How We Turned Our Garage Into a Home Gym + Wellness Center
Hi girls! We’ve been in the process of transforming our garage into a Pilates studio and I wanted to share the process here. This whole project actually came about because of this sauna. Once we decided to put one in the garage, I knew I wanted to transform the space into our own wellness center at home! I started saving ideas from hotels, spas, and wellness centers and we ended up having an entire vision for the space. Plus a little Pinterest board & I was off to the races.
Here are the steps if you’re looking to do something similar!
The sauna started the whole project. The sauna deserves a special call out because none of this probably would have happened without it! Of course you can have a gym without once but I’m huge on the health benefits & really wanted to invest in one. We knew we wanted to add one to our home, and once we decided the garage was the spot, the rest of my plans started growing from there.
I’ll link the exact sauna we have along with my discount code (Use code TAYLOVRLOVE) because we LOVE it!! It has medical grade red light also!
First up curtaining off half the garage with these Amazon curtains and then paint. On the other side of our curtains is my husbands classic car and all of our “garage stuff.” We then painted the bottom portion of the walls black and kept the top lighter, which immediately gave us the contrast I wanted. Our paint is from Home Depot, and the black ended up working SO well once we added all of the panels. A little paint goes a long way ladies.
Then I started ordering all the fun things to accessorize! A lot of what you see in the room came from Amazon, and I was able to find most of it at pretty reasonable prices. I ordered the storage, workout accessories, lighting and decor while we were working on the bigger parts of the room.
I knew I wanted everything to work together, so I stayed to pretty strict with a color scheme similar to neutral Pilates studios I’ve visited in person. Beige, coral, cream, & black!
I then knew I wanted to decorate it like a hotel wellness center. Instead of searching for typical gym decor, I kept thinking about the gyms and spas you see at beautiful hotels. I went with whites, creams and beiges, warm wood and brass scones. The weights, Pilates ball, baskets and smaller workout accessories fit into the color palette. It made such a difference because all of the equipment can stay out and look aesthetic verses cluttered.
I FINALLY bought my Pilates reformer. I’ve wanted to buy a Pilates reformer for probably 10 years. I’ve been doing Pilates for around six years now, and it has made me so much stronger while also much more comfortable in my body. I LOVE that I can walk into the garage and get on the reformer. It’s a pinch me moment!!
We ordered The Studio from YourReformer, and I would absolutely recommend it. Setup was really easy, and I love how it looks in the space too.
Facebook Marketplace for the win!
We found our gym flooring there, which helped us save quite a bit. If you’re doing a garage gym, I would absolutely check FB marketplace before ordering flooring. You never know what someone nearby may have!
I didn’t want the standard rectangular mirrors you normally see in a gym, so we went with oversized arched mirrors across the wall.
They give us the full mirrors we need for working out, but they also make the garage look SO much bigger. Once all were up, I could see the room really coming together.
We then added wall paneling from Lowe’s and this may be my favorite design decision we made. We did have a contractor help us install it- our friend and neighbor! I wanted the paneling to sit perfectly against the wall and look professionally finished, so this was one project we were happy to hand over to someone who knew what they were doing. Very lucky to have the best neighbors! The wood with the black paint ended up being exactly what I had pictured and gives a pretty contrast.
We finished up with Amazon sconces. Lighting was a BIG part of making this room feel more like a wellness center and less like a garage. The sconces we went with are from Amazon, they’re under $50 and they have built in dimmers. LOVE THEM!
I love being able to turn down the overhead lights and use the sconces when I’m doing Pilates or using the sauna. It completely changes the room at night, and they look much more expensive than they were.
This room was SO worth doing and took about two weeks.
We got the pieces that we’ve been wanting like the sauna and reformer, and then found other gems on Amazon and even Facebook Marketplace. The mirrors, wood paneling, black paint and lighting pulled everything together.
Now our garage is my favorite room!! We have a gym wellness center right at home now and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!!
Let me know if this inspires any garage transformations. 💪🏻
xo,
Tay
