About 4 months ago we tore down our old shed (that had been there since 1950!) and replaced it with a larger shed aka… a glorified home gym! THE NEST! We feel very lucky we could do this. Kevin works out every single morning at 6:30 am. I still workout at our local CrossFit every morning at 5:30 am. We both really value our health and the fact that we CAN physically move. I pray everyday in my car before going back into the house, my prayer always includes a HUGE prayer of thanks that I can move my body. It is truly a gift. Both of us workout for our physical and mental health. Needless to say this home gym will be used often.
We did have our contractor build this shed. It is to code, and yes we were required to have a permit. I found a photo of a shed I liked and we used that as our inspiration! We didn’t want any windows other than the window above in the dormer, because we wanted to maximize the walls. We just did board and batten with AZEK, and painted it in simply white from Sherwin Williams. (Lights are from here and planters are from here).
Find the plans for our home gym that could be a shed or pool house HERE
You can see the happy accident, the shed created a privacy wall!
Inside we started with a feature wall for a fun look, bonus it helps protect the walls! We used this weathered barn wood shiplap that had some texture to it. We just drew on the wall the direction we wanted to the wood to go.
I thought it would be fun if it was going different directions, I had seen it done in a hotel and loved it.
We did glue the back of the board and then used the nail gun to attach it to the wall, only nailing where the lip was.
We are happy with how it came out! Only took Kevin about 4-5 hours to complete it. Above photo is what it looked like before we painted it.
We painted it in Woolen Cap from Sherwin Williams (just had it matched at Home Depot). It is a really pretty greige color. Also the floor we used was Regupol 8mm Flooring – in Jett Black (we had to order 200 sq feet). We used the Regupol Adhesive that they suggest to attach it to the floor.
We painted the accent wall in Flat Black Chalkboard paint. Loved this idea as a spot to write workouts on. I wrote all the Benchmark Girl Name Workouts on the wall as an easy reference for a workout idea. (Love these chalk markers).
Our rig system is from ROGUE. It can fold completely against the wall, but we will rarely put it flat against the wall. Love that we can do so many things with this rig! If you want a system that you will fold against the wall everyday I would look at PRx Performance systems (The Rogue system does support a bit more weight).
I was going to do a really fun light fixture but decided we needed a fan, and we are SO happy we decided to go with a fan (find the ceiling fan here). You can also see we have a small baseboard heater when it starts to get cold.
This wall we we decided to add these storage shelves from IKEA for pool supplies, outdoor stuff and gym items (I need to label the totes). And did a stand for the mini SMEG fridge (this is a more affordable option), diffuser and other items.
Yes we went a little crazy with the posters, we like the pop color and personality it adds. I got them all from this website and linked them all below. We framed them in this simple black matte frame. This is a really affordable way to add art to a room, each framed poster was about $26 (both the print and frame were on sale when I bought them).
Finn telling me all the art he liked the most, of course it was the Nike Shoes then he said he liked the “pink house”!
Loved the David Goggins quotes (I had to look up who David Goggins was), after reading about him I knew Kevin would love the quotes. Of course he knew of David Goggins and had even read his book.
Decided on the ski lift because it reminded us of Utah where we are both from. I used this hook for all the bands and when we have jackets in the winter.
The rack with the wall balls, kettle bells, weighted vest, sit-up pad, bars are all from Rogue. The olympic weights we had been waiting for months to come back in stock from Rogue and they weren’t so reluctantly we ordered them from Eleiko (a lot more expensive).
Kevin’s must-have’s for a home gym-
- Good Music- we use this speaker.
- Workout bands- he suggests these.
- Kettlebell– for awhile all we had was a kettlebell because everything else is really hard to find in-stock right now!
- A clock with a Tibabta timer- I personally would use the Seconds Pro Interval Timer App. Kevin ordered the large clock with a Tibata Timer from Rogue here.
- We don’t use dumbbells much, instead like a bar with olympic plates (which are really hard to find in right now!)
- He really likes this dehumidifier if you have a humid space.
- Diffuser- our favorites oils to pump are peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen, eucalyptus, lemon, grapefruit, citrus fresh, jade lemon, lemon myrtle, lime to name a few! (find oils we use here).
- Bed for your dog of course
Love this quote from Theodore Roosevelt “The Arena” (find the flag here).
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
It could potentially be a pool house for someone else if we move. It has a floor heater too so it could be a little guest house (minus a bathroom). For now we will enjoy it as a home gym!
Click on an image to shop-
Wow- what a lot of things you managed to get in that shed! Love the color of the dog bed- just some advice from a dog owner- my dogs have always liked having a bed that has “sides”-I think they like the feeling of having some “protection” around them! And they like it to be small enough so that they kind of touch the sides with their bodies (I bought one that was too large for my first dog) They sell them everywhere!
Lokms awesome and our dream to have one day!! Would you be able to share where Kevin got his weight vest?
Oh thanks! He got it at Rogue!
It’s looks fantastic! Question: you mentioned heat source, did you insulation the space? How do you handle cooling/summer heat? Thanks for your time! Again, it looks amazing!
We have the ceiling fan for cooling in the summer! It works really well!! Thank you!