I’ve definitely learned from my Interior Design diploma, that a good design starts with thorough planning. Our home gym makeover was no exception. In this blog I’ll give you a step by step guide to plan your own home gym.

Step 1: Take Measurements

First start by taking all the measurements of the room. This is so you can accurately map out a 2D and 3D plan of your finished room.

Step 2: Evaluate Likes and Dislikes

Next I took note of what I liked about the room currently and what I disliked. The room felt cold and stark because of the white walls and off-white sheet vinyl floor. The spotlights made the low ceiling feel lower. However I did like the huge mirror wall on the back wall, this was perfect for a gym.

Step 3: Think About How You’ll Use the Room

Next think about how you would use the room. We wanted two treadmills with a TV, because we both like to workout at the same time (and a TV keeps our minds off the workout!) We wanted a frame for pull-ups and banded work, and I really wanted a quiet comfortable space to do yoga. We also needed some form of storage to store all our equipment.

Step 4: Map Out the New Space

Once you know how you want to use the space, and what gym equipment you want to include, map it out as a 2D sketch, and ideally 3D to visualize how it’ll look. I like to use either Floorplanner or Planner 5D to do my designs. They’re both reasonably priced, have plenty of stock furniture choices, and with Planner 5D you can even change the color of the furniture. However, mapping out the room on a piece of paper is also fine.

Luckily everything we wanted to use the room for fitted perfectly. With the frame nicely tucked away in the corner, and a mini yoga studio in front of the mirror wall. I zoned the space for the yoga studio, so it didn’t feel like part of the bigger room, by painting a blue accent stripe, and following that color through with the rug and the storage unit on the opposite side. This created the illusion of a separate zoned area which was different to the rest of the gym.

Step 5: Choose Colors

I decided to add accents of red to the room to really make it ‘pop’. It’s a contrasting color to the blues, and something that we had dotted around the room anyway through the equipment we have.

TIP: Always try to repeat a color throughout the room to tie it together better.

Our home gym is in a basement and only has one small window for natural light, so I kept the flooring light to keep the room bright. However I made the walls slightly darker than what they were using a soft cream to make the room feel cozier and warmer but still bright.

Step 6: Think About Lighting

After tackling the natural light issue with floor and wall colors, we then thought about artificial light. Think about how you will use the space and how that translates to the lighting you’ll need in the room. We wanted to use the space for cardio and weights workouts, but also as a yoga studio. We replaced the strip lights for new recessed can spotlights on a dimmer. This made the ceilings feel taller and added controllable lighting for added functionality as both a workout space, and relaxing yoga studio.

I hope you enjoyed reading this step by step guide on how to plan a home gym. To see the full before and after photos read my blog on the grand reveal.

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Jo @britflipper