The coolest idea that came out of this whole revamp was how we handled the desks. After perusing IKEA, I found that their modular desk solutions were not only awesome, there was a double-length desk that would fit EXACTLY into the nook created by the staircase to the second floor and the railing that surrounds it. Ben and I would get a bit cozy with our desk space, but it suited our layout a LOT better and opened up the entire area.

Also from IKEA, we picked up some of their wallshelves and brackets and mounted them on the wall right above the desk. I picked up a total of 14 storage baskets from Amazon: 8 of them went on the newly mounted IKEA shelves, and the remaining 6 went into a shallow 6-cube Closetmaid shelf (Target) to put in the window alcove area. I had a few plastic bins from Staples (left side of photo) that I had ultimately wanted to get rid of – but in the end they were useful and matched well enough to stay in the revamped office. Never underestimate how much crap you have to conceal from sight when you are two technologically nerdy people living in a small condo!!!

Note: if I got to do-over, I would buy the matching Closetmaid storage baskets instead of the Amazon ones, as the sizing is just a tiny bit different between the two – and the Closetmaid ones come in more colors!

With the departure of the old brown loveseat, we picked up a simple black futon. I had originally wanted a faux-leather futon, but the cats would probably poke holes in it with their claws, so we went with microfiber.  The Kebo futon is really tiny, and folds out to something sort of between a twin and full-size bed. Not a great futon for futons’s sakes, but great for our purposes – and it has a tiny footprint as well! Monty, one of our cats, clearly approves.

I also did a simple swap for some pieces of furniture – I moved the brown box lamp to our bedroom (which has a dark wood theme) and moved our bedroom light out to the office (the light was given to us by the friend we gave the loveseat to. Yay karma!). The nice thing about this light is the little reading lamp, so I made sure to put it near the futon.

Finally, we donated the CRT TV and the mismatched TV stand, and replaced with a wall-mounted LCD TV from Amazon and an IKEA Lack coffee table for our printers. Still trying to think of a solution for the dangling wire that doesn’t involve punching more holes into the wall – pretty sure that while wall-mounting our tv, we drilled into the A/C duct, but oh well. (Pro-Tip: it’s worth the money to buy a more expensive stud-finder!)

Incidentally – wireless printers are the BEST THINGS EVER. Our printer is an all-in-one Canon PIXMA MX870, and can be wirelessly accessed by both Mac and PC. (I also have a wide format Canon PIXMA 9000 Mark II for artwork prints only, as seen under the coffee table). I picked up the MX870 from Staples on sale for around $60! That was less than a full change of ink cartridges for my old Canon i950!

Upgrade Components Price Sheet:

• IKEA Desk: $50 for desktop
• IKEA table legs, shelves, shelf brackets, coffee table: reciept says $100, but it was probably less since I always pick up random stuff when I go IKEA-ing.
• Closetmaid storage baskets: $5 per basket on Amazon.com. Closetmaid baskets are $7/each at Target but are pretty good quality and come in more colors.
• 6-cube Closetmaid shelf: $50 at Target (go in person because shipping sucks)
• Kebo Futon: $120