There's a key concept often missing from the discussion of 'home gym design,' and that's 'home.' Rather than a utilitarian space focused on optimizing the layout of your workout equipment, the best workout rooms extend the best elements of design that run throughout your house. To help you out, Homes & Gardens is exploring our favorite stylish celebrity gyms, starting with Ryan Seacrest.
The American Idol host took to Instagram to share a sweet video working out with his niece in his stylish, mid-century modern home gym. His space features wooden floors and cream walls, with warm, inviting lighting. Ryan's cable pulley machine is built of dark brown wood, and his curved beige weights make even hand-held exercise look chic. A large window floods the gym with light, creating a natural conversation between the adjoining courtyard and the indoors.
So, what makes Ryan Seacrest's gym a celebration of mid-century modern style, where so many other workout spaces fail? Below, San-Francisco-based interior designer Kanika Bakshi Khurana of Kanika Design unpacks his look step by step. The Homes & Gardens team also curated an edit of chic decor and gym equipment for replicating the look.
Shop the Mid-Century Modern Gym Edit
Ryan Seacrest's stylish wooden weights machine shows how to make workout equipment look good. It's gorgeous against clean white walls.
With a thin, metal frame, this is the ideal piece for creating a sleek and modern gallery wall, or framing a single black and white print as we see in Ryan Secrest's home gym. Available in a range of different sizes, this frame can fit in any space.
Improve your push up form and make your home look gorgeous while doing it. These oak and steel beams are designed to help you work on your upper body in the chicest way possible.
Gym lighting needn't be clinical. Instead, pair curves with angular shapes, like the Avant metal floor lamp that's inspired by iconic midcentury styles.
Bala is known for their functional yet stylish workout equipment, and this beige kettleball is the perfect example. Left out, it can still be an eye-catching objet d'art.
This pretty light works well in any space and is especially stylish in a mid-century modern style room. It's ideal for an exercise space where you need plenty of light.
Kanika states: 'How do you make this kind of home gym feel urban cool rather than industrial? By finding a balance between utility and restraint. The design avoids utilising this space as a commercial gym and instead focuses on the curated palette against an intentional layout. The equipment is not crammed in but rather spaced out with visual white space to keep the space tidy and more architectural than crowded.'
As we see in Ryan's space, making a home gym look expensive requires attention to detail and the tones throughout the room. Kanika advises: 'Color palette is huge. The best exercise spaces integrate elements of the natural world into their design; wood, after all, is very restorative in nature and softens the intensity that typically comes to mind when thinking about workout facilities.'
Ryan's wood flooring is a huge contribution to the warmth of the space. Kanika suggests: 'The wood flooring is instrumental in changing the elements of tone for the room. It also serves to soften and warm the hard edges of all gym equipment. The cream walls and wood floors work together to create an ideal balance of cool and warm tones that prevent the space from feeling like just an airy storage area separate from your home.'
In set florescent bulbs are a surefire way to make your home gym feel like an industrial space, and mid-century modern metallic lights like Ryans do the opposite. 'Lighting is also essential,' explains Kanika. 'Lighting is softer and more diffused, steering clear of those intense overhead gym lights while helping to keep a more home-like ambience. Add a neutral palette to the mix, an organized array of equipment placed with intention leads to an intentional, tranquil environment that is also beautiful.'
She concludes: 'In general, success in this type of setup comes from thinking about the gym as a designed space rather than purely functional. It all just felt a lot more cohesive when I thought about the materials and color and layout in tandem.'
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