Cheap room divider ?

[Drew V]

I'm moving to a new place that has a very large, open space. I'm looking for a cheap way to partition off a corner of the room for an office area around my desk (so guests don't see all of my clutter).

Anyone have any recommendations ? It's a loft, so something unfinished or industrial looking is fine. I was thinking of building a couple of screens with 1/2" steel conduit and some cheap plastic sheets in the middle, but I haven't found good plastic to use.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

dv

[ameijers]

Cheap bookcases. Either the chipboard crap from Ikea or the big-box, or hit an institutional/government auction and buy real ones. (auctions usually have the tinkertoy office panels, too, but you may have to buy a pallet load, and the stuff often isn't lotted out in complete sets, just however the crew threw it on the truck.) Big cities usually have a dealer in used store fixtures- probably can find some scuffed slot panels pretty cheap, and some stuff to hang off them and make display space for your art and such. Hit the local army surplus, and buy a butt load of big metal ammo cans, the kind that stack like milk crates. A wall, and dry moth-proof storage for seldom-used items.

Make sure whatever you set up isn't a tipping hazard, especially if you are in quake country or throw rowdy parties. Tie it to walls, or bolt it into L shapes, or screw metal channel to the tops, or something. Lead bricks on bottom shelf help a lot. Being pinned is no fun if you live alone.

aem sends....

[Pop]

Use quality shower curtains; wear well, some good designs available.

[John_B]

I built a wall of six foot high book cases "back to back" to divide my "office" area from the rest of the family room. This gave me a lot of space to store my library which I needed and allows for air circulation throughout the room.

[Suzie-Q]

-> I'm moving to a new place that has a very large, open space. I'm

-> looking for a cheap way to partition off a corner of the room for an

-> office area around my desk (so guests don't see all of my clutter).

->

-> Anyone have any recommendations ? It's a loft, so something unfinished

-> or industrial looking is fine. I was thinking of building a couple of

-> screens with 1/2" steel conduit and some cheap plastic sheets in

-> the middle, but I haven't found good plastic to use.

->

-> Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I plan to use mini blinds to separated my office space from my bedroom. Blinds come in many styles and colors.

[Drew V]

That's a good idea. What are you hanging them from ?

dv

[Colbyt]

Vertical blinds may work better for this. You can buy the ready made version at Lowes or HD.

With the proper anchors you can ceiling mount the provided hardware. This would leave a 1 foot gap at the floor level in your standard 8' ceiling room.

Colbyt

[Mac Cool]

Drew V:

There is a type of plastic made for bathrooms that is white, cheap, comes in 4x8 foot sheets and can be found in Home Depot or Lowes. You could punch holes around the perimeter and hold it in place with a cord. You can paint it with spray paint made for plastic, or maybe dye it.

[default]

Homaste or some similar soft paper panelboard, covered in cheap fabric, in channel-iron or wooden frames. That way you can use the panels as bulletin boards, you're not creating a fire-hazard, you get a LITTLE bit of noise suppression, The damn things don't tip over in the slightest breeze, and you're not doing shadow-puppet shows.

I will confess that I used Sunforger canvas and copper pipe to do my panels, but that's because it's what I had around.

--Goedjn

[default]

Err.. cheap? Last I looked, it ran bout 3x what 1/4" luan or cheap panelling cost.

[Matt]

I've found that masking tape applied to the floor works wonders.

- Les Nesman

[Matt]

Yes, we agree with Les, wholeheartedly.

- Herman & Grampa Munster.

[Matt]

We also agree that masking tape makes a wonderful divider. Just don't play ball in the house is all. Mom always said "Don't play ball in the house!"

- Bobby and Greg Brady

[c_kubie]

I've seen home improvement shows where they used old french doors hinged together.

[Colbyt]

That is a neat suggestion.

You could also use any door slab if you did not want the glass. Those slab luan guys are fairly inexpensive.

Colbyt

[Mac Cool]

[e-mail]:

Might be different stuff but I bought a couple of sheets and they were less than $10 each. This stuff is flimsy.

[Ron]

Was looking @ it in HD today, $15 a sheet. (4x8)