Cheap Room Dividers

With many families beginning to downsize their lives and choosing smaller homes and apartments as residences, decorating with cheap wall dividers is an easy fix towards turning one room into two or more living spaces.

Cheap Wall Dividers

Purchasing a wall divider can easily run you from several hundred to several thousand dollars. When you are thinking of a room divider, one of the first steps is to do what all great designers do – repurpose! Sometimes all you need to do is to step back, look at the space you have to work with, and look at what you already have that might make a great wall divider!

Remember – a great rule of thumb when redecorating on the cheap is to shop your own home first. After that, do not forget to make an appointment to shop your close friends and family members’ basements and attics. We all have more stuff then we can use and many of us are happy to give it away or sell something at a reduced rate to help someone we care about out.

Divide and Conquer

To begin to rethink the space, you must rethink how you want to live. Take a day to remove clutter, memorabilia, and decorative items from the room. Take the measurements of the room in total, noting where windows and doorways begin and end. Measure the height of the room and take note of where the electrical outlets and any permanent electrical fixtures are hanging.

Draw an outline of the room on a piece of paper noting all the above. Do not worry if it is not to precise scale and any piece of paper from the back of an envelope to a brown paper bag will do.

The next thing you should do is look at the furniture left in the room. Many of us have purchased large, oversized chairs and sectionals. We love them because they are big and sprawling. Yet, in the new spaces we are trying to create, the question to ask is – are they going to serve us as well. Sometimes the answer is yes and the furniture can stay. Perhaps in the case of a sectional, pulling it apart to form two different seating areas for the new spaces is an option. If the answer is an honest, no, - then those pieces must be removed to a different part of the house, put in storage, or sold.

What Space are You Creating – Making a Room Divider Part of the Décor

One nice thing about making your own cheap room divider is that you can make it as functional and as decorative as you want. You are not limited by a preset pattern or frame. Some great ideas for inexpensive room dividers room by room are as follows:

Office Space for Two

Use tall five or more shelve bookcases as a room divider by turning them back to back. Cover the sides with faux leather and attach with decorative tacks, staples, or even glue. Place a desk, lamp, chair and rug off the opposing wall and you have a great attractive room divider.

You can also take two desks (Remember your dorm room days?) and turn them back to back. Take a dry eraser board and attach it to the back of one desk to serve as a wall. You can even decorate the other side with cork tiles, thus turning it into a useful room divider for both parties.

Living Room and Dining Area

Take a cue from museums. Find an oversized piece of artwork. Suspend it using the appropriate sized wire from the ceiling and anchor it to the floor. Add some track lighting for more drama. You immediately create a breathtaking wall divider and a great conversation piece. You can also face a couch in one direction and back it with an attractive sideboard or credenza. A few tall decorative vases and candles will create the illusion of two separate rooms.

Reading Nook and Bedroom

Clear out a corner of the bedroom. Place a comfortable chair and ottoman, or chaise. Divide the area off using tall potted plants. If you do not have a green thumb, a trip to an arts and crafts store and you can find tall silk flowers and artificial trees and bushes to create your own green, away from it all, space. Add a small reading light behind the chair and a small folding table to hold your books and you have an attractive space that will not disturb your sleeping partner.

Playroom

An innovative idea is to take soft, large, foam or paper blocks. Glue them together and then Velcro them to the floor and wall. This room divider can easily move to form a different room configuration.

Area rugs and even gym mats can also be used to divide the room into separate spaces for the benefit and amusement of your children.

Curtains Up

One of the most inexpensive ways to divide a room is to use curtains. You can use curtains you already have or make ones from canvas, sheets, and curtain liners. With so many inexpensive rods in different shapes and sizes, you can put up an artistic and practical divider in little or no time.

One innovative trick is to use a curved shower rod and attach it to a corner of the room. Add some café rings and a pretty curtain and you instantly create a closet or dressing room.

Use pleated curtains stapled to pieces of plywood and attached to the floor on a wood 2’ by 4’ base for a cheap and pretty room divider.

For another idea, making a room divider using PVC pipe and material is not difficult. Do not also forget to scour hospital and office supply auctions, as well as flea markets for utilitarian or decorative folding screens. With a little imagination and by taking your time, you can multiply your living space using simple division – simple room division that is!

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