As this was the first type of major household construction that I've ever done, I learned a lot during the building process. I wanted to do this room before the theater for that simple reason. And I'm glad I did it that way, even though I'm very pleased with this room too.
Design
What seemed like a pretty simple room turned out to have some funky design considerations. The room itself is about 11"x19" square, with windows on two of the four walls. I did have to bring the wall out about 1 square foot in one of the corners to accommodate a water pipe, but otherwise the wall framing was fairly straightforward. It's the ceiling that caused issues.
I used 4 recessed lights to light the room - two were placed where the ceiling was lowered and two placed where it was high. No problems with the lighting. I also bought a pair of in-ceiling speakers - those were installed in the high area of the ceiling. I ran 6 power outlets - 5 on one 15A circuit and one on a separate 20A circuit (for the treadmill). I also ran one Cat5e, one coax, and there's one dedicated box for speaker wire. There's actually eight wires running to it - four from the in-ceiling speakers and four from the outdoor deck speakers. I used all 2-wire cord; probably should've used 4-wire for convenience, but it wasn't too bad.
Those media outlets are all in one corner of the room. The idea is to have all electronic components in that corner.
Construction
First off, I started by buying a can of basement sealant. My idea was to cover the walls with the stuff to help with any potential leaks in the foundation. Once I started though, I realized it was going to be costly to do this. My one gallon didn't cover much - I got about 1 wall covered. So, even though it might haunt me later, I gave up that idea; mostly due to price, but also on research and opinions stating that it wouldn't help much anyway.
Framing was next. I had help to start with - my cousin came over (he had just finished his basement) and got be going. We basically got the long wall done and I did the other two later. Nothing too hard here, although I learned you need to be careful when working around the windows - make sure to get those openings correct.
Next up was the ceiling. I had a bunch of ductwork on half of the room to work around. So I basically hung a stud from the floor joists and connected that to a stud joined to the wall stud. You can see what I mean below:
This was all fine and dandy until I reached the window; I realized that my little sofitt was going to cover part of the window. Missed that one in design. So I had to raise the last 2 feet or so of the sofitt up a bit to the top of the window. So there were now three tiers to my ceiling. It's a funky workaround, but it's hardly noticeable now.
Electrical wiring was the next step. Surprisingly, this went very smoothly - this was my first major electrical wiring as well. It takes patience, but it's not difficult.
After that, I insulated the walls and the ceiling. I started with R-19 insulation, but since I only had 2x4 studs, that was a bit thick and hard to work with. I later changed to R-13 for the theater. I insulated the ceiling to try and block some of the sound from the upstairs. If you're doing a drywall ceiling like I did, I highly recommend it.
TIP: Wear gloves and a breathing mask when working with insulation, and long sleeves are a good idea too.
My first experience with drywall was next. I had some help starting this too - a couple friends gave me hand on the ceiling. This actually went pretty smoothly - cutting around outlets and light fixtures is the obvious pain. Due to the three-tiered ceiling, there were a lot of smallish pieces to cut, so this room did take longer to finish than the others.
TIP: A jigsaw cuts through drywall like butter, and is a helpful tool when cutting out outlets and other holes. If you're cutting the drywall in the basement, do not get the idea (like I did) to use the saw to cut everything - it generates a LOT of dust. You won't notice it for a day or two, but it'll be there. Use a simple razor blade instead - it's really not that hard to use, and makes a pretty clean cut.
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At this point, I moved onto the hallway and the theater. Drywall finishing was the next step, and that was going to be done all at once. So it was a white room for a few months.
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We hired out for the finishing of the drywall - I've never done that before either, and I don't ever want to (although I will be when I get around to completing the bathroom). It's very messy and very time-consuming; the people we hired did a good job though, so I'm happy.
Painting was next. We went with a simple white ceiling (the ceiling is textured, by the way). We primed the walls (using a tinted primer) and painted them with a "Yukon Gold" color - kind of a dull yellow.
I layed 7/16" plywood on the floor, then topped that off with my gym floor mats. I didn't secure the plywood with anything - I may have to in the future, as I've noticed a couple pieces that like to pop up. Nothing too noticeable, but they may need to be fixed.
After finishing the wiring of all the outlets, I worked on the floor trim and window casings. More on that is explained in the Home Theater section of the site.
Decor
Not much yet. I've got a clock in the corner by the treadmill, and I put up three Lord of the Rings-themed replica swords that I had purchased a while ago. Those are behind the weight bench. Other than that, I think this room will end up just containing a mashup of various items...I've got a few LOTR movie posters I might put up, but beyond that I'm not sure. Not that it really needs much anyway - it's a gym, after all.
What I do want is a few large mirrors on a wall - kind of like what you'd find in a standard weight room. My cousin is in the glass business, so that might not be too expensive either. Other than that, I'm pretty open to other options at this point.
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