apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just saw this on Design Sponge that I think is really beautiful:

http://designsponge.blogspot.com/2007/02/sneak-peekits-boy.html

That loft is gorgeous, I'm also drooling ;-)

Use a couple large area rugs to dive the spaces. Don't chop up the space with room dividers and curtains.

If you have a gorgeous modern bed and lovely modern bedding, keep the bed out in the open in that area. I hate the idea of using a peice of furniture like a book case to obstruct the view of such lovely furnishings.

One question: Do you live alone? Because your space is similar to mine in that it's a big open rectangle, or was, until we decided that we HAD to have a bedroom. We're two people, my husband and myself, call us old-fashioned, but we wanted privacy and found that we needed separate areas to go to. So we built walls and used some glass brick at the top. I had to get used to it, but now, I LOVE it and it still feels open.

Once you live in the space for awhile, you'll get a feel for more of what you want and don't want.

Okay - loving every suggestion. Yes, I live alone, but really do want a seperate bedroom area (it's more a psychological need sleeping area than anything else). My taste is a mix of modern and traditional, I have some antique pieces that I'm combining with modern pieces..I wasn't sure where I was going to start, but it's coming along nicely. I LOVE the molo walls, I have a call into them already...and love the picture of the bed behind the bookcase as well. Did I mention the 15 foot ceilings? :)

Maybe it's because I was raised in the South, (and recently moved back) but I have had a not-so-secret desire to purchase cheap screen doors, replace the screen with vintage cloth or wallpaper, and hinge them to each other for a unique folding screen. Just a thought -- I'm definitely having some bookcase envy myself!

I'm having the same issues. I'm in a new apartment that's absolutely wonderful, but my roomate has to walk through my space to get to his, so I need a divider to divide it off. I'm considering the lovely dividers by Dvider (http://store.dvider.com/) as they seem to both offer privacy and openess, and they take up no floor space. But they're awfully darn expensive.

Any other suggestions of dividers like these would be appreciated.

I'm having the same issues. I'm in a new apartment that's absolutely wonderful, but my roomate has to walk through my space to get to his, so I need a divider to divide it off. I'm considering the lovely dividers by Dvider (http://store.dvider.com/) as they seem to both offer privacy and openess, and they take up no floor space. But they're awfully darn expensive.

Any other suggestions of dividers like these would be appreciated.

We had a similar problem with our apartment with a giant living/dining/kitchen area. We ended up buying the Noreebo from Ikea to do the trick. Our general reading books are on the living room side, and they're wide enough to put cookbooks, extra mugs, liquor, etc. on the kitchen/dining side. It ended up being cheaper and far more useful than just a divider.

In High Fidelity, Lisa Bonnettes loft uses hanging salvaged windows as a separator for her bedroom and it looks AMAZING. I'm doing it in my new apartment. Right now I'm using hanging stained glass windows (which im selling if anyone wants to buy) and it makes a great room divider while not blocking light.

Melissa, this might be too open for what you want, but I was really impressed with a place AT featured a few months back: "Dante Makes It Happen." She used inexpensive low bookcases to section off the far end of her loft into a little sleeping area.

Click my name for the link.

In this past October's issue of Dwell there were some silk dividers that hang on a wire, roll on caster, allow light to pass through and are generally hard to find. They're from Germany and sold in Florida. If I could remember the name, I'd post it.
Can anyone help out here?

Margaret -
Check out the IKEA STOLMEN closet system. The foundation consists of 2-poles running floor to ceiling.

And perhaps you can do a DIY-cloth divider to stretch between the IKEA poles.

Marm: I second JenPDX's suggestion about Stolmen. I can't think of an easier DIY than putting up a couple tension poles and then getting some fabric to run between them.

IKEA Stolmen. Excellent suggestion. Thx.

