How Many Razorbacks Does It Take to Hang a Bicycle?

Today is Saturday.  It's the weekend before we go to Vegas and the weekend that I got back from Philadelphia.  We really didn't have much planned. 

Our goal for Saturday:  get the guest bedroom and closet organized so that Kyle could move in and have room to put his things and feel comfortable.

Before we got started our guest bedroom consisted of:  Rob's bicycle, a desk, a full bed, golf clubs, three stackable plastic drawers, and storage thing that you can also sit on that sits at the foot of the bed.  A lot of stuff for one bedroom that's not that big.

Then, the closet in the guest bedroom was completely jam-packed of everything else.  I keep all our t-shirts in there, christmas decorations, luggage, boxes, games, china that we haven't taken out of the boxes yet b/c we don't have a china cabinet, and fiesta boxes.

Let me fill you in on these Fiesta boxes.  When we moved here, we moved all of our wedding presents down.  And all our plates, bowls, etc came in 5-pc Fiesta boxes from Dillards.  When we unpacked, Robert wanted to keep all of those boxes.  So that when we move, we have to re-pack each 5 pc place setting in that individual box.  Do you know how hard it was to move like 5 boxes at a time from your car to inside and then unpack each box?  But Rob wouldn't have it.  He wanted to keep the individual boxes (16 of them).

Rob loves keeping boxes.  I find it so amusing!  We have boxes for the wireless router, cables, computers, and anything else that comes in a box b/c he can't throw them away.  It is kind of nice in the instance that it does have a home.  But there's nothing like storing empty space!

So, anyways... there was no room in the closet for Kyle's things.  He wouldn't have been able to put away his suitcase or hang any of his clothes.  We had originally tried renting a storage closet in our apartment complex, but there is a waiting list with no realistic end in sight.  Certainly not before Kyle got here.  Then, we thought about renting a storage closet outside the apartment complex, but Rob wasn't too happy with that idea b/c he uses his bicycle at least once a week.  So, all that being said... our project:  re-organize the closet and hang the bicycle and golf clubs on the wall to get them off the floor.

Anyways, we headed to The Container Store this morning to begin our shopping.  This store is amazing.  It just kind of beckons you to become organized.  If you know me, it makes me feel very good inside.  It's like my dream store.  They have the coolest storage ideas.  They have individual shoe boxes even.  Can you imagine what I could do with individual shoe boxes??  Ok, yeah.. I do know what would happen w/ indidividual clear shoe boxes.. they would remain empty b/c who has the space for individual shoe boxes and then you'd have to actually put them in the shoe box.  My shoes are the first thing that come off when I walk in the door.  You have to be careful when you come into my place b/c you are liable to trip over a shoe.

But, when we got to the store... we did get a little side tracked with a shoe tree that swiveled at first. 

Anyways, I absolutely fell in love with this product:

The Platinum Elfa Mesh Start a Stack.  So cool! 

The Platinum Elfa Mesh Start a Stack

The Container Store

But, w/o the drawers it costs at least $100 w/o a top.  Who wants their top drawer not to be covered w/ something?  More dust would just collect on this clothes thats sitting in this picture's top drawer.  But, let me show you what we did get:

Bike rack on the wall

Stores two golf bags and shoes!

Then, we also got two under the bed storage units.  We got home, took everything out of the closet, donated some clothes to goodwill and put the closet back together again in a more organized fashion.  We threw away the Fiesta boxes as well as other empty boxes, or at least condensed boxes into other boxes. 

Let me tell you, when Rob gets a mood to organize, he's like Mr. Speedy Gonzales.  He's on a mission.  He get's going.  You can't stop him!!  He just goes.  There's no telling him to try it a different way or anything.  He starts throwing things even.  We had empty boxes flying in the air!

Anyways, we did some spring cleaning and got everything settled in the closet.  However, our under the bed boxes were too big for "under the bed."  That must have been why the one we already had was at the bottom of our closet and not under the bed.  So, now we have another one that sits at the bottom of our closet, too.  Maybe I'll remember next time.

So, before we even went to The Container Store I measured all the spots on the walls for where the bike could possibly fit.  He has 26 inch tires and the entire height of the bike from bottom of tire to top seat is about 3 feet.  He also has a very light-weight bike.

