A Home Gym Update
I promise y’all that I really am making progress in our home gym. I’ve spent hours painting trim in there, and I have many hours to go before it’s all finished. But it’s looking so good! If you’ll remember, just a few days ago, the trim looked like it had chicken pox, with dots of wood filler all over it. And now, it’s looking very clean and bright with its fresh coat of paint.
It’s not all painted yet, but it’s getting there! This one average-sized room seems to have endless trim — ceiling trim, baseboards, two doors, one large closet area, three windows. It’s been a very long process installing all of that trim, wood filling, sanding, caulking, and now painting it.
But I love how that bright white is looking against all of the colors on the walls.
For about 30 minutes, I considered painting all of the trim in this room black. I thought it might be more of a “home gym” vibe. But in the end, I had to stick with my favorite Behr Polar Bear white trim. I have just a little more trim to paint, and then I can get started on the wall paint touchups. Once that’s done, I can move on to the fun stuff — the foam flooring and curtains. And I’m really anxious to at least get that corner in the room finished in the picture above so that I can move my rebounder into the room (that’s the corner where it will live) and start using it regularly, even while I’m still working on the rest of the room.
Yesterday, the light from Target arrived, and even without seeing the other one from Amazon, I’m about 95% sure that this is the one I’m going to use.
I haven’t installed it yet. I need to get all of the painting done first, and then I’ll tackle the light. Right now, there’s not even a junction box in the ceiling, so I need to add one of those before I can even install the light.
But I really love this light! I didn’t even read the description on the website (except for the dimensions), so I didn’t notice that the shade on the light is metal. I was so pleasantly surprised when I opened that box and felt the shade. It’s metal! And why is that a good thing? Since the fixture is black, it will show dust more than a lighter color fixture. And a metal shade is way easier to clean that a black fabric shade!
I also love that the diffuser is plastic, and it has a shiny side and a matte side. I prefer the matte side showing.
I always get so nervous when I have to remove glass shades and diffusers to clean fixtures or change bulbs because I’m so afraid that I’ll drop them and break them. So this one with a plastic diffuser seems perfect for a home gym (or just about anywhere else) to me.
Also, the chests of drawers that I ordered for the closet area is supposed to be here today — a week early! Very impressive, Walmart So I need to get the closet floor in so that I can get the foam floor in place in the whole room. I’m getting so excited to get this room done!
It has been a challenge, though. This week, we had some really cold weather set in, along with ice, sleet, freezing rain, etc. Schools are closed. Some businesses are closed. We Texans don’t like icy weather. 😀
I was pretty excited about it because that also meant that all of my usual weekly plans got cancelled this week, which meant more time working on the home gym! I had such lofty goals to blaze right through these projects and get them done.
And then our heater went on the fritz. At random times, it literally starts blowing cold air like the air conditioner is on. When it starts doing that, it gets pretty darn cold in the house, and I have to stop working so that I can crawl in bed under the covers and warm up. It’s been pretty distracting, but I’m still managing to get stuff done. The pace is just slower than I had hoped.
We’ve already had the HVAC guy out once, and he told us that it’s doing that because we have a heat pump, and when the temperatures drop as cold as they are now, we need to switch over to our emergency heat system (which evidently is standard on heat pumps). But we’ve had this HVAC system for eight years now, and in those eight years, we’ve had way colder and more severe weather than we’re having right now. Not one single time have I ever had to switch over to the emergency heat system.
But that’s what he told me. He showed me how to do it, charged me $75 for the visit, and left. And then after about an hour-and-a-half of the emergency heating system being on, it started blowing cold air as well, and the temp in the house dropped from 67 to 61 in a matter of about 30 minutes because it was blowing cold air into the whole house while it was in the 20s (with a wind chill in the teens) outside.
So now they have to come back, and they’re scheduled to be here some time in the next three hours. It’s been a very frustrating situation, especially when I knew something wasn’t right, but he insisted that everything was just fine…and charged me $75 to tell me that.
Anyway, all that to say that while I had hoped that these “ice days” would be very productive, they haven’t quite gone as I had planned. But I’m still making progress, and I hope that by the end of the day today, I’ll have all of the trim painted in the home gym and a working heating system in our house. That’s the dream, at least! 😀
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.
Omg, I love the white trim!! I’m so glad you didn’t go with black (even though it’s not my room!) I think the black on the trim wouldn’t make the colors sing the way they do with white. So nice the light shade is metal! I agree with you entirely regarding ease of cleaning.
