I’m going to be sharing a new apartment with two other guys. Our deal was that, in exchange for a lower rent, I will use the dining room as my bedroom instead.
The problem is that the dining room has a largish doorway that doesn’t have a door: it’s a frame about 4.5’ wide, 6’ - 7’ tall.
I would of course like to seal off this large doorway for privacy. (The dining room comes with another door that I can use.) My question is, how can I do so without permanently altering the apartment?
A few thoughts occurred to me:
Buy a large wardrobe from Ikea to block off the doorway. The pros are the relatively cheap price, and I get more storage space. Clothes in the wardrobe can also help with the sound-proofing.
The disadvantages are primarily the set-up and disassembly, if/when I move.
Get some kind of board that’s big enough to cover the door-way. The thing is, I’m not familiar with this sort of thing, e.g. the material (fiberboard? particle board? ???), how to fix them, and where to buy them. Also, I guess blocking off sound is a problem.
Have you had similar problems before, and if so, how did you fix them? Any suggestions (I’m going to be in Philly, FWIW).
you can get sheets of rigid polystyrene insulation (likely pink or blue) at a home improvement store. it will support itself. cut it to fit tightly in the door opening and hang a colored sheet over each side to decorate it.
Thanks! I got that suggestion on another message board, too. I did some research, though, and some people are apprehensive about using polystyrene – potential fire/health hazards. Johnpost (or anyone): any comments about that?
I probably would just go get two sheets of 3/4" OSB or Plywood at Lowes/Menards - plywood is sold in 4’x8’ sheets so you would just stack two sideways on top of each other and put in a few nails into the door frame area to tack them in place. Will be somewhat more secure than the other methods, and you could always put some insulation in the doorway too if you wanted less sound.
Something to keep in mind is that the doorway will not be perfectly square. The advantage to easily worked materials like polystyrene insulation is that you can stand it up, mark it to shape, cut it a little large, and then shave it with a knife to fit tightly.
Incidentally, books are a pretty good way to soundproof, and might help you solve the problem of what the opening looks like—on one side or the other or both. Get a pair of tall narrow IKEA Lack bookcases to stand in either side of the opening, and buy some shelves of similar color (from the IKEA As-Is room) that you can cut to the proper length and fit in between. Just put long deck screws through the Lack uprights into the ends of these middle shelves, or use small L-brackets below them. On the bedroom side of the opening, you can be creative about “wallpapering” whatever you make, with a wall mural (just Google that term for lots of possibilities) or this DMA world map.
I’ve done this with custom closet shelving along with a backing board and some 2x6 framing. Basically, attach the framing to the existing doorway, attach a finished backing to the “public” side of the frame (I used beadboard - pretty cheap) and then built out the closet. I used one of those tower type closet things, with a set of shelves in the middle and hanging poles on each side, and attached the closet tower to the framing. Pretty sturdy, looked okay, not too expensive, and didn’t tear up the walls. The room I converted didn’t have a closet, so ot was practical, too.
The furniture idea was actually my first, and TruCelt is right to say that I could use some storage space. Thing is, I do have closets in the main hallway, so I could use those (I know my housemates from school so I trust them), and getting a wardrobe that’s big and tall enough to cover a large doorway is pretty expensive, not to mention difficult to transport/(dis-)assemble. Even the Ikea ones weigh about 200 lb! Disassembly is a concern because I don’t know if we will renew our lease when it ends.
In contrast the foam board idea is rather attractive, given that it’s relatively easy to cut (whereas wood products are a lot trickier – I’ll have to buy the equipment for it, and I don’t know that much about cutting wood).
A good compromise between function and price might be something like what Mr Downtown suggested: shelves + boarding up the doorway.
Keep the ideas coming! If you have done similar projects before, I am interested to hear about your experience.
Here’s a way you can do it without damaging the existing structure. Cut two pieces of 1/2" rigid foam to fit vertically on the existing doorjamb. Cut 2 or 3 2x4s to be slightly longer (maybe 1/2"?) than the foam-to-foam width. While your roomies are holding the foam in place, jam the 2x4s in place across the doorway. Make them flush on one side, and add some blocking to the other to make it flush. They should be tight enough that you can staple some sound insulation to them. Now, run a strip of compressible foam insulation (like window air conditioner insulation) around the edges of whatever “board” you will use to cover the openings. Turn the foam side to the wall, and screw the board to the 2x4s in the door opening. As you tighten the screws, the foam will compress against the wall. By covering both sides, the whole assembly should hold itself in place without marring or making holes in any of the walls or woodwork.
I’m thinking something even as flimsy as rigid board insulation or artist’s-type FoamCore would work to cover the openings, but use a big washer if you use either of those materials. Make pretty as desired.
Hang a couplefew sheets on a tension rod just above the racks in the opening. You can split the side of the top seams on a bed sheet and have an already-sewn hem through which you can slide the tension rod. Drape the sheets over the back of the clothes rack on the “public side”.
Sheets, rod and garment racks should cost no more than $100 total and be completely collapsible at the end of your stay.
You could also put up one garment rack and one pre-fab cheapo shelf next to it.
IKEA’s Stolmen system is also worth thinking about, because it’s based on expanding poles that fit tightly between floor and ceiling (or doorway header) with no screws or nails. Once those are in, various shelf options are attached to the poles with sturdy steel hardware. Once the shelves are in, it’s a simple matter to wrap an enclosure of Fome-Core or cheap paneling around the outside with screws into the particleboard Stolmen shelves. In essence, you’re building a closet from the inside out, and the only place it even touches the landlord’s finishes is where the poles touch floor and ceiling.
Maybe you could Mr Downtown’s suggestion of using the Stolmen system for the supports, and use something else like this for the finished effect.
A thick curtain hung on the other side would help with sound proofing; one that you can easily open and close means you could avoid your room being a perpetually dark box.
Mr Downtown, that’s a really great idea! I really like how the Stolmen posts would solve some of my storage problem and avoid the issue of making changes to the interior walls. I’m also going to think about Renne and 6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast’s suggestion to keep use curtains to prettify the set-up.
Why bother boarding up the doorway at all, if bookshelves would cover it nicely? The idea of a layer of some insulating material behind the bookshelves (to further reduce the noise) sounds good, and with the bookshelf in place, should minimize the fastening you’d need to do. Bookshelves are cheap and relatively easily disassembled.
And you can even store clothing on them, if need be - e.g. nicely folded sweaters or whatever wouldn’t look too bad right on the shelves (e.g. the way they do at clothing stores). Alternately you can put bins / baskets on the shelves to put clothing in, this would look nicer and allow you to store stuff like underwear, socks, etc.