apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Growing up, my parents took the smallest bedroom in the house (I think about 10x12) and put a T-shaped divider in, but leaving about 8 inches between the top of the divider and the ceiling. This was done because only one of the 2 roomlets got the windows, so some ventilation could reach the innermost roomlet. My oldest sister and I each got our own little room, and as we went on to college et al, the next boy or girl down got our rooms (I'm the oldest of seven . . .)

Noise was not a problem, because we were always quiet if the other was sleeping. We were encouraged to read before sleeping, and the minimal space over the partition meant only a little bit of light was visible -- using reading lamps helped with this, too.

I loved having my own little territory (and didn't miss the bunk beds!) yet still had to respect needs of sibling -- all in all, not a bad growing/learning experience!

PS -- I had friend with 2 sons, and he had a dividing wall built that was essentially 2 bed nooks -- the younger boy got one at ground level in his room, while the older's bed was built above the younger's, accessed from his side of the wall with a short ladder -- think Japanese capsule hotel meets american bunkbeds. It was a really clever use of space, and the boys loved it! But perhaps a bit more "permanent" than you desire.

Someone at this website led me to curtainfair.com. Lots of cools options there. Hospital room curtain tracks could be cool, depending on what fabric you use for curtains. Franks idea sounds cool. You could always use something like the jack knife apt in the small/cool contest.

As Maxwell mentioned your best long term solution will be building an interior wall and its not as difficult as you might think. Here's a step-by-step from Hometips.
http://www.hometips.com/remodelguide/buildwall.html

You could also build a free-standing room divider but you won't get the same noise reduction or durability that you'll need with two young boys.
http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/tradingspaces/project/project_03.html

Hope this helps.

Give the kids the bigger room!

Try bookshelves. You can use two or three tall-skinny bookshelves or one big wide one. There's a cool bookshelf from Ikea called the Expedit bookcase that also makes for a break room divider and comes in two sizes (58x58 and 72x72).

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15561&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=11499&langId=-1&parentCats=15561*15639*15651

With a bookshelf, you get a sturdy 'wall' and extra storage as well.

Hey Chuck, I love your site and referenced it on an AT open thread once for that very free standing wall divider article

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/open-threads/open-thread-146-006621

Try iDividewalls.com
They make really nice modern translucent tension supported room divider systems.