Easy Room Divider for a Gorgeous Global Library Laundry Room Combo!

We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

Room dividers can come in handy if you live in a small home or apartment. But we used a different sort for this unique room creation where we combined a laundry room and a home library and believe it or not, it turned out gorgeous. I have to be honest up front. I didn’t do a thing. This was the inspiration of my daughter Jennifer who was visiting and she enlisted my other daughter Amy who lives here. They both did this room in one day which was even more amazing considering what was in it before. While they worked they put a sign on the door which I took a picture of. If you’re interested in another way we used a curtain as a temporary wall check out our treadmill nook post.

Room Divider Supplies

  • Curtains (extra long to cover floor to ceiling)
  • Large Hooks
  • Curtain Rods
  • Stud Finder (or strong magnet)

Instructions for Divider

For the room divider, we began by using masking tape to mark off the space that the curtains were to cover.  We then used a stud finder to locate the studs in the ceiling that aligned with our tape.  We were able to find 2 studs along each line.  While they were not exactly where we wanted them to be, we were able to add a few additional hooks that were not in studs to stabilize the rods.  **So long as you have at least 2 hooks in studs for every 5 feet, the rods should be very sturdy!**  Using 2″ white coated hooks, we went into each stud, allowing for the thin curtain rods to easily slide into the hooks once mounted.
TIP: If you don’t own a stud finder, simply grab an extra strong magnet.  By moving this magnet along the wall, it will stick to the nails in the studs, allowing you to locate studs through your home without breaking the bank!
We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!After hanging the curtains on the rods, we place the rods into the hook rests and made sure that the ends of each rod had additional hooks to support them from sagging.  These hooks were not into the studs, but they didn’t need to be since the rods were already heavily supported by the previous hooks.  Our curtains were used to conceal a rectangular space, so we simply butted the corners of each rod together.  This also allows us to simply slide the curtains open in order to easily access the space we concealed.  **For convenience, make sure that you leave at least 2-3 feet between hooks so that the curtains can easily be slid open for access; instead of having to be tied back.**
We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

Photos of Room

This is the room before we moved in. It’s a fairly large room for a laundry room.

We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

We weren’t sure what we were going to use it for at first. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

As our home was fairly small I finally decided to use it as a craft/laundry room. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

I even did a post on it here: The Most Creative Craft Room Organization Ideas. I was amazed at how much I fit in that small room!

I had decided I needed a full room for my crafting quite a while ago and thought it would be the middle room in the house. It currently held some storage, my library books and my photo table. I hadn’t planned on doing it so soon. But my daughter Jennifer was visiting and she decided she wanted to do it for me  along with my other daughter Amy. So they did their planning one day, put that sign you saw up top to keep me out, and by the next morning I had what you see below. I was speechless.

We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

They used many things I already had, such as the fairy reading a book which my daughter Jennifer bought me years ago and is one of my favorite pieces. I had the small lighted tree but it was bare so they glued leaves on it to match the tree in the picture. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

My hidden washer and dryer. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

I keep my towel hamper to the right. I’m planning on decorating that up somehow. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

When not in use, I cover my washer and dryer with some plastic lace I purchased by the yard at Walmart. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

The lamp we already had. The key display was made by the girls using keys they bought and some we had. They placed them in an old frame we had. Pillow was purchased.We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

I had the flowers and the little pot and tree. They purchased the arrow globe and the end table. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

The cool thing about the book end table is each book is a drawer that opens! We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

I fell in love with this print when I saw it and I had purchased it a few months earlier. I was saving it for when I eventually moved my library. The girls framed it for me.  If you’d like to see it up close you can view and or buy it on Grant Snider’s site. It’s called “Lost in the Woods“. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

This butterfly dreamcatcher comes from a post we did previously. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

Though it’s also a laundry room the sign on the door says library. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

This quote is framed behind the door. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

I love the big owl sitting on my shelf. He was new. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

The lions head door knocker adds to the global feel. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

Amy created this poster for the room and had it printed. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was!

After the room was completed I did a post on unique light fixtures and how to decorate them. I made a special version for this room. We made a simple room divider and turned a laundry room into a laundry slash home library that has a global feel and you won't believe how easy it was! 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Comments

  1. Celeste

    What a coincidence! I googled “how to turn a laundry room into a home library.” I have a rather large laundry room and would love to have a home library, but it’s unsightly to have a washer and dryer in there. I love your idea and it might actually work in my space! Thanks for the idea!

    Reply
  2. Mary

    I love the Lost in the Woods poster… that’s me from 16 years of age right up until now at 66! I am forever late and forever lost so if you see a forever late picture, I want it.. actually I need it. I clicked on the link to Lost in the Woods, and will be ordering it… thank you for the link! The link description says the picture is
    17″ x 11″, and I see you have a border frame and then the outer frame. Can you tell me if you made the inside border frame or if you bought it, and what size is that frame and what size is the outside frame?

    I love your laundry room and wish I had had girls instead of boys LOL You have given me several inspirational things that I can do in my home… thank you!

    Reply
    1. Nancy Author

      Hello Mary! I’m so glad you enjoyed that. The picture hit me that way too. My girls framed it for me and I believe they used a mat they had and it was actually too short on the top and bottom if you look real close. They also used a frame I already had and spray painted it. That’s not an uncommon size I guess. I found several on amazon. Here’s one: http://amzn.to/2sZlp2c I’m guessing Walmart or any place like that would have them. It appears if you buy a frame with a mat to fit an 11×17 that the frame dimension can vary. That one I linked too was an odd size. Here is one that is 13×9 http://amzn.to/2txKnah but still has an 11×17 mat. So I’d try to find a frame with the mat in it just to be sure.
      Thanks so much for the lovely comment!

      Reply

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