Reveal: Our Home Gym is finished!!

We've been transforming our home gym over the last couple of weeks, and I finally get to share what we've had up our sleeves (although if you're subscribed to Love Letter or follow me on Instagram you already know)! We've never really had a dedicated home gym space before. (Okay, I guess that's not entirely true. We carved out a tiny little workout space in our basement storage room two homes ago, but looking back now — it's comical how big our aspirations were. But we absolutely made it work!) This house already had a designated home gym next to the guest house entrance, and below the upcoming rec room space. As you can see in the before images, it's not a huge space at approximately 140 sq feet, however it's just right for what we wanted!

When I shared the home gym mood board, I shared that we were taking inspo from the checkerboard tile in our last house and it's true! That checkerboard tile was the inspo for our newest product line of peel and stick flooring with FloorPops coming May 9th! In fact, the line is named The Bonneville after the county that home was in! It’s been over a year in the making and the inspiration for this entire room.

Before

After!

Ceiling Fan | Yoga Mats | Weight Bench | Ergatta Rower | Dumbell Set | NordicTrack Treadmill | The DB Method

Can you even believe this is the same space? There were just a few things we did in here that made a gigantic impact! Here's the breakdown:

Paint it white

We've been painting our home in muted colors left and right so I wanted to brighten this dingy space with a couple coats of white flour (the same white in the rest of the house). I also think the white paint keeps the floor the shining element in this room, don't you?!

Give the mirrors a facelift

The space already had two large mirrors in place, but adding this custom frame detail to the mirror really took this space from builder-grade to charming and unique. We did a full tutorial on exactly how we did it and I would say it's the perfect way to elevate any frameless mirror!

Update the lighting

Okay, okay the ceiling fan is such a stunner. I think a fan in a home gym is essential and so I really wanted one that did the job, but also elevated the whole space. This one delivered ten fold, if I do say so myself! Not only is it completely gorgeous but it's very powerful with three settings--definitely picks up a breeze in the gym. And I love the light it gives off, too.

We also updating the lighting in the stair landing. For some reason there was a box for a light here, but no light so I'm very happy with this industrial semi-flush mount here. I especially love the pop of brass on the inside. There's also a plug up there where the previous owners had a small tv, but we decided not to add one as of now. (Our phones and workout equipment all have screens that keep us entertained while sweating up a storm!)

Peel-and-stick flooring

This peel-and-stick vinyl tile is easy to install (no tools, but a razor blade required) and so thick and durable! Unlike the stickers we used for the girls’ bathroom floor that peeled up like a giant sticker, these are thick, rigid vinyl meant to be a permanent, budget flooring solution. Seriously, the quality is unreal, plus they’re water resistant and wipeable. Perfect for our home gym, but would also be great in a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, laundry room, mudroom, hallway… The possibilities are endless.

In designing these, it was really important to me to provide an easy to use, beautiful flooring option that’s budget friendly. Nailing the perfect soft gray and warm white was top priority to me and I'm so proud of where we landed. Each box comes with a set of 10, 12”x12” tiles (5 gray, 5 white), with varied veigning from box to box. I dare you to find two look-alike tiles in the photo above. Working with FloorPops to make this come alive has been incredible.

When the collection drops on FloorPops website and also Amazon, there will be a limited quantity in this first release, so measure your spaces and mark your calendars for May 9th! EEEee!!!!

Elevated equipment

An essential part of my morning routine is leaving the house and getting to the gym. I've been doing this for years and, honestly sometimes it's the only time I get to leave the house in a day. I use a lot of equipment (too much to ever fit in this space), and it's good for my mental health to get outside. However, since moving here and having this space--even before the makeover, I have loved having this room to do a wind-down cardio workout after work and I always pop down here on the weekends instead of going to the gym. Also, if we learned anything over the last couple years it's that anything can happen unexpectedly, so it's nice to have our own space to carve out some time to exercise.

We already had the treadmill, DB Method squat machine, and the Ergatta rower, which has the prettiest warm wood tone. I can't get over how perfectly the Ergatta fit under the stairs and the warm wood inspired me to bring in more warm tones like the leather weight bench. It's the prettiest color, but most importantly functional. I love the balance of black and white and warm leather, wood, and gold. Chefs kiss!

You've heard me talk about Ergatta before — it's a non-instructor led, game-based connected rower that simulates the feeling of rowing on water. It burns calories at twice the rate of spinning and gives me a full-body LOW IMPACT (essential for me) workout in just 15 minutes. I'm obsessed. (CLJ followers can use code CLJ50 for $50 off.)

It wouldn't be a complete home gym without a few weights too right?? I also wanted to get something up on the wall and so we got some yoga mats and mounted them to the wall using these racks.

I keep on thinking, "What would I have done in here if I didn't have this FloorPops line?" My mind goes blank because I can't think of anything more perfect for this space. I would never lay tile in a gym because it's just too risky with weights involved, but this flooring does the trick. Chic checkerboard tile, without worrying about dropping a weight and cracking. I'd say it's easy on the joints too. FloorPops has a whole FAQ section on their website to refer to if you have any questions about the product or install so definitely check that out if you have a space in mind for these tiles. Oh and don't forget to set your alarms for May 9th, 10am. Can't wait to see what you do with them!

Sources

Ceiling Fan

Our New Floor Pops Tile!

Yoga Mats (Used these to hang them.)

Weight Bench

Ergatta Rower

Dumbell Set

NordicTrack Treadmill

The DB Method

Semi-Flush Mount

Shop Our Home Gym

Other posts about the home gym

A Before Look at the Home Gym

Home Gym Mood Board

DIY Picture Frame Trim on a Frameless Mirror