A great playroom is designed with the same seriousness as a great gym, because the stakes are the same: a space so good the family actually uses it every day. CS Gym Design creates custom playrooms across Chicago and the North Shore, from dedicated kids' spaces to our specialty: combined gym-and-playroom projects where parents train while the kids climb, build, and burn energy in the same room.
Gym + Playroom: One Room, Whole Family
It started with clients asking a simple question: "Can I work out without disappearing from my kids for an hour?" The answer is a zoned space: serious training equipment on one side, climbing features, soft flooring and storage on the other, with sightlines connecting them. We are currently building combined gym-and-playroom projects in Winnetka and Kenilworth, and our completed Elmhurst Playroom + Gym shows the concept in action.
What Goes Into a CS Playroom
Climbing walls and monkey bar systems installed into proper blocking, impact flooring engineered for falls, built-in storage that tames the toy chaos, reading and art corners, and materials chosen for washability and durability. We partner with Smart Playrooms (specialists in play-based design) alongside our thirty-plus equipment brands, so play features get the same commercial-grade sourcing as our barbells.
Designed for the House, Built to Last
Like every CS project, a playroom starts with our design process: measure, plan in 3D, select materials and features against a real budget, then build with one team. Basements are the most common canvas, and the moisture, ceiling-height and lighting challenges that come with them are ones we solve on every gym project already.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a custom playroom cost?
Professionally designed and built playrooms in the Chicago area typically run $15,000-$75,000 depending on built-ins, flooring systems, climbing features, and whether the space is being finished from scratch. Combined gym-and-playroom projects share infrastructure, which usually costs less than building the two rooms separately.
Can a playroom and home gym really share one space?
Yes. It is one of our most requested projects. The key is zoning: impact flooring rated for both dropped weights and falls, sightlines so adults can train while watching kids, storage that lets one function disappear while the other is in use, and equipment placed with child-safe clearances.
What flooring is best for a playroom?
Impact-absorbing surfaces designed for play, not repurposed gym rubber. We specify padded tiles, cork, or engineered foam systems depending on the activities planned, with washable, low-VOC materials throughout.
Do you design the playroom or just build it?
Both. Like our gyms, playrooms are full design-build projects: space planning, 3D design, material and feature selection (climbing walls, monkey bars, slides, reading nooks, built-in storage), then construction and installation by one team.
Ready to give the kids the best room in the house, and maybe steal half of it for a squat rack? Tell us about your space.
