Necessity breeds creativity. The need for movement for the whole family created a variety of creative solutions. Our favorite, and prettiest solution of the bunch was the creation of a home gym in our home’s mudroom space. This DIY home gym included a change of flooring, paint, and a space styled with the goal of inspiring movement.

When the long-lasting reality of the pandemic began to dawn on our family we ended our monthly gym membership and decided to focus those funds elsewhere. In the beginning we were spending plenty of time outdoors and getting our exercise by working in the yard or going on hikes. We even purchased an above-ground pool that we used as much as possible in the short Spokane Summer season.

Then winter hit…and, boy, did it hit hard! We quickly realized that we really needed a more complete space to complete our daily workouts. Our under-organized and over-stuffed gym/mudroom/office/laundry space just wasn’t cutting it. So, after some hemming and hawing from the husband, we started in on our first time doing flooring along with some other DIY efforts to make this multi-purpose space into a true home gym.

Using the mudroom space for fun kid’s games and to store random items

The Before: An Actual Dumping Ground

The gym still serves as a second home office, laundry room, and mudroom. It just looks a lot better doing it all. Read on for the makeover highlights and supply list.

I only have a few photos of the before of this room, but check out my Instagram for a video of the whole transformation! (Follow me @JenniBost)

Our mudroom houses a laundry room area that is unfinished. We did not tackle that space in this makeover, but have plans for the future! The rest of the space is actually quite large at 16’X9′. We have used this space in the past as an extra guest room, a storage room, an indoor bike space, and an extra home office.

Removing Carpet in the Mudroom/ Gym Space

The Needs for Our Refresh:

In future posts I’ll go into the flooring and some of my DIY artwork in more detail, but for now, here are the basics for what our refresh required:

Flooring: The flooring was the biggest eye-sore in this space as it was a cheap cream carpet that got some good wear-and-tear from the traffic coming in from the backyard and garage. Eventually, we would like to redo the flooring in the entire house, so this was a good opportunity to learn a new DIY skill.
Paint: Much of our house was painted a version of white that had a cream base. I like a brighter, cooler white. So, paint needed to happen. As much as I love color, I chose white to help keep this space feeling relaxing.
Storage: The space previously had hap-hazard storage that was filled to the brim with anything that didn’t really have a home. We needed to create homes for those items and make sure we had space to store our every-day home gym equipment.
Decor: Gotta have something on the walls to help inspire us!

Our home gym complete with treadmill and indoor bike trainer

The After: Our Very Own Home Gym

The best part of any DIY is the before and after photos, right? I’m really proud of this little room.

The flooring isn’t perfect. I’m sure that if someone looked closely they would see our mistakes in getting things spaced just right. However, it is 1000% better than what was there before and it was our first try at flooring. I’m trying to rest in that instead of being frustrated that it isn’t pro-quality.

It has been so nice to go in and get in a good sweat session. We, unfortunately, did not have room for my indoor bike, so that resides in my office still. However, we were able to mount a TV for things like Yoga– we have a large space that is completely empty aside from a rug for us to do non-machine workouts. We were able to get in our treadmill and my husband’s indoor bike.

Scroll down to see the photos and then the list of supplies!

treadmill in home gym — Treadmill area complete with my husband’s many medals for races

indoor training bike — Indoor Bike trainer area and yoga mat basket

gym artwork — Don’t Quit Artwork along with hand weights and resistance training materials

display of running medals — Gym Artwork with Running Medals

Indoor gym supplies

Boy oh boy do we have a big list of supplies. I’m not going to get into all the nitty gritty about the flooring in this post, but promise to share those supplies soon.

Disclosure: Any of the links below marked with an asterisk (*) is an affiliate link meaning that I will receive a portion of the sale, at no cost to you, if you purchase anything using that link. Thank you for your support!

