When (re)designing the layout or floor plan of your interiors, there are so many variables at play that make the task feel overwhelming. And having beautiful furniture won’t solve it: if you haven’t tackled the core problems of clearance, flow and how to divide the room, the space won’t feel comfortable or stylish – no matter how lovely those pieces are.
Since we began our journey supplying artisanal furniture back in 1995, we at Evelyn Lily have found that, for most people, picking items that resonate is the easy part of interior design. Working out exactly how to implement them in the home – particularly in open plan, multipurpose, small, or awkwardly laid out spaces – is the real challenge.
That’s why, in this helpful guide, I’m going to show you how to divide a room like a professional interior designer, including the exact tips we recommend to our clients based on the room type in question. The best part? Many of these methods don’t require huge purchases or the inconvenience of building walls; in reality, we find that some of the lightest touches make the greatest impact. So, let’s get started.
Contents
- Why Divide a Room in the First Place?
- Which Sorts of Rooms Can Benefit From Partitions?
- Methods of Dividing a Room
- How to Partition a Room By Type
- Open Plan Spaces
- Kitchens
- Bedrooms
- Living Rooms
- Large Bathrooms
- Conclusion: Small Shifts = Big Impact
Why Divide Your Room in the First Place? Exploring Overlooked Benefits
Just as garden fences, screens and greenery deliver seclusion and style to your outdoor spaces, internal boundaries play an important role in how we perceive and feel in a room.
On one end of the spectrum, dividing up open plan interiors helps banish the cavernous, impersonal feel of purposeless empty space; on the other end, adding partitions to a small English flat or Yorkshire terrace can make the room feel bigger and work better day-to-day.
Other overlooked benefits include:
- Improved space management and flow: Dividing a room with different methods, such as partition walls, sliding screens, curtains, or even a substantial shelving unit, helps delineate areas visually, creating a sense of cohesion and intentionality. It also serves to redirect foot traffic and impose a flow, which keeps everything functional.
- Greater versatility of use: Room dividers need not be bulky nor permanent – options like blinds, Murphy desks, and folding screens can be neatly tucked away as and when you feel, allowing rooms to fulfil multiple purposes without stifling the room’s design scheme.
- Hiding away clutter and other items you’d rather not see: Zoning presents a brilliant way to conceal anything you’d like out-of-sight-out-of-mind. Popular examples include bookshelves separating the bed from the living space in studio apartments, or barriers hiding a temporary workspace in a spare bedroom office.
- Adding to the sense of comfort, privacy and sanctuary: As we’ve explored many times on the Evelyn Lily blog, the animal part of our brains craves enclosure; it makes us feel safer, protected from threats and less surveilled, which all contribute to our home’s sense of cosiness. Don’t go too far in this direction, though – cramped rooms are often judged as less beautiful. It’s definitely a two-way street!
- Noise reduction: Another thing to mention is the role of room dividers and noise reduction – with a freestanding piece of furniture or a wall blocking a certain zone, you can hunker down there in relative quiet, even when others are sharing the space.
- Heightening your room’s aesthetic: Perhaps not quite as important as space management or clutter control, the stylistic impact of dividing your room cannot be overstated. These clever additions add rhythm, draw the eye in a logical order, introduce texture and visual intrigue, which makes your room all the more beautiful.
- Options for every price point: Yes, there’s something for everyone here: from small home extensions that bring extra square footage for further distinct zones to something as simple as a clothing rack, your room divider options can mould to your budget.
- Adding value to your home: All the research suggests that improving the layout, flow and decoration of your home can seriously add value to your property. Room partitions are no different.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg!
Which Sorts of Rooms Can Benefit From Partitions?
Now you’re swayed by the room-zoning perks we’ve supplied, the next question to ask is: which rooms benefit most from being sectioned off? To be blunt, any room can be divided, provided it’s done well.
As we hinted before, both smaller interiors and open plan spaces can be worth partitioning, which brings us to another key consideration…
A Note on ‘Broken Plan’ Living: A Sweet Spot Between Open & Closed-Off Design
Few interior design concepts are as contentious as open plan living. In 2025, many leading designers, including Emily LaMarque, argue that open plan design is falling out of favour among Brits as we swing towards more closed-concept homes with nicely defined spaces.
Some even propose a best-of-both-worlds compromise called ‘broken plan living’ – a sort of hybrid of the two, wherein subtle dividers close off sections within a single room. At Evelyn Lily, we can’t get enough of this idea.
Instead of boldly separating a room with obstacles like walls, pillars or opaque pieces of bulky furniture, broken plan arrangements seek to segregate areas in a more natural way and, crucially, without impeding light, movement or the sense of openness. Here, you side-step the issues associated with open plan spaces – a lack of privacy and structure – and avoid the uptight, traditional feel of individual rooms. Plus, its versatility is well-suited to homes on the smaller side.
Methods of Dividing a Room in Classic British Homes (Without Walls)
As you might’ve already gathered, there are innumerable methods to go about how you divide a room, many of these being contingent on the amount of space and budget you have.
Starting very small, acts as simple as relocating furniture or carving out visual zones with lighting design and colour cues can make a huge difference. In older properties, such as Victorian houses, recessed spaces like alcoves and bay windows are also prime real estate for creating nooks for specific functions, thereby removing clutter from other areas.
