apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If I were to block a door I would hide it all together.
Use a screen or taller bookshelf and also close the door from the other side.
The view from the craft room into the living room bothered me more.
Also , there is such a thing as to many family photo's.
Your blocking a door just to show photo's in a bookcase and not using that space wisley to me. You need to get down on a knee to view some of those photo's.

In a space like this, I do like the view, actually, from one room to another, like a window. Going around instead of through is obviously a choice you have to make, if that's how you want it to be. Configuring furniture in a small room that just happens to have alternate access to another room is not something you have to compromise like the rest of us do, who only have one way in or out. I don't buy this "cave" thing. I mean, did you have to block the doorway as a matter of comfort? That doesn't seem like a good reason. Arranging the furniture you have in the space you've been given seems to have worked out ok, though.

I love the way you use the bookcases to showcase your photos. It adds a sculptural element, and having the open doorway above adds interest to the room.

It is definitely possible to have too many doorways in a room. We had a house with the "Lipton flow-thru bathroom". Some previous owner thought it would be a good idea to be able to access the bathroom from the kitchen as well as the hallway, which meant that the bathroom had two door opposite each other. As the bathroom was only about 7 x 7, it turned into a kind of hallway with toilet and tub. We ended up blocking off that doorway with a wall of shelving in the kitchen, which gave us desparately needed pantry space, and no real inconvenience...

Oh, no, no, no. That's absoutely cringeworthy. I guess I'm a purist, though (exception: fijorlef's bathroom!). I react the same way to furniture blocking windows.

If you aren't going to use the door, why not just build in a double sided mirror in the doorway? At least then you are making an artful use of the door frame.

Right now it looks awkward.

Don't change a thing. I LOVE your apartment . It is unconventional but that makes it visually interesting.

I like it open "like a window" into the other rooms. Maybe play on that theme a bit and find an old window to hang in the doorway frame above your cabinet as opposed to the birdcage. It may help disguise the fact that its a door opening and might add a bit of whimsy.