Home Gym Cleanup Success (Plus, An Overview Of The Plan)
I spent several hours yesterday getting the home gym cleaned up so that I could start working on this room again and finally get it finished. Over the last several months, this room had been used as a storage room, workshop, etc., while I was working on the master bathroom remodel, and when I was finished with the bathroom, the unfinished home gym looked like this…
Actually, it looked a little worse than that. I didn’t remember to take that picture until after I had taken some things out of the room. But you get the idea. It was bad.
I was determined to get the bulk of it cleaned out before I went to bed last night because I didn’t want to spend more time today cleaning up. I wanted to be able to walk in there today and actually start working on a project.
So after several hours of work (with plenty of breaks because the job was so enormous and overwhelming to me), this is what it looked like last night when I finally quit around 9:30.
I’m pretty proud of my progress! 😀 And I’m very proud of the fact that I didn’t take all of the tools and supplies out of this room and just dump them in another room. I actually took the time to put everything away in its place. I can actually find my tools now!
The biggest projects that I still need to do in this room are (1) finishing all of the trim, and (2) finish installing the hardwood floor in the closet area.
As far as the trim goes, the hardest part of that project is done. All of the trim is installed on all of the doors, windows, and the one cased opening around the closet area. And as far as I can tell, all of the nail holes have been filled with wood filler, and on at least one window, the wood filler has been sanded. So the rest needs to be sanded, and then all of it needs to be caulked, primed and painted.
And then the closet area still needs hardwood flooring installed. The reason it doesn’t have hardwood flooring is because this area used to be two separate closets. One of the closets (basically the right half of the closet area you see below) was for this room with a door on the right side of this wall. The other half (the left half of the closet area you see below) was the closet for the room on the other side of that pink wall, which is the guest bedroom (i.e., the bedroom we’re currently using as our main bedroom).
You can see in this picture below how this closet area used to look with the solid wall and a door into the closet on the right.
So when I decided to add new built-in closets flanking the window in the guest bedroom…
I had our contractor drywall over the door to the closet in the guest bedroom, and open up both closets to this room with a cased opening.
After that was done, that left me with two strange rectangles of hardwood flooring that didn’t cover all of the new space in the closet. So I just went ahead and took all of that out, and now it needs to be replaced.
The frustrating thing is that the Home Depot in my city used to carry this identical unfinished red oak hardwood floor in stock, and it would match up with the original 70+ year-old red oak hardwood floor in our house perfectly.
But ever since 2020 and supply chain issues hit, I haven’t seen it in the store, and the couple of times I checked the website, it wasn’t available there, either. So I may be forced to go as far as I can with what I have on hand, and then fill in the rest with plywood. It’s not an ideal solution, but since the whole floor is going to be covered with this foam gym flooring, it’ll work.
It’ll only be a problem if we ever decide to take up that foam mat flooring and refinish the hardwood floor in that room. But I’ll let Future Kristi deal with that problem. 😀
For now, my immediate goals in this room are to (1) install the ceiling fan and the lights in the closet area, and (2) finish all of the trim. Those two things will go a long way towards getting this room out of the “construction” phase and making it feel more like a usable room.
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.
Curious where you keep your tools? I keep the few I have in the guest bedroom closet🤨. Certainly not ideal.
I have a really large tool chest (it’s taller than I am!) in the sunroom. That’s also where I have shelves to store paint and other products.
Kristi, are you still going to use the closet in the gym for Matt’s game system(s)? I am super curious how you will finish that out with your ever ingenious ways!!
You are going to be sooooo thrilled to have this room finished and the bathroom useable for Matt. What a game changer 🙂 thanks for bringing us along.
Yes, part of it will be used for Matt’s gaming systems. I mean, he has about 17 of them 😀 so he’ll have to choose his favorite 2 or 3 systems to use in here. But he also has one connected to the bedroom TV. I’m not sure where he’ll want his favorite one. I’ll let him decide that.
Kristin. Good start. Is Matt’s wheelchair going to roll easiy on that mat. If one was using a walker woud that work also
Matt’s has a power wheelchair, so it will roll over just about anything. I’m honestly not sure how a walker would work on that flooring, though.
