The design plan for a home gym that fits our style

This is the first week of the Fall 2022 One Room Challenge. Thank you so much for visiting!

All the guest participant links can be found on the One Room Challenge blog! You can also visit the week 1 link up page directly here. This is an awesome event where everyone supports each other and has a great time working towards their own goals in these 8 weeks, so I hope you check out lots of participants!

When we moved into our new home, we knew we wanted to create a home gym. My husband and I have both done weight lifting in the past, and I also wanted a way to incorporate walking into my daily routine even during scorching North Carolina summers. While home gyms can often be very utilitarian and not have a lot of style beyond being a space to work out, I wanted to design a gym that was both functional and beautiful. Not only that, but for this particular space, we needed it to do double-duty as an occasional guest room, without our guests feeling like they were crashing in a sports equipment store.

For us, we didn’t want the gym equipment to be the sole focus of the room. We wanted a cohesive space that incorporated design elements like wall art, millwork, and clever storage. The storage I found was actually what really gave the room its stylistic direction, but first I want to talk about the equipment we have and the storage we need. Also, while I am going to be talking about gym equipment and working out, our focus is on strength, flexibility, and generally getting more movement in our days, so there won’t be any discussion of weight loss or calories in any of this series.

How to design a home gym that fits your style

When it comes to designing a home gym, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Not everyone will want the same gym equipment, whether they prefer rowing machines, free weights, or boxing equipment. We had two major pieces of equipment we wanted to include in our home gym. The first was a treadmill that was wide, folded up when not used, and was able to do inclines. I want to get back into a regular walking habit, and being able to add hills to vary the difficulty of the workout eventually really appealed to me. I also wanted a treadmill that had the option to connect your own phone or tablet, but didn’t lock you in to using their proprietary program. I know I will be more likely to walk on the treadmill frequently when I can watch the shows, YouTube videos, or TikToks I’m currently interested in. With all of these factors in mind, and reading a ton of home gym equipment reviews, we ended up buying the Sole F63 treadmill.

That handled cardio for me – and then my husband and I were both interested in finding some home gym equipment that would work well for strength training. While we could have set up a system with a weight bench, and a range of dumbbells and kettlebells, our different weightlifting goals and wanting this space to also be a guest bedroom meant we were more interested in an integrated full body workout system like Mirror or Tonal. We picked the Tonal, and it actually was installed by the Tonal representatives a couple of months ago, as they ask for you to have it installed before making any cosmetic changes to the wall. The compact design of the Tonal is perfect for a multipurpose room like this, and it is an incredibly versatile piece of exercise equipment. It adjusts with you if you are just beginning a routine and need spotting during a lift, and it keeps track of the muscle groups you work so you can avoid overworking and plan rest days. It also comes with a number of attachments, which is where our need for storage comes in.

What was your vision for the space?

Designing a home gym that fits your style can be a daunting task. I mentioned how we picked our fitness equipment, but then how do you plan a design style and a layout that works? After all, you want something that is functional and stylish at the same time. Let me talk through our design process in the hopes it helps you when you are faced with a similar design challenge.

I mentioned that we had to have the Tonal installed before we did millwork or painting in the room. We also had to consider where it could be installed, since it is wall-mounted and needs an electrical outlet. They also recommend a 7’x7′ unobstructed floor space for exercises in front of the Tonal. We had made scans of the room we wanted to use as a home gym during our walkthrough, so we were able to do some of this space planning even before we moved in. Given the dimensions of the room and the Murphy bed already installed on one wall (which is perfect for an occasional guest room), we picked our Tonal installation space.

Once we’d marked out the 7’x7′ space for working out with the Tonal, and keeping in mind where the queen-size Murphy bed would unfold, we had a couple of options for the treadmill, both by the big wall of windows. Then, it was time to look at storage that would accommodate all of the Tonal accessories. I definitely saw inspiration pictures that had a wall shelf with attachment points that fit the Tonal accessories, but overall I was leaning towards closed storage.

After a lot of searching, this antique Art Deco armoire seemed to be the perfect match for what we needed to store, and really became the focal point of our design.

Once we found this Art Deco focal piece, a spin on Art Deco felt like a great fit for the home gym’s design direction. The gym equipment we picked is comprised of primarily bold geometric lines, and Art Deco was inspired by technological advances in the 1920s. It’s a glamorous yet functionality-focused style, much like I wanted our home gym to be. As you’ll see in my mood board, I did incorporate a floral and bird pattern in one part of the design because the gym equipment leans so heavily to the utilitarian and give a little contrast to all the geometric patterns elsewhere in the design. I also added some warmer colors than I usually pick for a room to be a point of contrast to the black and silver of the gym equipment.

• Picture Rail Inspiration
• Wallpaper
• Art Deco Armoire
• Art Deco Door Inspiration
• Light Switch Plate Inspiration

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I am so excited to be part of the One Room Challenge again this fall, and to show you how the home gym that is also welcoming to guests progresses. I hope this first post has given you some insight into the direction we chose, and also some ideas to try if you are ever needing to tackle a similar space!