Other popular divider ideas include:
- Sliding doors (either panelled slats, solid wood or frosted/clear glass)
- Half partition walls
- Freestanding screens
- Shelving units, cubbies and bookcases
- Sideboards and tables
- Sofas, armchairs and ottomans
- An aquarium
- A roll-down blind
- Kitchen islands
- Alcove nooks
- Curtains
- Rugs
- House plants
- Wall colour and flooring choices
How to Partition a Room By Type: 13 Tips to Try in Your Own Abode
You’ve got the theory; you’ve got the ideas; it’s time to put them into practice. Here’s exactly how you can divide a room in your own home using some of the methods we suggested above.
Open Plan Spaces
1. Use Shelving Units to Create a Storage Zone
This video from Eric Wang is chock-full of great zoning tips, but allow us to zoom in on what he’s done with the shelving unit. By placing it in an otherwise awkward, disused space, he transforms this little nook into a functional area that improves the flow of his apartment entrance.
2. Turn Unused Space Into Another Bathroom
If you do have the budget, one of the best ways to tackle an excess of useless space is by completely changing its purpose. Here, the homeowner has taken a cavernous utility room and sectioned it off by turning a portion of that area into a downstairs bathroom. Talk about adding value!
3. Delineate Sleeping Space with a Contemporary Room Divider Screen
We love what Ward + Gray have done here. By tactfully sliding in the room divider between the main living space and the bed, the inhabitant can enjoy a better night’s sleep without detracting from the rest of the room’s effortless chic.
Kitchens
4. Transform a Storage Bench Into a Stunning Divider
You might be wondering: how can I divide a room without walls? Well, this beautiful hallway bench is just the solution. Introducing a sense of luxury into the space, this clever room divider ensures that guests aren’t immediately walking into the living space, but a dedicated space for removing shoes that offers the ultimate welcome.
5. Allow a Breakfast Bar to Break Up the Space
Breakfast bars are the ultimate kitchen dividers, providing ample surface area for cooking, entertaining and WFH meetings whilst serving as a natural barrier between your food prep zone and formal dining arrangements. Plus, it’s also a brilliant kitchen space-saver as far as cookbooks and other kitchen gadgets are concerned.
6. Carve Out a Cosy Breakfast Nook with a Banquette
Like the kitchen island, banquettes bring oodles of personality to a kitchen and reflect our contemporary need for flexible, hybrid spaces for work, chores and leisure. The dining nook above is a beautiful example of how curved shapes and rich hues combine to create a scene that is modern, opulent and, above all, cosy.
Bedrooms
7. Utilise Alcoves
Alcoves are criminally underused in bedrooms – and this whimsical child’s bedroom shows exactly what many of us are missing out on. By tucking the beds into the sloping roof of this attic room, they feel snug and tucked away, while the centre of the room is reclaimed for the little ones to play with their toys on that cosy rug.
8. Create Enclosure Around the Bed with Cubbies
Cubbies are a classic choice for those who want to divide a bedroom, especially if your bed placement options are limited. Providing storage, structure and sanctuary from prying eyes, it’s a simple yet effective way to feel cosier in your most intimate sanctuary.
Living Rooms
9. Add a Mini Shelf Divider
When I stumbled across this DIY hack online, I knew I had to put it in this article – the reason being that it’s super simple. A small shelf by the sofa, like this, helps keep the seating zone contained and ensures that the adjoining room is no longer in your periphery whilst binging your latest TV fix.
10. Try a Pull-Down Blind
Another viral phenomenon worth trying is the blind method. Similar to a privacy screen or a folding room divider, they provide a helpful boundary between zones you’d like to keep visually separate: think a study zone in the bedroom or a WFH zone in a shared living space. This way, you can separate work from play, and keep things looking tidy no matter how chaotic the work day.
11. Float a Sideboard Next to Your Sofa
Sideboards are unexpectedly versatile pieces: you can use them as makeshift desks, hallway storage or, in this case, a handy room divider x relaxation spot hybrid to seat extra guests. We love the symmetrical styling route they’ve taken here – 10/10 for execution!
Large Bathrooms
12. Separate Bathroom Areas with Eclectic Tiling Combinations
Even bathrooms can benefit from being zoned. And here is just one stunning example of how to pull it off. By transitioning the tiling colours around each area – wooden panelling for the sink and marble-look tiling for the shower – it all feels purposeful whilst the Moroccan-style flooring introduces a dash of playful eclecticism.
13. Opt for a Luxurious & Tall Shower Curtain
Shower curtains don’t have to look cheap – especially when this is the alternative. As this creator suggests, bring up the curtain to emphasise the height of your bathroom and give a more designer feel. And don’t forget to pick a high-quality, premium option for the curtain that matches the rest of your décor!
Conclusion: Small Shifts = Big Impact
And there we go: my top tips on how to divide a room, without having to resort to building walls and breaking the bank. For any interior, from open plan kitchen-diners to awkward studio flats, a layout redesign with a few strategic tweaks holds a lot of power.
Whether you’re introducing a new screen around a reading nook, replacing wooden doors with glass alternatives, or simply shifting your shelving unit placement, these seemingly negligible changes will completely transform not only the functionality and feel of the space, but your energy levels and depth of relaxation too.
Eager to keep up the learning streak? You can find more design advice and décor inspiration over on the rest of our blog. There’s no excuse for your home not to look stunning.
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