This week, I’m focused on getting my studio finished. I made progress over the weekend, but it’s still not finished. I didn’t expect it to be. I haven’t even started on reupholstering the desk chair, and I still have a ton of organizing and cleaning to do. So I won’t be blogging about my studio this week, but just know that I’m hard at work behind the scenes trying to get it finished. And I’ll let y’all know as soon as I have anything interesting (or finished) to share.
In the meantime, I got a comment on a post last week that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind. The comment was about my plan to turn our current (guest) bedroom into a closet/workout area combo. The commenter said,
“May I make a suggestion? Before you totally, 100% commit to the idea of using part of what will become your bedroom closet as a workout space, consider other possible workout space solutions. Your workout space needs to be able to be separately ventilated–for reasons of accumulated humidity and Matt’s comfort while working out, and also because over time your clothes are just going to absorb and retain that boys’ high school gym locker room odor! Everything will begin to smell like cheap gin and dirty sweat socks, and it quickly becomes permanent. I urge you to rethink this idea if you don’t want everything you own to smell like the inside of a teenage boy’s gym shoe. There’s got to be another space you can either convert or add onto cheaply without going into debt for a workout area.”
Of course, she wasn’t the first person to suggest that. Several people urged me not to combine a closet and workout area for that very same reason, but I just couldn’t find anywhere else to put a workout area. So I kind of abandoned the idea, and just resolved myself to the fact that I’d have to have a closet/gym combo.
But the idea of having that entire room dedicated to closet and storage space sure did appeal to me. I could envision a beautiful closet/dressing room type of thing, with IKEA Pax wardrobes not only lining one wall, but lining both walls. And then I could have more storage in the middle. Something like this, not in style (I’m using IKEA Pax), but in the way it’s arranged with storage on both side walls and also in the middle of the room…
Photo by American Tradition Builders, Inc. – Browse closet ideas
But we have to have a home gym or workout area of some sort. That’s not even a negotiable item for us. Matt needs to use his Theracycle every day if possible, and while I don’t need any exercise equipment, it sure is nice to have. I have more incentive to work out if I have a few different options. So I want to hold onto it if I can.
So once again, I looked over our floor plan to see if I could come up with a solution. There are two options that I can see.
Option 1:
The first option is to combine the closet and laundry room into one room. I know, I know! I can already hear some of you screaming at me. “Kristi, I suggested that!!” 😀 I hear you. I know so many of you suggested that, and I didn’t love the idea at the time, but I’m coming around to it.
First of all, it would make things so much easier. That room has a pier and beam foundation, so getting the plumbing over to that room for the washer, dryer, and hot water heater, would be quick and easy. Turning the pantry into the laundry room would be much harder and much more expensive because it has a slab foundation.
Another thing in the “pro” column for this idea is that it could be done sooner than later. I mean, as soon as our new bedroom is done and we’re moved into there, and as soon as I start turning the guest bedroom into a closet, I could also get my washer, dryer, and hot water heater moved into that room. No more waiting to have a laundry room.
With this plan, that frees up the pantry to be our workout area. The drawback is that the room is only 7′ x 12′. That’s not a lot of room, and there’s no way to expand it. That size is set in stone. But it’s enough room for my new smaller treadmill, Matt’s Theracycle, my rebounder, our set of freeweights, and a couple of kettlebells. Another con is that it will be right there by the kitchen. That seems awkward.
Option 2:
The second option I came up with was to build a completely separate little building in our back yard. It could be close to the bedroom end of the house, right around here somewhere…
I went to the website of the company that is building my workshop just to see what I could come up with. If we keep it under 200 square feet, I don’t need a permit from the city. So I came up with this cute little dormer shed that is 12′ x 16′ that would cost about $9500.
That’s 192 square feet, so we could build that without the city being involved in the process. And it’s cute! We certainly have plenty of room for it on our one-acre lot. The downside is that Matt would have to go outside to access it. That’s fine most days here in central Texas, but I do wonder about rainy days or really cold days.
So those are my thoughts so far. As I work on the studio this week, I’m going to continue pondering these ideas. I really do like the idea of my closet not having to share a space with workout equipment and sweaty people. I know that’s not ideal. I might have to live with it for at least a short time, but now that I’ve considered other options, I’m feeling more convinced that I’d like to find another home for our exercise equipment.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
