Our Small Home Gym Reveal

We took a room in our basement and created a workout space for our family. If you are looking for ways to workout in the comfort of your own home, check out our small home gym reveal.

Recently, I shared how I’m DIY-ing Myself and how to Find the Right Diet for You. But there is one challenge I constantly face.

Exercise and finding the drive to care for myself.

But then I got stuck with the next 3 big hurdles – time, space and cost.

So I had to figure out a space that worked not just for me, but for the rest of my family, as well as getting the best home exercise equipment for weight loss.

In our basement, we have 2 bedrooms that were previously built when we moved in.

Originally, one room was a game room and the other was a spare room where we stored the workout equipment we had along with tons of Legos.

When my son moved his bedroom down to the basement, that started the ball rolling and soon I was searching for home gym ideas.

Let me show you where we started.

Small Home Gym Reveal

(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

Yup – baby poop brown walls and nasty carpet.

I know you have to agree that this is less than inspiring.

And the amount of time I had spent in here (or lack thereof) showed me that we needed to make a change.

Demo and Prep Work

We started by removing the popcorn ceiling. If you are looking for tips on how to do this quick and easy – check out this post.

It took a bit longer than usual since we had to juggle the existing junk in the room.

But once that was done, we ripped out the carpet next.

No matter how many times we cleaned it, it still had a smell.

I couldn’t wait for this to go.

We have this awesome carpet ripper attachment for our Dremel Multimax that made the process super quick and easy.

We love our Dremel and use it for almost every room we tackle. And this little carpet cutter blade is a must have if you plan to rip out the carpet yourself.

We cut them into long 2 foot wide strips which made rolling them up and taking them out of the room simple.

Once the carpet, tack strips, and most of the pad was gone, next came painting.

Painting the Walls and Ceiling

I chose my custom color with Romabio Paints – Grace Note White in a matte finish.

We painted the walls and ceiling the same color for a seamless look.

What I love most about their interior paint is the sheen. Since it is made from minerals, it refracts the light differently than any other paint I’ve seen.

Plus, they are super healthy for your home. It’s made from potassium silicate and continuously absorbs CO2. How perfect is that for a home gym?

Adding to those benefits, they are also washable and extremely durable.

Now we were ready to finish the flooring.

Installing Luxury Vinyl Tile

I wanted to continue our basement flooring into these bedrooms, so that meant also scraping up all the glue strips from the concrete subfloor before laying the luxury vinyl tile down.

I have a full tutorial on how we installed this flooring in our family room.

It’s a soft vinyl floor that is perfect for a gym setting. Not too hard of a surface to workout on. And since it isn’t a click and lock type of floating floor, it’s very quiet under your feet.

Now that the room was ready, we were finally able to move everything in!

Decorating Our Basement Home Gym

Since this room did not have a lot of natural light, I opted for a ceiling fan with a bright light, as well as adding this floor lamp from Walmart.

Our youngest likes to create workout routines, so I hung this cork board for him to display his workout plan.

The mirror is a DIY project.

How big should a gym mirror be? It really depends on what workouts you do.

For us, I searched the Facebook Marketplace for a builder’s grade bathroom mirror. Since we are a group of tall people, I wanted to make sure it was a full-length mirror large enough to see our entire body for a whole body workout.

The edges of the mirror were damaged and desilvered, so to hide that, Trent added black electrical tape around the edges to have it appear framed.

There are lots of full-length mirrors available online.

Notice the large panels on the wall?

This room had quite the echo, so I needed a solution to help absorb the sound.

We built these same panels for our music room and knew these would work for this room. I will be sharing a tutorial on how to built these soon!

Opposite this wall, I hung a cool metal grid panel to help organize some of our gym equipment.

Adding a small plant and a fun message board that we can swap out inspirational quotes keeps the mood light – especially on those days you are dreading the workout.

The small baskets are perfect for our resistance bands and workout gloves.

Since I love to use workout videos, we found this entertainment center a friend was selling on Facebook. It is a perfect size for this old TV we had.

I gave it a fresh coat of paint – the same color black I used for our upcycled piano project.

The entertainment center also provides extra storage if needed. We moved this small mini fridge into the room so we had access to water bottles for the workouts.

And I just swapped out the knobs for a fresh new look.

The last element we added to the room were some fun photos.

Aren’t these hilarious! Can you imagine working out in a suit or a full-length dress?

I purchased these from eBay and they are great quality. The two smaller prints are 11X14 and the large one is a 16X20. I simply placed them in frames I found from Hobby Lobby.

Gotta find ways to smile through the workout, right?

Next we started adding our equipment.

What do you need for a small home gym?

The right equipment for your home gym depends on the workouts you prefer.

First, start by making a list of the workouts you love to do.

Trent and the boys wanted free weights, so I needed room for a weight bench and weight rack.

I found this Weider dumbbell weight rack on sale and it’s perfect for us.

Trent found this weight bench at our local sporting goods store.

It is an adjustable bench and is very stable, but also has wheels making it easy to move if you need more floor space.

We also inherited a stair stepper and a Health Rider (remember those?!) that are both really old, but can still be put to good use.

I placed rubber gym floor tiles underneath the stepper to keep it from moving.

The best exercise machine to lose weight at home is one you will actually use!

Since I am limited to low-impact exercise due to an ankle injury, then I had to make sure there was enough space for the equipment I needed.

I love this elliptical/recumbent bike combo! It’s a great option for a full body workout with the moving arms for an upper body workout. But you can also opt for a stationary bike workout focusing on the lower body.

I placed it on a black and gray runner rug. We purchased these same rugs for our music room and I loved how they looked.

Then, I love to also stretch and do yoga, so I needed enough floor space for a yoga mat and room to use a foam roller.

The good news is that if you look forward to your home workout, it’s worth the investment of time and energy dedicating a space to take care of yourself!

So if you don’t know where to start, there are many options that are very affordable without needing to purchase a lot of expensive fitness equipment. Resistance bands, jump ropes, a pair of dumbbells and a stability ball are extremely economical.

How much space is needed for a small home gym?

A great way to start is to think about your fitness goals and what you need to achieve them and how much room you will need.

If it’s a Peloton workout – you don’t need a lot of space. You could turn a walk-in closet into a mini gym.

I used to love to do Zumba, so I would create a space in my living room where I could dance and move freely. Move that coffee table and start dancing!

The ideal spot is what works for you.

Create a home office and exercise room combo.

Or if you have a guest room, carve out extra space in a corner for your workouts. We used a spare bedroom to create this perfect place for our family.

But if you have limited space, like a small apartment, then get creative. Turn on your favorite music and dance! You don’t need tons of square footage for a good workout area to get your heart rate up. A little space is enough room if you want

So I hope our small home gym reveal helped you find ideas to create your own perfect home gym. Of course, reach out to me if you have any questions – I’m happy to help!

You don’t need an expensive gym membership with a personal trainer or tons of commercial gym equipment to reach your fitness goals.

I am excited to finally be able to put this gym to use and continue working on my weight loss.

Decor Sources:

Elliptical / Recumbent Bike
Weider Dumbbell Weight Rack
Small Area Rugs
Grid Wall Organizing Unit
Cork Board
Felt Message Board
Wall Sound Panels – full tutorial coming soon
Mini Fridge
Yoga Mat
Foam Roller
Exercise Ball – this one is for tall people
Floor Lamp
Mirror – Facebook Marketplace
Paint: Romabio Interior Matte in Grace Note White
Ceiling Fan

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