If you are looking to add an Asian flair or feng shui appeal to the room, shoji screens are great, or you can also try a double-sided shoji sliding door kit that is a sliding door between the rooms, similar to French doors. There are some great choices at http://www.ILikeFurniture.com/roomdividers.html that you might want to check out.

Why didn't you get an apartment divided into rooms instead of a loft if you wanted a subdivided space? The whole point of a loft is having one large space. The best advice is that above: live in it awhile before doing anything.

I live in a 900 sq ft "loft" with 11 foot ceilings and use low bookcases to carve out spaces without destroying the openess - you need to figure out what height works with your ceiling, but you don't want anything that you can't see over. I have an open-backed 4' tall room divider/book case separating the living room from the sleeping area - which is in a different style but something I very much want to show off. My home office is bounded by a custom built 38" high unit that is a bookcase on the living room side and a desk, etc. on the inner side. These have the effect of dividing the space psychologically but not visually. You could also do some interesting things by hanging great sheer fabric from the ceiling - not to create a room but to create a gesture towards one. Saris are the perfect length and width but there are lots of things that could work, such as polyester made for theatrical productions that you can buy for maybe $5/yard from suppliers on-line. Many awful colors but also great shimmery metalics.

Atlas Industries in Brooklyn makes amazing shelving systems that have been featured in Dwell and others, but they also do fantastic, functional, airy, and beautiful (but not cheap) room dividers. Check them out here:

http://atlaseast.com/projects_paxson.html

Okay. Here's the link.

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/1126/img7478mr1.jpg

Several years ago I saw a beautiful room divider/bookshelving/storage unit at Maurice Villency furniture in Manhattan. It was very similar to the Ikea Stolmen unit in that it consisted of open shelves running floor to ceiling, with some cabinetry at the base. The unit in this display was used to divide a large space, but the twist was a bridge unit which spanned the 4-5 foot gap between the two main units. This made the whole unit into a room divider plus archway. Assuming your ceilings are high enough, that's what I'd do.

Keep in mind there are several variations on this theme. You can have tempered glass shelves made supported by cables, or metal structure, or do the same thing with acrylic plastics. Clear glass, or plastic will visually disappear leaving only the displayed items as the divider. The sky's the limit on what you might achieve, whatever you do, spend the time on researching the options. Large spaces are rare in the city and preserving that sense of openness is probably the best thing you can do.

If you want someone really organic and see through so the space doesn't looking completely divided, tried those plastic branchy things from Vitra that the Bourrellec brothers designed. You buy them in packs and they all snap together and the end result look like a net, it's really cool.

correct me if i am wrong...
you have a wide expanse of space and you moved all your things against the wall, now you want to divide it?

"this is dick in the dirt and sandy in the pussy"

I'm a starving student with a studio apartment - made my own little room divider because I just didn't like sleeping out in the open. I only have pictures of the mockup (pre- ironing and staple gunning) but the thing only took a little while to throw together, and it creates a really cozy and useful divider/shelf. Sheer fabric (I got some cheap sheer curtains) + shelf = room divider.

http://www.geocities.com/youngharpist/DSCN1643.JPG
http://www.geocities.com/youngharpist/DSCN1644.JPG

WHY oh WHY do people who have NO CLUE how to deal with open plan living buy lofts??!?!?

It's like moving into a log cabin and posting a question like "Help me deal with all this WOOD!"

If you have enough money to buy (or rent) an 1100 sq ft loft, HIRE A DESIGNER TO HELP YOU.

I am moving into a 700sf open studio in a few months. Its a rectangular layout. Any body have tips how to setup my layout. Any links to sites with pics or books would be very helful.

WHY oh WHY do people who have NO INTEREST in good questions read a "good questions" post??!?!?

Lots of interesting stuff otherwise though. Thx. And if anyone also has any ideas on how to deal with wood in log cabins, I'm game for that too. Its why I log on to this site...

