On Having A Bedroom Without Any Walls

Having an open loft space is as awesome as you think it is, but the lack of walls and privacy can be a turn off to some. After previously living in a space where the only walls in our space surrounded the bathroom (which we were quite thankful for), we have to say privacy and walls really aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Now before I start, I have to say upfront, that it was in fact, just the 4 of us who lived in the space. That is, my husband and I and our two dogs. We don't have kids, we didn't have roommates and so the lack of walls in our space really wasn't a problem!

You can see more of our open floor plan loft back in this post -- it was really just a giant square with a few supporting posts here and there.

When we first arrived, we had these grand plans to make short walls, curtain walls, retractable walls and then we realized, it had been 5 months and we didn't care anymore. All of the times you might need a door, we had found other ways around.

If I had to work early, my husband had wireless headphones to stay up playing video games or watching Netflix and Roku-- thus one person staying up later than the other was never a problem or distraction. If we felt like laying down or were under the weather, we simply asked company to leave earlier if they happened to be over.

Sure you might get dressed in your bedroom, especially when company is over (say you've been cooking all afternoon and need to change into something that isn't covered in flour). We simply changed in the bathroom and all was well.

So in the end, walls were truly overrated and without them our bedroom could enjoy a ridiculous amount of natural light and fresh air, just like the rest of our space. It never felt unhealthy or boxed in, we didn't feel cooped up or separated from everything else and best of all, we could have breakfast in bed, while watching tv (which was in the living room). That is, when our dogs let us sleep in.

Have you ever had a bedroom space without walls? What was your experience? Share in the comments below!

Comments (12)

I never had. When i refurbished my house i was thinking about using this kind of space but you always have to be very careful about order in the whole house. That's why i didn't chose to make it like this. But it sounds beautiful.

It's kind of weird. We have a loft with a split level, so the bedroom looks out over the living room. When friends stay over, we're all exhausted anyway... although it is a bit odd trying to be completely quiet knowing your friends or family are just over the balcony on the sleeper sofa.

I moved into a studio apartment with the same initial intentions of building a dividing wall, or hang some canvas at the foot of my bed. Having different apartment priorities; setting up my kitchen and living room, the wall was quickly forgotten. Having my bedroom on display to my house guests as forced me to keep my "bedroom" made and tidy. Now only if i could fill my 15ft walls, my space would be complete....

My husband and I spent our first year together in a loft with no walls (except the bathroom). While we ocassionally were left wanting for privacy, we had a blast. In fact, after we moved to a bigger place with walls we sort of missed each other and still spent most of our time in the same room.

We moved into a studio from a two bedroom apartment. Once we moved my workspace out of the living and my husband's office out of the second bedroom, we found that we never used any of the space but the living room and kitchen anyway.

Our new space is great. Decluttered, and we don't have a dead zone that doesn't get used. I hate those corners of rooms that no one seems to go to. It seems ominous, heavy.

Bedrooms come *with* walls???

I have officially lived in Manhattan too long.

A famous designer told me that my bed should be hidden behind a wall. WRONG.

"Have you ever had a bedroom space without walls?"

Nope, 'cause would have been sleeping outside...

I lived in a studio before upgrading to a (cheaper) 1-br, and the only problem I found was that because it was so small, the only real furniture I could fit in it was my full-sized bed and some little tables, tv, etc. This became an issue when entertaining male guests... "Here, have a seat on my bed and we'll watch a movie!"

Nothing like giving off the wrong impressions!

I live in an open floorplan loft with my partner and 2 roommates. It's. . . odd. Our roommates have walls (we built them) and interior windows (those too). My partner and I have diaphanous curtains, and that's it. I would like walls just so every creak of our mattress (and there are many creaks) wouldn't be that audible to the rest of the household, but the space is magnificent and affordable, so we're simply getting used to it!
In the meantime, I'm hanging some reclaimed windows to create partitions for at least the illusion of privacy, and I keep the curtains pulled most of the time.

I am about to start remodeling my boyfriend and I's mobile home with that general idea in mind. When we moved it, the place felt so boxy and enclosed. We have since removed the wall between the living room and kitchen, and we are about to rip down all the rest (except the one around the master bath)! We have plans to do a flexible curtain system (with rods spanning the length of the house and other rods parallel so we can hang curtains and create "rooms" if we have guests or other equally awesome plans), but who knows, we may drop that idea in the end as well, since it is just the two of us with our cat and two rabbits!

Ok, maybe it's just me, but is no one a slightly unsettled at the image of the dog? He appears to have red eyes.