u/burghhockey2026

So, I finally pulled the trigger, after several months of saving and some timely birthday money deposits (just hit 32 yesterday!) and went down to Thick Bikes to grab this! Giant Roam 3 Disc.

I haven't ridden in almost a decade, been using an old Toys R Us bike I had in middle school and high school as a stationary bike just to keep my fitness up, and I thought that maybe it's time for a real adult bike lol

Dealt with Chris and it was such a smooth experience. Didn't try to push me toward anything more, but was super supportive and helpful. Even took a look at my bike rack on my car once I got it on there to put me at ease that I actually did it right lol.

All in all, a great experience and I look forward to getting back out on the trails. I remember riding the river trails through South Side as a kid with my dad and my brother. Really excited to get back into it!

So, I spent forever modeling my home office renovations in Sketchup (see last image for what I was trying to achieve), creating an elevation plan in Revit for the shelf rail bolt holes (I'm a structural engineer, what can I say? lol) and when I went to install the shelves? Had a lot of trouble getting the anchors to hold.

The wall I painted is 1/2" plaster with hollow CMU block. And I was limited in anchor size because of the holes in the shelf rails I wanted to use. Long story short, nothing was cooperating, so I pivoted. I bought enough shelf rails and brackets to have six shelves, as soon as I ordered three more actual shelf boards, but with my current setup (plan B), I don't need to purchase the three additional shelves right now. I'd like to eventually, but this is it for now.

I'm not entirely pleased with this, because it is absolutely not what I planned and hoped for, but it's an improvement over what the space was before.

Note: the half-height brick wall has been there since my parents bought the house, and I really enjoy what it does to the space, so it's always a big deal for me to keep that whenever I change up the space in any way.

I moved back into my childhood home just over 10 years ago after graduating from college. My parents had both retired to Florida, so I thought "cheap rent, why not?" This area was always my mom's desk. So I've been using it as my home office.

I don't work from home on any regular basis, just as-needed (I enjoy going into the company office, but that's a debate for another subreddit lol). Anyway, I have moved the desk around, moved the shelves around, redecorated the walls, etc, for the last decade. Finally, though, I'm doing a legitimate renovation. The space is small (about 5'-6" wide) between stairs to the kitchen and a bathroom. It has been getting a bit chaotic, so I'm hoping my plan works.

New shelves on the wall ahead of the desk, and a new paint job on that wall because, well as you can see it needs it badly!

Here's some before shots and I will definitely make sure to update with some progress and afterward shots!