A few years ago, we added a kitchen to the upstairs part of my office, and honestly, it’s been a total win for convenience and keeping everyone at home happy. Now, this place isn’t just where I exercise and work; it’s got a fully-stocked kitchen and a legit bathroom too. The best part? I can run, blend a smoothie, and hop into the shower without having to put up with the usual gym playlist torture or navigate through a sea of selfie-taking influencers.

Adjusting my diet after cancer has been like figuring out a puzzle with half the pieces missing — challenging, but I’m up for it. I’ve managed to find joy in cooking within these new rules, even though I’m pretty sure my family would rather not put up with my extremely limited diet.

This office has become a personal cave, decked out with all things retro gaming. It’s filled with PacMan neon lights, NES posters, arcade machines, Mario pillows, and more. There are Contra figures, Fallout bobbleheads, and a bunch of gaming projects that really bring the place to life, especially at night.

When we installed the kitchen, we missed out on a backsplash. So, I got to work with my 3D printer and some Fusion 360. I recreated sprites for the backsplash, staying as true to the Super Mario Brothers as possible. There was a slight change to the color scheme from not having the perfect colors of filament, but the final look turned out even better than I expected.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Start with some art.
2. Use Photoshop to split the images by color.
3. Bring them into Inkscape.
4. Apply the “Path > Trace Bitmap” function to tweak and get a good preview.
5. Save those as .svg files.
6. Take those into Fusion 360 and build up each color layer, adjusting the height bit by bit.
7. Export as an .stl file.
8. Load that into your 3D printer’s software.
9. Finalize the adjustments, ensuring solid infill and proper spacing between lighter colors on dark backgrounds to keep everything looking good.