Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room – Week 1 of the One Room Challenge

I’m so excited to be participating in the One Room Challenge as a guest. This is my second time participating and you can check out my first foray into this exciting challenge here, with my affordable modern kitchen update. I’ve always been a huge fan of the One Room Challenge and it really is an honour to participate. In the next eight weeks, I’ll be sharing how to transform an area of completely unfinished basement into a soothing basement yoga, meditation, and exercise room. I’ll be sharing the complete transformation from room planning to wall framing and drywalling to flooring, painting and construction of some practical and pretty DIY storage pieces.

The One Room Challenge

If you’re not familiar with the One Room Challenge, it’s a twice-yearly event that features designers and guest participants. Over an eight-week period, participants renovate or refresh one room and share the process on their blog or Instagram. Each week provides an opportunity for DIYers and decorators to share their progress and help others learn how to tackle their own wish list of home decor projects. It’s quite exciting to see the progress that can be made in just eight weeks.

A Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room: The Plan

Firstly, let me say that we started this project 12 years ago, shortly after moving into our new home and just before the birth of our third child. Well, that third child and the cumulative effort of raising three young boys put a halt to any hopes of finishing our basement at that time. Fast forward many years, and we now have time to finish this project. Our priorities have changed somewhat from our original plan. We had initially wanted a family media room, playroom/games room, home office, full bathroom, and storage rooms. We have since changed the plan for the playroom/games room. Since our children are now aged 12-17 and our oldest has recently moved away to university, we no longer need such a room.

With our increasing interest in staying fit and my lifelong love of yoga and meditation, it seemed fitting to change the intended use of this space. Hence, the room I will be creating in this challenge is a basement yoga, meditation, and fitness room. I joined a fabulous gym this past February and go three to four days a week, but I want to be able to squeeze in shorter at-home sessions when my schedule is tight. My husband and older children will also be able to benefit from the space.

Project List for the Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room

My list of projects I want to complete during the challenge:

• Plan an optimal layout for the space
• Frame the interior walls of the room
• Complete the electrical wiring (including inspections)
• Drywall, mud and sand the walls and ceiling
• Build window wells
• Install Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) flooring
• Paint walls and ceiling
• Apply trim
• Apply wallpaper feature wall
• Install lighting
• Build storage structures
• Add moulding to the two pillars in the space
• Purchase and place exercise equipment
• Decorate with rugs, cushions, and accessories

Before Photos

I don’t have a photo of the basement before any work began, but I do have photos from when the framing had just begun. In order to be able to complete this project within the 8-week timeframe, it was necessary to complete the framing and electrical work before the challenge began. This is because we had to schedule structural, electrical and plumbing inspections for our entire basement. We needed to complete all this work for the whole basement before the inspections could be done. I didn’t want to have any inspection-related delays during the challenge (we passed all our inspections- yay!). The plan is to do the finishing for each room in turn, starting with the yoga, meditation, and fitness room. Priorities right?

The before photos for the basement show a very unfinished-looking basement with lots of accumulated clutter. It’s quite a wide space and open to the future media room and main hallway. There will be a slight separation between the two rooms with two support pillars. There will also be a set of double French doors leading to the adjacent future office. The yoga, meditation, and exercise room has one window that is a decent size for a basement.

Mood Board and Inspiration Photos for the Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room

The first thing I chose for the space was the flooring, which will extend throughout the basement excluding the bathroom. I chose a lovely white oak LVP, Finally Mine by Provenza Flooring. It has a natural and rustic feeling and is light to medium-toned to keep the space looking fairly bright. Next, I chose a stunning wallpaper from Photowall, Up and Away in the Greige colourway. I love the neutral look and the soothing cloud motif. It will add interest to the long wall without looking busy or loud. I’m going to go with a creamy white on the walls- stay tuned to week 5 to find out the paint colours I will be using for the walls, ceiling, and trim.

For an injection of colour, I will be using lilac yoga and meditation pillows. Additionally, I may find other ways to include this pretty colour including possibly adding an area rug in shades of lilac and lavender. From a practical standpoint, there will be a space for two yoga mats and an exercise bike, a bench for lifting weights, and plenty of storage for yoga mats, hand weights, and other personal training equipment. I plan to have a large mirror in the space for checking yoga and exercise postures and I am considering installing a ballet bar for my barre practice.

Decorative items will include plants and meditation accessories. I’ll also want a space for a speaker to listen to inspiring music. The plan is most definitely evolving so you are definitely in for an organic and evolving journey if you choose to follow allow for the eight weeks.

Inspiration Photos for the Basement Yoga, Meditation, and Exercise Room

I couldn’t find any inspiration photos that capture exactly what I’m looking to do in our basement, but here are a few that capture some of the elements I’m looking to include. Note that since the space I’ve chosen is a below-grade basement, there won’t be a large window or door and the amount of natural light will be limited. The photo below, by The Interior Collective, captures the neutral elements I’d like to include in my space- the white oak floors and white walls. I also happen to have dark grey yoga mats and I want to incorporate plants and natural elements.

The elements that I particularly enjoy from this photo on Pinterest (no source) are the soft feature wall, white oak floors, and oversized plant.

Again, I love the white oak floors, white walls, and oversized Monstera plant. The space pictured below by Paula Mallis of the WMN Space also includes soft and cozy elements like faux fur rugs and meditation pillows.

A Bench

I’d like to include a bench in the space to double as both a weight bench and a surface to display meditation props. Camille Styles shares tips to create a meditation space such as the space in this image by Nicki Sebastian.

This image from Kingson Lafferty Design shows a simple bench with items used for meditation.

A Mirror

I think I’d like to hand a mirror above the bench so that I can check my yoga and exercise poses and postures. The mirror will also help to reflect light and make the space appear larger.

Storage

I want to DIY some simple storage furniture to store and display our hand weights, yoga mats, and other equipment. I’m not sure if I will make the storage furniture from scratch or perform an IKEA hack on a piece I either already own or can purchase on a local buy and sell group.

Work Plan for this Week

This coming week I plan to work on drywalling with my husband and make some final decisions on paint colours and DIY projects I will be sharing next month. I will likely order more supplies so that I’m prepared for the upcoming weeks.

Summary

I’m very excited to finally be finishing our basement and turning a portion of it into a basement yoga, meditation, and exercise room. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our plans for this project and I’d love to know what you think, so please leave a comment. I’m so happy that you are joining me on this journey and I cannot wait to share my weekly projects and updates with you all. The final reveal is November 15. Please check out the posts by the other participants here. Here is the link to week 2 of the challenge.