However, the places I had thought we could have put it, Kyle would have been sleeping with a bicycle seat and handlebars right in his face.  Literally, 3 inches from the end of the bed, if that.  I failed to realize just how large the bike would actually be on the wall.  It's quite huge!!

So, we decided we'd put in our "garage."  Our garage is two walls that when you open the front door, there is just a corner of empty space.  That's where we kept our chips, sodas and our lunch boxes as well as other random junk.  Literally, our garage.  We decided it would fit there w/o be unobtrusive.

Enter try one of hanging the bicycle.  The instructions read, " hold up bicycle against the wall, measure where tire hits the wall and then mark 12 inches above that spot."  Do you have any idea how many tire marks I now have on my wall from "holding the bicycle up"  Rob's just bouncing it up and down.  As he said, "yeah, the bicycle is light.. for a bike.  Not for holding up against a wall."

I had originally wanted to put drawers below the bike.  But rob was practicing hold the bike against the wall and I could see he was really struggling.  He was like, it's not gonna do us any good if I can't put the bike on the thing b/c it's so high up.  So, the bike is not too far off the ground and I will have no storage under the bike.

So, first thing's first... we grab our stud finder (I know, you're impressed.. we have a stud finder."  We follow the instructions by finding the stud and then screwing in the holes.  We put the bike up there and the whole thing immediately falls down.

Now, let me tell you.. this is not surprising.  We are not the best "do-it-yourselfers.  You're talking to the girl who is married with two holes in excess of the original holes drilled for her curtain rods and a tv that hangs slightly crooked on the wall.  We aren't the best.  And we are slow. It probably took us 30 minutes to find the stud and then decide where we wanted to drill in our holes.

However, the whole thing fell down b/c well.. we had missed the stud.  I blame this on our stud finder.  We had like quadruple checked w/ the stud finder.  But we definitely did not drill into the stud.  Dry wall came flying out of our drill holes when the bike came tumbling down.  We checked again w/ the stud finder, and it kept telling us that we were at a stud.  But it was so wrong!  Why does this stuff happen to us???  How can the stud finder be wrong??  We depend on those things!

So, we move the wall that is caddy corner to the original wall we were working on (makes the corner).  We re-measure (more tire marks now on wall) and re-drill.  This time when Rob drills the holes he realizes that he is indeed drilling into the stud.  We hang the bike.... ta-da, it does not come tumbling down!  The next part is to put this little thing on the bottom tire so that none of the bike is actually touching the wall.

I get down there and tell Rob to let me know when I'm straight so that I can stick it to the wall. He finally says okay, you're good.  So, I stick it to the wall.  The he measures.  The top tire is 17 3/4" from the end of the wall.  The bottom of the tire is 16" from the end of the wall.  Is that straight?  No.  Our bicycle is definitely hanging diagonally.  But oh well.  It's out of the bedroom and not taking up floor space.  I opt not to fix it.

So, there's your story.  It only took us about an hour to hang that one bicycle.  Now... on to the golf club storage contraption.  We got it into the bedroom and decided that Kyle would be having a golf club just hanging over his head w/ both set of golf clubs on this thing.  One cannot sleep w/ a golf club nearly 1 inch from his head.  So, we put that thing back in the box and decided they could stay on the floor.  With the bike out of the bedroom, I think they'll be ample room for two sets of golf clubs when Kyle brings his (I'm assuming he will b/c he does like to golf).  Fancy contraption, all for nothing!  It makes me a little sad.  I do love good ideas.




The completed project (ignore tire tracks)
You can't even tell it's diagonal, see!!!

 So, Rob's bike is kind of our like our baby... it even gets its own room (ok, its just a corner of our house!  ;-)  If you could have seen his face when it ripped from the wall it's first time.  He almost wouldn't try to hang it again.  But I was like, "you're really worried about your bike falling?  Don't you go flying from this thing and drag it down mountains and rocks sometimes?  And you're worried about it falling 6 inches from the floor?  It's the wall you should be worried about, I tell ya."  That got him to try it again.

But oh well, the guest bedroom is now clutter free and the closet is organized and there is room for Kyle's luggage and clothes!  Phew!!!  Now... onwards to pack for Las Vegas and eat some dinner.