Parisian Inspired Room Dividers
This DIY has been years in the making. Since I thought about owning my own business, I have always dreamed of part of my studio being behind glass partitions inspired by Parisian sunrooms and homes. The wood/glass room divider is the perfect visually barrier to create separation between two spaces, in this case my studio and the living room.
Inspiration & Design Mock Up
I have had these two images saved for years, and they were the starting point for the design of my own room dividers. I love how both are so different, offering different vibes but offering the same solution.
The design I came up with is very much a hybrid of the two inspiration images above. I had a few constraints like not blocking the lighting that comes through the window (we only have four in the apartment and they are all on one wall) as well as a support beam. This meant that the partition couldn't go up to the ceiling, and the bottom inclosed panel had to be tall enough to remain proportional but no so high that it blocked the lighting coming into the apartment. The overall width of the partition was determined by the size of the acrylic sheets I used, which I explain more in depth below in the section “the build”.
Materials & Tools
Below you will find the materials and tools I used to build my dividers. The materials cost was around $420.00 for the two dividers I built.
tools:
drill/driver
screws
Nail gun
wood glue
miter saw (electric or hand saw with miter box)
painters tape
paint tools (brush, tray, etc)
Materials:
2x3 lumber (base)
1x2 Pine (window frame)
Half inch square dowels (window frame)
2x4 quarter inch Mdf panel (base)
picture moulding (base)
36x48 inch acrylic panels (Windows)
paint (backdrop’s harvest moon
The Build
Here you fill find the steps are listed out of how I built my two dividers. They are accompanied with illustrations.
STEP ONE
Step 1: Using 2x3’s built the base using wood glue and screws. I then secured it to the wall using screws.
STEP TWO
Step 2: I created the window casing with Pine 1x2’s and secured it to the base and the wall.
STEP THREE
Step 3: To create the window pane, I secured half inch square dowels on the inside of the window casing using a nail gun. Repeat for each window pane.
STEP FOUR
Step 4: I then inserted the acrylic sheets and repeated the dowel install on the other side. The acrylic sheet is held by dowels on both sides.
STEP FIVE
Step 5: To close up the base, I used quarter inch MDF and picture moulding. I secured both using a nail gun. This was done on both sides of the divider.
STEP SIX
Step 6: Once everything was secured. I filled the holes with wood filler, then I lightly sanded the wood, taped off the acrylic sheets and painted the room dividers the same color as the walls.
Et viola! Room dividers!
Notes from Amal
A few tips and things I noted while building out the dividers:
I used two 36x48 inch acrylic sheets per divider. The acrylic sheets sizes were different on each sheet. While they were all 36 inches, the 48 inch varied from an 1/8 to a 1/4 inch. to make sure all the sheets would fit, I added 1/8 inch to largest sheet. Any gaps were covered by the quarter inch dowels installed to hold the acrylic sheets in place. I HIGHLY recommend adding a minimum 1/8 inch to your measurments even if your acrylic sheets are all the same size. Even though the wood I used was premium grade, there was still some slight imperfections as the materials are natural. Below I have broken down the math a little further.
how to calculate the overall dimension of your partion is going to depend on the size of your acrylic sheets.
*I recommend using one sheet per window casing and using dowels to make the panes appear smaller.
For this example I’ll use the measurements for my window frame.
For THE heighT of the window casing: add the thickness of each lumbar/wood, plus each height of the acrylic sheet, plus 1/8 of an inch.
My wood was .75 inches thick and I had three of them. The acrylic sheet was cased on the top, bottom, and share the middle, so three in total. (Ilustrated in Step 2) The overall height of my acrylic was 36 inches and I used two. Plus the 1/8 inch (or .125 inch) PER acrylic sheet.
total height = (.75” x 3) + (36” x 2) + (.125” x 2) = 74.5”
I cut six of these in total, three for each divider.
For THE width: add the width of the acrylic sheet, plus 1/8 of an inch.
The acrylic sheet was also cased on both sides, so two in total are needed. The overall width of my acrylic was 48 inches (plus or minus 1/4inch), plus the 1/8 or .125 PER acrylic sheet. For the sake of the example, we’ll just used 48 inches for the width.
total width = 48” + .125” = 48.125”
I cut four of these in total, two for each divider. Make sure to measure each acrylic sheet and use the widest one for your measurement.
Base measurement:
The height of your base can be whatever you want. The width will be the same as the width we just calculated above.
If you end up making your own version of it, please tag me on social or leave a comment with a link to your design!
xo, AMAL
