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This thoughtful renovation turned a garage into a functional home gym.
The project
I've always been into sport and fitness. But I've always hated crowded gyms where the machines are occupied, the music is terrible and people interrupt me wanting to talk.
I wanted to create a home gym that provides everything I need in one space, will save me money in gym fees, be accessible to friends and actually feel like a gym and not just a few bits of equipment in a garage.
The first thing I needed was a solid base. Gym flooring is expensive but I wanted a bit of design and colour in it, rather than just having black everywhere. I went with 50cm x 50cm interlocking EVA foam mats.
The primary wall station uses 90mm x 45mm treated Pine secured to the wall studs. The boxing bag and dip station were originally a floor multi-station that I took apart and mounted onto the wall.
On the end is a Smith machine. To save space we cut the back support off it and securely mounted it to the wall. That thing isn't going anywhere.
The back wall has my bench press. I put in two shelves here: one is where our wireless modem sits; the other is storage for my belts. On the wall next to it are broom holders that secure my three primary bars, and some simple brackets that hold my hex bar.
The window is mirror-tinted so no one can see in. It also deflects an incredible amount of heat, sunlight and glare. My curl rack is just in front of this, as is the treadmill.
Next we have my workspace inside the gym. I used my old office desk as the workspace, and an old storage box holder to store things like extra protein and my steam cleaner, which I use on every item I use in the gym.
I then have my supplements and sound system, and my display wall, which has some of my wife's and my achievements.
The front wall is home to many accessories. First is the wall-mounted TV. Then there are various resistance bands and cable machine attachments (the cable machine is in the centre of the room).
The top shelf holds spare protein that my friends and family use, and there's also a foam roller up there and our MMA gloves for the boxing bag. Next are two clipboards magnetically attached to the wall to hold the week's workouts. Below this is a cut shelf that holds my wife’s yoga mat, a couple of rollers and various pens. The shelf holds a single hook that holds my face towel. All shelves are made from Bunnings' dressed Pine.
Below this is an A frame standard weight plate rack that was cut in half and wall mounted to save space. Next to this is my dumbbell rack (a step is hidden below this), and above it a wall-mounted mirror for checking form.
To the right of this are two more shelves holding supplements, smelling salts, weight clips, wrist wraps and push-up devices. The hook holds my skipping ropes, while the other half of the A frame holds 10kg and 20kg plates.
The fan is an Arlec 75cm remote-controlled industrial wall fan, and it has saved my life many times since being mounted there. The cord is tucked into the cable runner along the top of the wall (along with the speaker cables) and down onto the back wall, where the power points are located. And there's a Fight Club poster, because why not?
So that's my gym, it's constantly under development but it's doing the job well. I would say everything in this room cost about $5000, with a lot of it being bought on special or handed down. With the average yearly gym membership being around $1140, I've already made back my investment.
I always got excited going to Bunnings to get stuff for the gym, so I'm hoping this might inspire others to do their own builds.
More inspiration for your garage
Bunnings Workshop members are extremely creative when it comes to their garages and sheds. You can check out plenty of their great ideas in our Top 10 most popular garage and shed projects and our collection of Tool storage solutions.
Let us know if you need a hand with your project – we're here to help.
