It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve made some big changes around my house that I want to share! The biggest being moving into my gym shed! I realized I haven’t really shared much on the blog about the gym shed (but I do have an Instagram highlight about it), so I figured I’d catch y’all up on all that we’ve done to it.
In January, my dad and I decided to start tackling one of the biggest DIY projects either of us had ever done. We set out to turn my backyard storage shed into a functioning gym! This shed was pretty gross, had 0 insulation, no electricity, and was just not a place I wanted to spend any amount of time in.
We started with the basics…cleaning. We cleaned out the entire shed and my dad leveled it. Next, we framed out a door and cut holes to install some windows that my dad had laying around his property. This instantly made a huge difference because the shed was no longer a dark dungeon.
After the room was brightened up with doors and windows, we got to start on the fun stuff. We insulated the entire shed and put up drywall. I did not realize how much went into doing drywall, but I have so much appreciation for tradesmen who do that for a living because it is tough! We put up some molding and baseboards to give the space a more finished look, and then it was time for paint!
Choosing a paint color proved to be one of the hardest decisions for me on this shed. I knew I wanted to make the gym a fun place and debated between wallpaper and paint for a while. I even ordered wallpaper, but it was too complicated to put it up. I ended up keeping the walls simple by going with Chantily Lace by Benjamin Moore, but I spiced things up and used Rosy Cheeks by Behr on the ceiling and I love how the pink looks! It is so me and girly without being too overwhelming.
The hardest part of the entire process was getting electricity to the shed. The shed was pre-wired for electricity, but we still had to get the electricity from the house’s breaker box to the shed. I won’t go into much detail here because my dad did this almost entirely on his own, but I did watch him dig the 2 foot deep trench with a cool ride on trencher thing. He is awesome and did an amazing job getting electricity to the shed. He even ran a separate line for the AC unit!
The last real structural part of the shed was the flooring. We laid a new subfloor to reinforce the existing plywood base of the shed. For the actual gym flooring, my dad was creative (and cost effective) and found some horse stable mats that are super durable and a fraction of the price of gym floors. They are perfect, but a little hard to clean. However, I know I can’t ruin them so that is nice!
We were able to move my equipment in even though there is still a lot of work to do! I am working on coming up with some storage solutions, sourcing more equipment, and painting this old locker my dad found at a job site. We also have to finish framing the door and paint it. The entire exterior of the shed is still a work in progress. We plan to add new siding to the sides visible from the house, paint it white to match the house (and the door pink), and add a lean-to on the back side for me to be able to store yard equipment and gardening supplies.
I am so excited for the rest of this project, but it is already so amazing to just have my gym equipment out of my office! I will share more on the progress of the exterior as I go and eventually share a “finished” blog post with the interior 100% done!
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J & J Purvis says
Get Job! Looking good Clare
Sissy says
Great job! Your dad must have wonderful knees. Lots of hard work and it shows!
LL says
Gorgeous great job!