Remember when you were a little kid and you’d shove all your toys and clothes under your bed when your Mom told you to clean up your room? Man, that was great, until she figured it out. She was so smart!

Now I need a modern and acceptable version of the magic space under the bed. Half of my basement is full of bicycles, skis, camping equipment, snowboards, coolers, spare bike parts, snow tires, etc. Stuff I use throughout the year, but want to hide when I have guests over.

The other half of the basement is for entertaining: the family room. And a pool table room with a bar. But since I haven’t shelled out yet for a proper ice maker and beverage center under the bar, our beer fridge is… you guessed it, in the middle of the messy part of the basement.

We don’t mind, really, and neither do our friends. We’ve gone camping with our friends. Of course they all know what I look like after a long sweaty bicycle ride or hike, but once in a while, it’s fun to surprise them and clean up a little. 

Like for a night out on the town, portable, lightweight screens or room dividers are an easy answer for dressing up your house. Push everything to one side – or not -- add a screen, and, voila! The mess is gone. Magic! As easy as shoving it under the bed.

Easier, actually. There’s less of a mess, no hardware, no installation, just pick your favorite, buy several, store until you need them. Pull them out and set them up as needed. You move the bed, not what’s under it.

Room dividers are portable walls and art. Less portable room divider options are this hanging screens, sliding glass, drapes or sliding fabric panels. You can also use bookcases. On wheels. It just depends on what you need.

Choose your style, color and budget, there is a huge range of options. Beautiful screens can be used against a wall as an art piece, against a large window as a privacy window treatment, as a headboard for a bed, or, as a room divider in a large room or office. Wood, bamboo, metal, mirror, wallpaper, rice paper Shoji style, screens with paintings, the possibilities are truly endless.

You can even buy one and paint it or wallpaper it yourself. Cover it with art paper or fabric, or a collage of your own photos. Or buy some old shutters, closet doors or even cabinet doors, and add hinges. Have fun with it!

Just remember to figure out the total coverage of what you want to hide, you’ll probably need to buy multiples. A series of several of the same room divider will look cleaner and more upscale than dividers that don’t match.

And they take up less width than you think. If a freestanding screen is 60” wide flat, it may only be 48” wide or even less in reality, since it needs to stand offset to support itself. Good enough to screen the doorway to a basement, but certainly not a wall of storage.

Until next time!
--Elaine Bothe

The first image is a curving paper beauty from Molo Design, called the “Softwall.” Find it here.

The second screen is a wood room divider from www.Home Decorators.com.

The last two screens, the wallpaper one and the woven outdoor style are from www.orientalfurniture.com.