In general, adding more walls to an already small space makes the entire place feel smaller. Sometimes, though, you need to give an area of your apartment or condo the feel of its own room and start dividing up a room in an apartment or condo. Fortunately, you have many tools, depending on the circumstances and your personal preferences, to divide up a larger room.

Temporary Room Divider Solutions

If you have someone staying over for a few nights in your small apartment or condo, you might like to try dividing up a space in your home so that they can change clothes and sleep in. Even a small effort at creating privacy will be much appreciated by most people.

• You might also benefit from a room divider if you’re working on a project of some sort, whether it be a sewing, craft, or home renovation task that doesn’t look very pretty right now, but can be effectively contained in its own area of your home. Japanese screens, are great for this reason – they’re stylish, and they can cover up a project area and keep the room looking clean and neat.
• Also, most of the screens allow partial light through, so if you place a light source behind them, they admit a warm, soft glow to the rest of the room, which makes the space appear larger and more airy. With a fan-like shape, they take up very little room when folded up, and can easily be stored flat and upright in the back of a closet. The aptly-named Room Divider Store has a website with hundreds of Japanese-style screen dividers that you can purchase online, if you are so inclined. They’re also just nice to look at and to get some ideas for your future room designs!

Long Term Space Dividing Solutions

Got a studio apartment and don’t want to feel like your bed is sitting in the living room? Or, heaven forbid, do you have an old-fashioned New England apartment with the shower in the kitchen? You may even have a child whose “room” is part of a larger space, like the living room. In any case, there are some room dividers that do an excellent job of creating the effect of an entirely different space.

• Curtains on a curtain rod (if the walls are close enough together) or a clothes line if they aren’t, can block out lots of light and create a screen of privacy. Apartment Therapy has an article on hanging curtains as room dividers. For dividing up open spaces,  they suggest aircraft cable, which is plastic coated so it won’t snag curtains, plus it won’t droop like such a long length of clothes line would. Ikea Hacker also has a post about an extremely cheap curtain divider solution using ceiling mounts and muslin cloth.
• Bookshelves and other shelf furniture like the IKEA Expedit bookshelf might not completely block out light, but they do a good job of visually “roping off” the space as its own separate room. Big potted plants, or something like a chest of drawers facing with the back outwards (if you’re trying to create a bedroom) can effectively divide up a room.