We just spotted this great idea on the Sunset website. It's clearly not for renters, but if you own your home, do as these Portola Valley homeowners did. They replaced a dark hallway with a room divider. Not only did it open up the space, it linked the kitchen, living, and dining rooms, and added storage. Can't visualize it? Jump below for the "before."

Comments (8)
beautiful idea:)
I love this. It really does open the space up.
I wish I could do something similar in my apartment...
...notice too how the homeowners raised the ceiling to the roof which opens the space even further and extended the wood flooring throughout which unifies the overall space.
Ahh-mazing.
Amazing difference. Hallways are so often wasted space, and they take up a lot of it!
Wow, what an incredible change! It's like looking at two completely different spaces.
I like the idea a lot, but after visiting the architect's website, via a link on Sunset, I wasn't all that impressed with the room.
I agree with you john h. it looks great from this angle, but the other view is disappointing.