found a bookcase and lamp from Walmart—neither were super expensive (because lamps seem to be a lot of money???).

Overall, I think it took us about an hour to put together the bookcase and lamp, re-arrange the office, and cut up the cardboard to bring outside to the recycling bins.

Here are the before pictures! The 5-headed lamp is in the left corner and the butterfly chair is on the right side next to the big bookcase.

And the after! The tripod-style lamp that was next to the big bookcase was moved to where the 5-headed lamp was, and we put the new lamp and bookcase in that area. I like how the bookcase is open and tall, so that it takes up good space but isn’t too bulky.

We’re both happy with how it came out. I think it’s a better investment than a chair, especially since that corner is sort of small and I’m not sure even if a chair would fit well in there. This is our second project since Josh moved in early January, and I like that we take our time in deciding what we want to change or update. And it feels like our shared home now.