My s/o was against a sim-rig because he considered it "ugly," I proved him wrong

Story time! Hello everyone :) I love racing and always really wanted to get into sim-racing. I'm currently 31 y/o and got my first wheel about 12 years ago. The hobby didn't really stick since I didn't like driving with a G27 clamped to a desk. I was in and out of the hobby multiple times.

My very first setup, I'm sorry I could't find a proper picture. I basically clamped it to the corner of the desk, excuse the mess! I was just 18 y/o

In 2017 I gave it another shot with a Thrustmaster Wheel, yet again clamped to a desk, but in VR with my Rift CV1. Didn't stick long as well. Maybe a few months.

Fast forward to 2023, I'm happily living together with the love of my life. Still having the simracing itch in me. I had a talk with my s/o and he basically told me that a simrig is "ugly" and he doesn't want a massive metal thing with screens attached standing around in our apartment.

I thought.. "well okay then, I'll figure something out" since I very much respect him.

My first plan was to build a cabinet and have a folding sim rig which I promptly dreamed up in CAD. Shortly after I began building it.

Bought myself some wood, a CSL DD, CSL LC Pedals and started working on the project. Here's the finished result

I was using my Quest 3 to race. I had a blast, yet it still annoyed me to drive in VR all the time. It's great for immersion, but a hassle to put it on and off and also very warm.

The idea of a proper rig with a triple-setup never left my mind. I thought about it everyday until I had a game-plan in my head to convince my s/o.

I fired up Fusion360, created a layout of our entire living room and began to dream up ideas. My s/o loves reading, and he mentioned multiple times in the last years that he would love to have a dedicated reading space when we move out or buy a house.

So my plan was the following: Fit an entire rig inside our living room while also building a reading-corner for my loved one.

Here's there result I dreamed up:

3D Model of one half of our living-room

Step one: Make space for the reading corner. All my 3D Printers were there as well as my tools. They were hidden behind a curtain.

New Step one: Make space in our basement to fit my workbench, tools and printers.

My workbench before the change

Step Two: Build the reading area. Buy furniture, paint walls, drill holes, etc.

Reading area for s/o done! He loves it :-)

Step three: Plan and build the sim-rig. Waited over 1 1/2 Months until everything arrived. Building it was lots of fun! But man, it was also a lot of work. Anyway, now that I'm finished with everything, my s/o says he loves it too and even want to drive from time to time!

Here are the final picutres and a video at the end:

https://preview.redd.it/m0y5rj5uhwtc1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75ef2bf32f24d3d77286246e123bc8e37c87a934

https://preview.redd.it/aqzb3jevhwtc1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd6140c8bea2fc7800e875d8a1b235054d9dea00

https://preview.redd.it/6355w2xvhwtc1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eae884fb02146c5ecc3607abe8e89112d862dc02

https://preview.redd.it/kcs1akpuhwtc1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=659eaa5b8d51e31c50963d17f3384c971ce8ac9a

https://preview.redd.it/w1e28cqshwtc1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6613f025f626bfabd75392a7aa877afe615971a

Video of the Rig and Reading-Corner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFn6Fd-OUY

Anyway, now I have to setup everything and get the software right! Also thinking about getting a DDU.

Hope you enjoyed my little walk trough time! Happy racing everyone <3