Your challenge is to maintain a definition of seperate spaces without blocking out light etc. I would suggest placing furniture so that the sofa looks away from the sleeping space, and placing the bed so that the head of the bed faces you away from the living space. Between them consider suspending a pole from the ceiling (using chains), and draping it with a semi-sheer fabric such as organza. This will let light through but allow the spaces to be defined. You could also hang a rolling blind from the ceiling so that you could open and close the space as you wished - ie when entertaining. Goodluck - I am sure you will get it right!

Hang a flatscreen TV between those two windows at the far end, then position your bed so you face the TV as you lay in bed. Behind the headboard, put a bookshelf. It looks like this:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2006-entries/23-jaimes-date-ready-pad-007112

You will still be able to see those windows throughout the room. Your desk could then go up against the other side of the bookshelf, and the bonus is you can run the electrical cords needed for your computer and printer under the bed.

Another idea is to use a rolling bookshelf up against a wall but then roll it out perpendicular to the wall whenever you want to partition off a 'guestroom'.

http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODp008&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E&parentId=WE-SH1FRNSTO&retainNav=true&cmsrc=WE-SH1FRNSTO

You can see nice collection of contemporary screens and room dividers at http://www.bonluxat.com/c/screens_and_room_dividers.html

Loft living isn't necessarily about having one huge open-plan room - if that was so then the toilet would be in the same room and I'm sure NO-ONE wants that! - of course she wants to divide off areas - its only sensible to have a separate bedroom area - I like the idea of big curtains - you could pull them back if you want to open up the space or close them to get more privacy - oh didn't we have a thread a while back about curtain systems like hospital curtains that formed a grid so you could move the curtains about to different positions depending on which bits you wanted to curtain off... - that would be cool!

If you go to ikeahacker.blogspot.com one of the amazing hacks that they have is a room divider made with sliding doors from a closet setup. The doors were kind of a fuzzy material, so you could somewhat see through it, but it created the division needed. Good luck!

Excellent Suggestions. Thanks everyone.

(for the doubters I LOVE the open loft, have NOT put my furniture against any walls, and have been living in the space long enough to know that I'd like to section off a bed area while maintaining the openness of the loft - hence why I'm not just throwing up some walls).

I'll post pics when it's all done!

all good ideas, thank you to those that RESPECTFULLY replied to Melissa. I have the same problem of needing to separate and add privacy to a walk through bedroom. Melissa, Have fun choosing the best option.

I can tell a good suggestion. I needed another room in my Apartment, but i didn't have allot of money to spend.
I called some contractors to provide a bid of how much would it cost to create another room in my bed room.
They threw some really high numbers at me like $5000-$8000 that involves permits architect designer and just a long process. So i decided to do for some more searching and asked some friends of mine. I came up with company
that can put up a real wall that works on pressure meaning: temporary non-damaging avoids glues, fasteners, nails, and screws for stability. They are not attached to the existing structure. Like an office devider but way better, the wall reaches your ceiling height and can be installed with a standard door and so on. It cost me way under the price that i had been quoted for from these contractors . What's so great about it there was no need of of permits nor architect designer. they installed them with in 4-5 hours.You can see them at:
http://www.1wall2rooms.com,http://www.1wall2rooms.com/gallery.html

Hi I left a comment and suggestion right above this comment. The correction needed to make is URL address .
http://www.1wall2rooms.com/gallery.html
And also: http://www.1wall2rooms.com/

Same information here. The New York Wall Co. has been doing this for 15 years. In fact, they started the industry. They know what they are doing and come up with some pretty ingeniuos ideas (www.thewallpeople.com).

Maybe placing the bed behind a taller piece of furniture - so it faces toward a wall. Furniture like a credenza, maybe even a larger desk, etc....it would be divided without having to build a wall or hang a screen. You'd just be looking at the wall sitting up in bed.

I would hate to see you build a wall - it's a very nice loft. Maybe some curtains or something to the like across where you want the bedroom area to be. Might as well pick one end farthest from the kitchen. I would think overlaying some sheers would look best in a loft.