Love that sign leaning on the wall…. OH HAPPY DAY!!!! One happy day at a time.
You need so little flooring to finish. I wonder if a flooring contractor might have leftovers from another job that you could buy? Just a thought! I love the walls in this room!
Nice work, Kristi! I am sure it wasn’t fun. After what you posted yesterday about all that you are responsible for and what you want to do going forward, I wonder why you don’t consider getting assistance more often than the occasional contractor you hire.
I know some commentators suggested hiring someone to organize every so often. I get it if your reluctance is about creative control or privacy or finances, but I think it is common for bloggers who post as often as you do to have assistants to handle the technicalities a blogger has to handle. I think you once mentioned that Matt keeps an eye on comments for you. But I suspect you do all the back-end work of blogging. Can you afford a helper there? What about hiring a cleaner to come in weekly? I know you have pledged to free yourself of guilt, and I hope asking for help isn’t something you’ve felt guilty about in the past.
Best wishes to you for the year ahead! We are looking forward to more of your miracles. (no pressure!)
Barbara has a good idea about hiring some help. Cleaning up and sorting is easy enough to do but creative people usually dislike doing it. How about paying a teen to simply deal with refuse, recycling, stacking wood you want to keep, etc.? Someone you can trust to enlist so as to get help when you need it.
We all have a mode of working that works for our temperament. No need to reform even if it were possible. Messes will accumulate again. That strategy might work well.
That room is so much fun. Love the stripes and the colors and the windows. You are closing in on the finish line. Good for you, Kristi.
Yay for tools put away, where you can find them.
I love following your journey. I am so happy to have found you. You are truly an inspiration. I love seeing your kitty on the bed and on the foam mat flooring.
Haha! I’ll let future Kristie deal with that problem. Love that strategy.
Good for you to keep on going there at the very end to get it cleared out. For me, it takes a lot of slogging over time to do a big project, especially a clean-out or organizing or decluttering one. Sometimes just seeing the “end” in sight gives the oommph needed to keep at it, at least for me. And extra high-fives for putting tools in their proper homes so you don’t have to reorganize again! That’s a lesson I have to keep re-learning. I love the stripes in this room. The beautiful colors give it a vibe of health and energy. Looking forward to your finishing journey in this room.
Man, you really worked on that room! Where did you get the idea to paint all different colors on the walls? I think that is so neat. You are the best.
I love that your cat feels the need to pose for every photo!
🐾💗🐾
You might check other Home Depot’s in the area for the oak flooring. We have the same stuff and they used to carry it in almost all of the stores.
Kristi, there is raw hardwood flooring mill in Selma AL that might have what you need. Been there for years.
Great job!!!
Have you ever tried Floor and Decor? You can search stock online of non discontinued products by store. The website isn’t the easiest to navigate. They have a lot more selection and sometimes better prices for all things flooring. They do sell some unfinished red oak, not sure if they got your size. It was at Home depot, I bet they do. Sadly they aren’t in Waco. I do know each store can have a different selection, so call and manage expectations.
Your work ethic is amazing. I’m happy you are geared up again to move forward.
Excellent job, Kristi! You got that whole rom done, you must feel so accomplished. Keep chipping away at it and you’ll hit the finish line in no time😉
Kristi, I keep seeing your miter saw sitting on the floor, and then moving around in the house.
You should get this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-Universal-Mobile-Miter-Saw-Stand-with-Mounting-Braces-AC9946/206992161
You’ll be happy to have it just for the wheels when it has to move again. But even without that, it makes the cuts so much easier before you have stable supports for long trim pieces on either side, instead of constantly having to hunt around for blocks, or whatever.
Yay you! It’s a pain to need to clean up to get to the creative stuff! The ick part for me would be the dust!! I despise dealing with sanding dust!! Have you considered a Festool sander and extractor? We have one now and I am amazed!! We don’t have a garage and live in a cold climate so I can do projects inside if needed with this thing, NO DUST. It’s a investment, but so worth it IMO
Floor & Decor in my area also carries red oak hardwood floor boards. Do you have one in your area?