My husband and I recently bought a new house. Within the 9 years we’ve been together, this would be our 8th house to either buy, build, or remodel. You can say real-estate is one of our “hobbies”.
During the 45 day period between our offer and closing, we were talking about how we wanted to use each space in the new house. There was a particularly large, over-sized storage closet off of the game room. Originally, I mentioned that could be my “craft room” since I had one at the last house and this house did not have a dedicated room for all of my art and craft supplies. When we got to the subject of where we would put our workout equipment (which at the time included a handful of dumbbells, treadmill, and some small miscellaneous exercise pieces), we wondered if we could somehow expand that storage space and turn it into a fitness room. At the house we were moving out of, our workout equipment was in the home office and in the new house the formal office was not going to be the most ideal place for it. When we went back to the house for the inspection, Brock got in the attic with our realtor/friend and realized that there was a good amount of space over the garage that could be tied in with the existing storage closet to be made into a bigger room.
Fast forward to closing on the house, Brock’s parents had flew in from Indiana to help us with moving and the boys and all the fun stuff that goes along with moving. Brock’s Mom was especially helpful in keeping the boys busy. Brock’s Dad was especially helpful in the renovation. We decided to have the fitness room done as soon as we got the house. Brock had the floor joists and all the lumber delivered to the house the day after we closed. With the help of his Dad, they had the demo done within the first 24 hours. Within 72 hours, they had the subfloor down, the framing complete, some of the dry-wall hung, and the new French-doors cut in and installed. Oh, and did I mention all of this was done over the same weekend we moved into the house? We completely moved out of our old house and into our new house and added-on a room…in 4 days! Talk about a crazy couple of days!
While coming up with the layout of the fitness room, Brock was able to save a portion of the existing closet as a storage closet off of the game room. The previous owners had the game room set up with a pool table, juke box, and everything was a 50’s diner theme. They left all of that with the house except the jukebox. Since that really wasn’t our style we ended up selling most of the items they left behind. More on the game room remodel later! Here’s a ‘before’ of the game room. The door to the left of the jukebox is the storage room entry.
Below are some of the before, during, and after pictures. The room is complete and being utilized…I actually just finished my morning workout about 30 minutes ago! We cancelled our Lifetime Fitness gym membership, which made me sad. However, I couldn’t be happier with the addition of our little home gym.
This is the space before, when it was still full of the previous owners stuff. It was being utilized as a storage closet.
Looking in the attic, we realized we could expand the wall and make the space bigger…
Below, demo has begun…the ceiling in one of the garage bays had to come down!
The floor joists were delivered…
The floor was built with extra reinforcement so that it would be able to withstand the workout equipment and extra weight of the dumbbells and rack.
Brock in deep thought trying to decide the next step…
The room is starting to take shape…this picture is dark because there was only one light since electrical hadn’t been ran yet.
Extra insulation was also added to help keep the room cool in the summer and warm in the winter since it’s over the garage. The extra insulation will also act as a sound barrier for the bedrooms that are upstairs close to the fitness room.
Once the framing was complete the door was installed…
Here’s a shot showing the original door on the left, the new door on the right. The door on the left remains a small storage closet.
After the HVAC, electrical, insulation, and drywall were complete, the room needed trim, tape, mud, paint, and flooring. The TV was mounted and the ceiling fan hung.
Below is a picture of the ‘completed’ product. I want to hang some mirrors and do a little ‘decorating’ of some sort, but I’m in no rush for that.
It’s the perfect space and we have all the equipment we need to get in a good workout.
The original size of the storage closet was about 50 square feet. The fitness room is about 200 square feet – adding on an additional 150 square feet to the living space of our home.
Here’s the original inspiration…I think we hit the nail on the head!
Special thanks to my loving and hard-working husband who always goes above and beyond whenever it comes to fulfilling our wildest real estate dreams!
Have a healthy day!
Love always ~ JEN