Good luck with your HVAC. We too have heat pumps in our house and when the auxiliary heat comes on it also blows cold air yet somehow manages to heat the house back up. I’ll never understand it. I’m glad for you that the repairmen can get to you in 3 hours. Consider asking if the $75 you already paid can be put towards your bill today since they had to be called back out.
I also have to say how excited I was to see a post on a Wednesday! What a sweet treat!
FYI
I was told that the emergency heat setting really runs up the electric bill.
it absolutely does run the bill up. But.. Under 32 the heat pump just runs and runs.
It is all looking fab, Kristi! I know you’ll be very relieved to get this room finished and in full use.
Same thing happened to my MIL’s heat pump during cold weather and the eventual outcome is a new Heat pump! Frustrating and annoying.
Great job on the progress.
I love the way you trim out your window facings. We copied your method and trimmed our office room windows like that. I plan on trimming all our windows out like that as we remodel each room.
Have the HVAC tech check the thermostat. That was happening here and that was the cause. A new thermostat fixed the problem. Hope that helps!
Would you mind giving us an update on the rower? How do you like it? I am desperately trying to find some type of exercise that I enjoy, and I was intrigued by your rower.
I love it! It’s a challenging full body workout without being too difficult. The smooth movements make it easy on the joints, unlike other forms of aerobic workouts. I was afraid that I’d be disappointed about not getting the Ergatta (the water rower with the screen that keeps you incentivized with different “games”), but I’m glad I didn’t pay the extra $1000 for that. Everyone has different motivation, but I find it easier to listen to a podcast while I’m rowing. That way my mind is otherwise occupied, and the time goes by faster.
It really depends on what you’re looking for, though. If you prefer a rower where you can adjust tensions and have a super challenging workout, the Water Rower wouldn’t be right for you. Just keep in mind that with a Water Rower, you’re only rowing against the water in the tank. If you have an Orange Therapy near you, you might see if there’s a way to try out their Water Rowers before you buy. I don’t know if they have guest passes, but I do know they have Water Rowers.
Thank you so much for the thorough review! Yes, I do have an Orange Theory near me, so I’m going to at least stop in there and ask. I HATE to exercise, but I know I have got to figure out a way to incorporate something.
The heat pump issue is interesting. When I bought this house it had a heat pump and the heat went out during my first winter and I had to switch to emergency, which was costly. I had a home warranty policy that should have covered it but I paid $75 to be told it wasn’t exactly broken and that below 40 they didn’t actually work. Also, “the a/c was working” so it was just aggravating. Summer rolled around and the a/c was NOT working. I started the whole thing over with the home warranty company..and landed in the hospital with Covid. Came home with the after-covid pneumonia and convalesced in 100 degree temps, while fighting to get my heat pump replaced. Long story finally at an end they would only pay for part of the unit, insisting that the inside portion of the unit and the outside portion of the unit were two separate entities and they would only replace the outside part. Because the inside part would not jive with the new outside part I paid for the inside part. Expensive policy, several house call charges, plus paying for the heat pump to completely be replaced, too much money down the drain. I’m an old widow on Social Security. I’ll be paying for that for at least another year. It’s been down in the 20’s for several days. Haven’t had to switch to emergency. That heat pump works like a charm. No, I did not renew the policy; I could have paid for it all and still saved money without them.
Why do things always conk out when you need them the most??? We had a full load of dishes in the dishwasher when it quit working…..and we had to wait a week for a repairman, who then couldn’t fix it, got another guy, had to wait two weeks for a part….that wasn’t the problem! Called third guy, he comes next day, fixes it in ten minutes and charged us $130! First two didn’t charge us, since they didn’t fix it! Hope your furnace issues are already fixed by this time.
You’re doing so well, especially under less than optimal conditions. I can’t function in the cold anymore and here in S Az we’ve had some mighty cold nights in the 20s. I hope you get your HVAC system working. They most definitely should not charge another trip fee, they didn’t diagnose the
problem right the first time. Oh and I’m glad you kept the trim white. It would be a royal pain to repaint if you didn’t like it.
I live in northern Oklahoma in an old house with hardwood floors so we bought a couple of ($30?) electric space heaters for the 2 rooms we occupy most to supplement the central unit. They were a good investment. I don’t mind the rest of the house being a little chilly, & I do like my bedroom rather cold when I sleep.
This is what we do as well. It works so well if you can close off the room you need heated and they’re easy to store if you don’t need them. Nice to have on hand in an emergency, especially with Matt needing to stay warm.
It’s looking so good! I’m sorry you’re having such weird issues with key home systems…the heat, the water heater…maybe you’re supposed to be a polar bear!