Is it possible to make a small home gym look good in a bedroom?

We’re introducing the latest problem area, and we’ll figure out how we can make a small home gym look good in a bedroom!

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like the look of gym equipment on the carpet, let alone sitting on the floor of our master bedroom. But this isn’t just about problem-solving a gym in a small home, it’s also about compromise when it comes to home design.

I’ve learned over the years in order to have a happy relationship you need to compromise sometimes.

That includes what we do in our home. I try to think about Tony’s wants and needs when I’m designing a room. Just like with clients I’ll always ask what their partner likes and dislikes about the specific area I’m designing. It helps when you consider everyone who lives in the home, and helps make a house feel more like home.

Even though I would rather avoid putting gym equipment in our master bedroom, I know it’s really important to Tony. It’s just another one of the changes we’ve had to make in the past year when a lot of businesses were closed.

How to make a Small Home Gym make sense in a bedroom.

All The Options For a Home Gym

Well, it’s not exactly a gym, it’s actually our bedroom.

But in our small three-bedroom home, this is what we’re left with and it’s pretty much the only option we have at the moment. We have talked about other options, like raising our house to turn the crawl space into a useable basement which would cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. Or we thought about making over our garden shed to create an insulated gym that we could use all four seasons. But again something like that would cost upwards of $15,000 or more.

Today we’re looking for something more budget-friendly, while we figure out if we want to invest that money into this house or buy something else in the near future.

What our “Gym” Looks Like Today

I did a mini makeover of our bedroom last year, but it’s still on the list of things we need to completely re-design. Which in all honesty won’t be happening this year (we have bigger things coming up this winter).

So far we only painted the walls and covered the floor-to-floor carpets with these Interlocking Gym Floor Tiles.

(As I was writing this we got another pack of the interlocking floor tiles so it covers more area.) see below.

Avoiding the Frat House Look

Like I mentioned we have a 3-bedroom bungalow. This means we have the master bedroom, which has a door that opens to the bathroom (I’ll share more about why this is important soon). The kids share a large bedroom across the hall, and I have an office space in Penelope’s old nursery.

The office might be another option for our home gym. But I haven’t decided if filling an entire room with gym equipment would give us the frat house vibes I’m trying to avoid. So unless I can find a good example of an entire room dedicated to being the gym that looks good, I’ll keep designing a space in our bedroom.

Also, not my ideal place to put a gym but again we’re out of options for anywhere else.

Storing the Rest of the Equipment

So you might be wondering where all the weights, bars, and other equipment go when he’s not using it. So far it’s being stored in his closet, and it’s basically my OCD’s worst nightmare. I keep it closed at all times because I can’t stand looking at it. So in an effort to be a bit more organized, we’re going to be making over Tony’s closet as well.

We plan on getting rid of the closet shelves, or if our budget gets tight we might repurpose them (which would be a good idea if you’re a renter). We need a place to store his clothes still, so one side of his “walk-in closet” will be dedicated to his clothes. I’ll get baskets for his socks, shorts, and gym clothes, while we hang the rest.

The other side will be for equipment. I’ll source some ways to hang some of his stuff, maybe put a shelf on that end to create a neat and organized space for his weights, shoes, and anything else.

The Rest of the Plan

I started a Pinterest board for all my ideas, and I’ll share some of my favorites below. Hopefully, they will help you get an idea for your own small home gym.

I really love accent walls, and it could be used as a way to separate the bedroom from the gym without

This would be a great idea to use in the closet to organize all his gym equipment.

I’m inspired by other’s who have incorporated a home gym in their home without it looking like a college guy’s bedroom.

This makes me think we could possibly pull off the gym in our home office.. maybe I’ll share another post with inspiration if that’s also an option for you.

Looking at all these inspiration pictures makes me feel more excited to start designing our new (small) home gym! Hopefully, you’ll follow along and we can give you some more ideas or even show you how to pull off making a home gym look good in a bedroom (or office).

Shop the Post