This Stunning Drew Barrymore Find Replaced the Ugly Storage in My Living Room (It’s on Sale!)

Slowly but surely, my apartment is going from looking like a jumble of randomly acquired objects to a thoughtfully furnished space. My old roommate who’d brought over a lot of the furniture in our common spaces moved out and sold most of the items, so this year has been a process of replacing them with things I actually like. For example, the only form of storage in our living room used to be a flimsy white bookshelf. And when I say flimsy, I mean it wobbled when I touched it. The fact that it didn’t collapse under the weight of all of our books is probably the only good thing I can say about it.

Not only was the shelf unstable, but it also contrasted horribly with the other furniture in the living room, which included a black coffee table and a green bench. When the shelf was sold, I practically rejoiced — but not for too long, as I needed to find a new one. I thought of Drew Barrymore’s Beautiful line at Walmart. Although my team has covered different products from the line, I had personally never tested anything from it and was curious to try something.

When I saw the Beautiful Fluted 3-Shelf Bookcase, I wanted it immediately, and the brand kindly sent me one. After nearly three months of owning it, here’s what I think.

The most important thing to me was whether the shelf would actually fit in my small living room. I saw that it’s nearly 36 inches wide and 17 inches deep, and when I measured those dimensions in the spot where I wanted to put the shelf, I determined that it would fit. I also liked that it has a substantial height of 72 inches tall, which means plenty of storage space.

Another thing I considered was whether the shelf is freestanding, and it is! When browsing different bookcases online, I had a hard time finding a budget-friendly freestanding shelf that actually looks good, so I was pleased to find that this one checks all of those boxes. It comes with anti-tip hardware so you can attach it to the wall, but after it was built, I determined that the shelf was sturdy enough to not need it.

As for the actual assembly process, I’ll be honest — as soon as I opened the instruction manual and saw that a drill was required, I hired someone from Taskrabbit to build the shelf. He took about an hour, and together, we pushed the finished product up against the short wall in my living room.

The bookcase has four shelves that measure about a foot tall each, as well as a cabinet at the bottom that has two shelves. I would recommend storing heavier things inside the cabinet and on the bottom two shelves. The top two shelves can be a little wobbly when loaded with heavy items.

Looks-wise, the bookcase is stunning. I got the Warm Honey color, which is currently on sale for $202, though the shelf also comes in black. My coffee table and kitchen cabinets are a light oak color, and the bookcase is a couple of shades darker than them but still blends in just fine. I like that its overall design is simple, but there are still interesting details like the arched railings up top and the fluted sliding doors on the cabinet.

I still haven’t organized the bookcase exactly how I want. Instead, I switch things in and out of it on a weekly basis, but the lower two shelves are used to hold the majority of our books and a relatively heavy table lamp. The top two shelves are fun for displaying decor. I also like the cabinet for hiding things that used to clutter my living room, like mail, room sprays, yoga accessories, and more books.

Although I strictly use this product as a bookcase in my living room, its design and storage compartments make it highly versatile; you could get away with using it as a dining hutch or as a space to store office supplies. What’s more, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has a metal frame and is partially made from solid rubberwood in addition to some plywood. For such a low price, I wouldn’t expect the shelf to have any solid wood at all.

Now that the bookcase is on sale in the Warm Honey color, it’s the perfect time to snag one for your own living room. It might not be quite as sturdy as a shelf you could get at, say, West Elm or Article, but it’s great for what you’re paying, and it’s infinitely better than my old rickety bookcase. Don’t think twice!

Buy: Beautiful Fluted 3-Shelf Bookcase, $202.45 (normally $228)