Treadmill: We got the Horizon Treadmill 7.0 AT * because it would connect to Zwift, an indoor training app.
Bike Trainer: Saris M2 Smart Indoor Electromagnetic Resistance Bike Trainer *(also compatible with Zwift).
Rugs: Vintage Distressed Rug – Threshold— We got two rugs of the same design because I loved it so much. They are from Target.
Green Metal Locker from the RealRooms brand. Though, if you are looking for other colors I’m also in love with the bright lockers from Novogratz*.
Walnut Floating Shelves*
Wood Letter Board
Accordion Decorative Wall Hooks in Brass
Mid-tone Wooden Picture Frames
Wooden Tray was a find at Home Goods, but I found a similar round wooden tray* on Amazon
Small Basket
Shoe Basket
Yoga Mat Basket was a find at Home Goods but I found a similar woven basket* on Amazon
The room spray is a favorite of mine from Grove.co* I got the sanctuary scent as I felt it would be perfect in this space. The brown glass bottle is lovely!
Artwork included family photos and some prints that I created and plan on sharing here on the blog soon!

Thank you for taking the time to check out my new DIY gym space. I hope you found some inspiration in the pictures.

What questions do you have about the space?

My obsession with displaying photos began in high school. It started off as a small section of my wall that I taped up photos of my friends and family. That small section grew to include notes, drawings, and many more photos until I had an entire ten feet by fifteen feet wall completely covered. Every time I walked into my room I was inundated by all the faces of people I loved. It was perfect. Granted when I had to take it down before moving out of the house at the end of high school it was a bit of a complicated mess. I’d suggest that if you’d like to tape up photos to your wall that you use painters tape rather than Scotch tape!

As I got older the desire to take/be in/ display photos of myself and my loved ones never really disappeared. In college I insisted my roommates do a photoshoot with me so that we could have photos for our home. One of those photos eventually got displayed on the underside of a toilet seat as a funny gag when people went to our restroom. Said photo:

Now-a-days I typically opt to display photos in frames around the house rather than on the bottoms of toilet seats… but, I still enjoy the unexpected at times! I used to be totally against displaying huge photos of me and my husband around my house. But, that has changed since having kiddos. I still like to make sure that there are some photos in addition to my family images, but I live in my house and goodness knows I LOVE seeing photos of my family.

Tips for Displaying Family Photos:

I always choose matte prints for the photos I hang in my home. Check out other family photo display tips on www.awellcraftedparty.com — Matte prints from a photo session with Moments By Macey

Family Photo Display Tip: Order your prints in matte.

This is absolutely a personal preference, but lemme tell you WHY I prefer matte over glossy: no shine and no fingerprints. I can’t stand it when fingerprints end up on pictures before the frame goes on or when there is a glare off of a photo in a frame! Matte looks so neat and clean. If you are going to a store to get instant prints then likely matte is not an option. Though, if it is, always select matte! I typically order my photos via Shutterfly or Mpix and both offer matte prints.

Family Photo Display Tip: Sprinkle family (and friend) photos around you home.

I’m a firm believer that my family is much bigger than just the few people that live in my home. My friends and distant family members are very much a part of my family too. I try to sprinkle photos of moments we share together throughout my home. Sometimes I simply keep a bunch of images in one frame and switch them out from time to time. Sometimes I put up a fun gallery wall and include a variety of photos with similar color schemes.

Tips for Displaying Family Photos via A Well Crafted Party — Photo of my Moments by Macey print by www.mommabearmag.com

Family Photo Display Tip: Go BIG!

I can’t recommend this enough. Sure, get smaller images to go around the house. But, I highly believe that one favorite image BIG can make a huge impact. And, there is nothing that makes me smile more than walking into a room and seeing the big photo of my family in the room. I usually shy from big photos of just one person, but decided to throw it out the window this past year and instead framed three big photos of myself, my husband and our son. They are silly and always get compliments. Perhaps a tad egotistic? Naw. 😉

Display Ideas for family photos from A Well Crafted Party — Photo by Moments by Macey

Family Photo Display Tip: Use Family Photos in Unexpected Ways

I did a small illustration of my family based off of one of my favorite photos from a photoshoot with Moments by Macey. The illustration, though not a perfect rendition of the photo, is one of my favorite pieces in my house because it is unexpected. Photos of holding hands or your child’s favorite toy may be unexpected ways to incorporate family photos into your decor.

Family Photo Display Tip: Display family photos where you work!

I spend a LOT of time at my computer at work. I surround myself with the photos of my family to remind me why I do the work that I do. Also, those little guys are just so cute!

Additional family photo tip:

Get fun photos of you and your family whether it be by hiring a professional (of whom you pay what they are worth) or by snapping images with your cell phone. Try unexpected poses and stolen moments. You’ll be happy you did!