I lived in a tiny house and then moved into a tinier one. We didn't have the space for a typical playgym, so we made a hanging one from pvc pipe and wrapped it in vetwrap. Here's a rather busy picture of our old kitchen with the playgym hanging over the cages.
Since we've moved, the gym will be installed on our back deck (which has been enclosed to suit the birds). It will be reinforced and permanently bracketted to the wall with a few new enhancements, like a ferris wheel and hanging ropes.
What I'd suggest is to watch your bird and work out what sorts of things he likes to do. Then, design your playgym accordingly. The galah for whom our gym was made had large abdominal lipomas and wasn't very athletic as a result. All he could do was walk and climb, so I made him a gym that forced him to move around (albeit slowly) and exercise. We whittled 150gms off him just by making him walk and climb to find his food!
Now that my dear old friend has passed away (RIP mate) the gym will be used mainly by Rosetta the corella. She's what I'd call a violent player. She literally hurls herself round the place, flying and squawking and seizing hold of whatever she can grab to swing off it. Therefore, ropes and sturdy swings are her favourites. She'll climb on a cargo net, but only to get from here to there. Mostly, she likes to fly and when she's finished, she likes to sleep.
The Beaks will be the other occupants of the gym and their requirements are quite different. They like movable toys like beads on a wire or the sorts of button-pressing baby toys that make a noise. (Need to be *very* careful with removable parts!) The Beaks aren't interested in rope except for access to something they'd like to chew. Therefore, I'll have places where timber can be artfully inserted for them to chomp on.
(Aside: we had a PB huge storm the other night and a two-metre branch conveniently fell off our _Eucalyptus cladocalyx_ (tree) and landed end-on in the small skylight. Aside from causing a rather large and disturbing leak in the roof, it has provided a very nice piece of stringy chomping-timber for the birds).
I don't like most of the commercial playgyms you see for sale because they really only seem to be designed for a bird to sit on and occupy itself rather than exploring and having fun. A real playgym needs to be big and comprised of various intriguing toys and opportunities to move around. Just MHO...
