Partially finishing the basement: Small Home Gym and Storage Space Plans

It all started a year ago. My husband and his friend decided to start finishing a section of our basement on a whim. They installed drywall, taped, sanded, and painted–all of which I had no part of, lol.  And then the project got put on the back burner like so many other projects that are attempted in this house. But, the idea was to create a semi-finished storage area for my home decor items, blankets, and all of our off-season”stuff.”  

When we first decided to move into this house, we planned to turn this space into a bedroom for our oldest son. But we ended up using the small garage for him instead. And then, our middle son, Cayden, recently became interested in physical fitness after joining the football team last year. So to support him and his new passion, we gathered some 2nd hand exercise equipment and set up a makeshift gym for him downstairs. It came in handy for him especially once the season was over and on days when he couldn’t go to the YMCA.

When I decided to pick this project back up, I was envisioning a small gathering area for the kids and their friends, and a possible guest/spare bedroom situation, seeing how the “gym” hasn’t been used much since the winter. However, after consulting with the family, everyone surprisingly voted to maintain it as a gym plus storage. They all laughed and said no one wants to sleep in the basement!  Tuh! I would have  loved a cool basement hangout spot when I was younger! Also I happen to think basement bedrooms are incredibly cozy!  In fact, if we had a bathroom down there I would have even considered making it our primary bedroom . . . but I digress.

So, anyway the new plan is to transform it into a *Welcoming* workout area while ensuring there’s still some storage available. Who knows, maybe after it’s all done, I might find myself motivated to exercise more often. Haha!

But, let’s back up and see where we started in this space:

It seems as though the basement was at onetime finished as a bedroom with a drop ceiling, but we assume there was some water damage and the room was demoed.

This is what it looked like after the drywall was installed (last summer):

Here it is all primed:

And then with the floors painted with porch paint.

And this is how it currently looks:

I’ve been torn about adding an actual flooring product down here–but, seeing that it won’t be used as a living space as of right now, I figure why spend the money?  I am planning on adding baseboards though, and considering doing something with the ceiling, whether painting it or planking it, still need to figure that out.

But here’s my vision for the space:

This side of the basement is approximately 300 square feet.  There’s that structural beam that splits the room directly down the middle (10 feet and 10 feet) making it a great partition, which I can enhance inexpensively by hanging some curtains.  (There isn’t actually a fireplace down there, but the chimney goes to the basement, and it was the closest element in the app to what is actually there).

On the other side of the beam/partition, is where I plan to have the storage shelves. I’d love to build some DIY shelves, similar to these:

Where there was previously a closet in the corner, I might make a small desk area, but that’s yet to be determined. I need to see if I’ll actually want to be down here to work first, lol.

So that’s my plan as of right now.  Nothing too glamourous–but something very functional!  Stay Tuned!