While function matters most in an exercise room, a well-designed room makes exercising more enjoyable. Good design includes making a space right for its use and user. Many of the decorative elements that make your exercise room look better also make it safer and more serviceable
Walls
Unless you love builder's beige, paint your walls. Choose a color that induces the right mood for your routine. If you're a yoga enthusiast or simply want a spa-like effect, consider calming colors like sage green, lilac, silvery aqua or sky blue. If you need all the help you can get to stay on that treadmill for the allotted time, choose a warm, energizing color, such as yellow, orange or red. Warm colors, especially brights, make a space feel smaller and warmer. If your room is small or if you have west-facing windows, tone it down by using lemony yellow, coral or a blue-based red.
Consider adding floor-to-ceiling mirrors on one of your walls. They'll bounce light around, make the room look larger and allow you to make sure your form is correct.
Floors
Exercise room floors need to give and absorb shock. Avoid hard tile or concrete. Hardwood floors are fine if they're not installed directly on concrete. If you're installing new hardwood, opt for a raised and cushioned sprung floor. Other shock-absorbing options include cork, vinyl and rubber. "Green Interior Design" suggests a recycled rubber floor made from old tires.
Furnishings
In addition to any exercise equipment you're using, you'll need storage for other items, such as towels and rolled-up mats. For an exercise room without closet space, consider adding a freestanding or wall-mounted shelving system. If you exercise to videos, mount a flat-panel television on a wall mount with a swivel so that you can reposition the television as needed. Add wall-mounted speakers and a music player if a lively beat helps you move.
Space Planning
Make a floor plan to scale for your exercise room. Measure the room first, then sketch it out on grid paper where each quarter-inch square counts as one foot. Measure exercise equipment in the fully extended position in all directions. Make grid-paper templates for each piece and arrange them on the floor plan.
Allow three feet of walking space for major traffic patterns and at least two feet between each piece of equipment. Leave an open space in the center of the room if you need it for exercising on mats.
Windows
Your exercise room isn't the place for gilded finials and flowing draperies. Cover your windows with simple treatments that won't get in your way. Choose something you can open and close as needed. Blinds and slatted shutters work well because you can tilt the slats to block glare without blocking light.
Lighting
Install clean-lined lighting fixtures -- overhead, sconce and recessed -- that look appropriate with your exercise equipment. An overhead chandelier strung with baubles doesn't fit. Avoid incandescent bulbs in favor of cooler halogen, compact fluorescent or LED lights. Designer Aanchal Nath Gulati suggests frosted shades for floor exercises and dimmers for the cool-down period.
References
- "Advanced Leisure and Recreation"; Ian Roberts, 2001
- "Green Interior Design"; Lori Dennis; 2010
- "Outlook Money" magazine; Pump It Up, Your Way; Urmila Rao; September 2008
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