Stone Carriage House Gym Expansion Part 1

Last year, we made over one room in our stone Carriage House and turned it into a home gym.

It took us at least six weeks of continual work to make that happen, partly because it’s a long, laborious process and partly because there are only two of us. The DIY experience is one constant reminder that you are limited by the amount of time in a day and the number of hands you possess. You’d think evolution would have fixed one of those problems by now.

The Carriage House is a separate building on our property and it is divided into three parts. The entire top floor is a studio apartment. The bottom floor has a home gym and a storage room.

In the below photo, the gym is through the bottom left-hand side door. The storage room is accessed through the bottom right-hand side door.

The storage room and gym are connected in the sense that they share a foundation and are right next to each other, but you can’t access one from the other unless you go outside and through a separate door.

The storage room is what we plan to fix up next, and, man, oh man, does it need fixing up!

I’ve been calling this a storage room, but that term implies there’s some sort of organizational component involved. It’s more like we chuck things into the abyss and slam the door shut as fast as possible. After all, that room is where the cave crickets live. It’s not a pleasant place to be.

Are you ready?

Oh, wait. Let me move a few things to the side.

Here.

Does this look better?

Really brings out the plastic in the window, doesn’t it?

If you’re still cringing, I can understand the feeling.

Imagine standing there in person. I’ll bet you’re glad an entire internet separates us now, huh?

The truth of the matter is that clearing out the space just highlighted the real problems this side of the building has.

The walls are crumbling.

There is plastic over a window grate.

There are pavers on the floor to keep things off the dirt and damp.

All of the plumbing and electrical systems are exposed.

Oh, and did I mention the cave crickets? I did? They really like it here because it is cool, dark, and damp. Mice keep them company.

Delightful. Absolutely delightful.

But you see the potential, right?

Not even if you squint? Darn.

You’ll have to use your imagination then.

If a new window is installed and the walls are repointed so they look a little something like this…

…then we can turn this creepy, crumbling room into an expansion of our home gym.

Yes, a bigger gym.

I’m sorry to those of you who were hoping it would be a fancy potting shed. Maybe someday in my retirement, but I’m not retired yet.

We just have to knock down part of the wall below to connect the current gym and this storage room.

The good news for us is that this is not a load-bearing wall. It looks like it’s touching the ceiling from this view, but it’s not touching any joists above it.

It’s more like the most overbuilt room divider to ever be constructed in the history of humanity. Or so I imagine.

The bad news is that “just have to” makes it sound easy. It’s the part I’m looking forward to the least. Knocking down a stone wall that is 18 inches thick is more akin to a marathon CrossFit session than a walk in the park.

In addition, I spent hours upon hours repointing the stone on the other side, and we need to undo all of that work to make something better.

There’s a life lesson in there somewhere. I’ll let you know if I find it.

Depending on how many other projects we juggle (heaven forbid we stick to one thing at a time), I expect this stone Carriage House gym expansion will take us months of work.

I’m looking forward to it.

I say that without any sarcasm.

This room is bringing down the whole vibe around here. It’s not a happy place to be right now, but I know we can change that. So, bring it on.

Are you excited to see us transform this place? Is anyone volunteering to help out? Let me know! You can always comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s to saving all the old buildings!

Thanks for hanging out with me today! If you like creepy spaces, boy, do I have more blog posts for you to read. 

The Attic Stairwell Before – YIKES

Carriage House Living Space Before – The 1970s called and want their stinky carpet back

Carriage House Gym Before – What is happening here