Mark is buying a home and has a good question: "I'm in the process of buying a 100+ year old duplex home in Denver and have and idea on how to partition the 'grand room.' Most of these older homes were built with small boxy rooms and are small. To open things up, people often remove the wall between the dining and living room and make a grand room. This has been done to the home that I'm buying...
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CHI Good Questions: Compression Shelving as Partition?
You can see the arch left over from the dividing wall in the picture (excuse the mess, a tenant was moving out when I took the picture).
I think it would be nice to partition the rooms by using a shelving system that is held in place by compression between the floor and ceiling. If I placed a couple of shelves in the middle of the room directly under the arch, it would partition the rooms but you could still see through the shelves so it would retain its open feeling. This is my hope, anyway.
So, first question: do you think this would work out well or would it close in the rooms again and make it boxy?
The second question is do you know of any shelving systems that are held in place by a compression system between the ceiling and floor? Vitsoe has one, but it's pricey.
I can use an open book shelf,
but I think something that went from ceiling to floor would look better. These look like the would work great and be affordable. BUT, I can't find them on the IKEA website. We don't have an IKEA in Denver :(
This turned out to be kind of long winded, but thanks very much for your help!
Mark, the IKEA shelving shown in Aaron's photo (shown above the jump) is from the Stolmen storage system, which can be found here on the IKEA site.
Has anyone use the Stolmen system at home? Please share your experiences and thought with Mark on whether this would work in this new place. Suggestions for other reasonably price compression shelving units are also welcome!
Photo: Aaron Abel, AT:NY
Comments (8)
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I love the look of bookcase room dividers. Not too long ago, I read an article about Todd Oldham's house and how he created something similar for his living room. There's a slideshow in this link: http://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/homedesign/features/n_9324/
I think he gives some basic directions on how he created the shelves.
view alisong's profile
This may not be an option for you, but it would definitely be a good idea to look at the Stolmen system in person before ordering. It looks a little clunkier in person than on pictures. Installation takes some patience and preferably two people if you want to get everything level, and you might want to secure the top part to the ceiling.
A possible alternative are the Rakks compression poles (see http://www.rakks.com/portfolio/portfolio_res2.html).t's certainly higher quality than the Ikea stuff (I have both), but it's also pricier (~ factor 2). That's still much cheaper than the Vitsoe or various Italian systems.
view particlebored's profile
ooh, I like the Rakks stuff...
This one in particular:
http://www.rakks.com/portfolio/portfolio_images/room_large08.jpg
view Danger Dorge's profile
If you just want to use the Stolmen to partition the space and hold a few decorative objects, I think it's a good idea. I would not put anything heavy on it if there was the possibility that people might lean on it or bump into it. I'm currently using it as a bookcase:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51867712@N00/1470165061/
As you can see from my comments on the page linked to above, installing Stolmen is not easy. It is an extremely cheap solution, however.
view chryses's profile
Perhaps not easy, Chryses, but it looks great! I love that you used the entire height of the room, which is a big advantage of the Stolmen.
I've used Stolmen as my walk-in closet arrangement and have been very happy with it. It looks quite industrial, and very few people recognize it as ikea (a plus, in my book).
view Ian B's profile
Not to be creepy but I recognize that dining room from when I was looking at places earlier this year -- that little duplex is adorable and in a great location. Lucky you Mark!
view cindycindy's profile
The one thing to keep in mind about bookshelf room dividers is that the items you will stack on the shelves need to work visually from both sides. This can create a bit of a complicated puzzle when it comes to stocking the shelves. Also, keep in mind that the more you put on the shelves, the less visually transparent they are.
I am going to stick with my stock answer for today: floor to ceiling sheer curtain wall. It lets the light through, divides the space, and doesn't require buying a host of appropriate knick knacks to stock the shelves with just enough visual transparency and balance.
view RichardinLA's profile
I just wanted to comment and say thanks for all the advice/answers. Todd Oldham's shelves are awesome, I'm
wondering if that's a project I should pursue. If so, I'll
definitely let you guys/gals know how it ends up.
mark
view markcs's profile