An unbelievably simple IKEA hack for your home - DIY removable privacy divider

Staying cooped up at home is challenging, especially when you need a bit of privacy while you work or study from home.

Although there are desk or wall partitions to create a physical division of space, they are quite expensive, inflexible and takes up quite a fair bit of storeroom when they are not in use.

This is what happened to a friend of ours who urgently need a simple, yet cheap and flexible solution to create private areas for her children and a working spouse.

However, she does not want desk or wall partitions to be permanent fixtures since she expects her children to be back in school and spouse to be in the office once the circuit breaker eases.

Fortunately for her, the great news is that with a little bit of creative juice, we can actually maximise our space with an easy, inexpensive DIY room divider which can be easily removed when not needed.

The best part? This simple hack takes up only a tiny fraction of space in the storeroom!

Furthermore, since the width and height of the divider are adjustable, this DIY divider allows us to determine the amount of privacy we need in our home.

The entire installation only needs four simple steps, takes less than half an hour and no drilling is involved!

What is the difficulty level? Easy

What are the skills needed? None

How long to complete the project? 0.5 hour!

What are the materials and where to get them? 

• Magnetic Roman blinds from IKEA Singapore
• Extendable poles/tension rods from Lazada or Daiso Singapore

Tools needed

Here is a list of things you need: 

1. Measuring tape; 
2. RINGBLOMMA Roman Blinds; 
3. Extendable poles/tension rods and; 
4. Stool

Step 1 

Measure the height and width between the walls to know how many roman blind panels you need.

Note: RINGBLOMMA roman blinds come in the varying height of 0.6m, 0.8m, 1m and 1.2m and each roman blind comes with removable magnets in the channels.

Hence, you can adjust the height of the privacy room screen by using two magnetic blinds on one panel.

Step 2 

Slip the extendable pole/tension rod into the slot heading at the top of the panel.

Step 3 

Install the roman blind panels by locating the points where the two ends of the tension rod fit together.

Tighten or loosen the tension rods’ grip by twisting counter-clockwise/anti-clockwise to adjust the length of the tension rod.

Check whether the tension rod is firmly installed by lightly pulling the rod to see if it is loose.

Step 4 (Optional) 

If you want the privacy room screen to run the full height of the wall, flip the 2nd panel of the roman blind in the opposite direction and repeat step 3 to install the roman blind panels at the bottom of the walls.

Note: Use the two magnetic blinds to hold up the bottom of the flipped panel.

You have just installed your privacy divider! 

To remove the divider, simply loosen the tension rods’ grip and fold up the blinds before storing them in the storeroom.

Do you know? 

If you do not have a privacy gate installed at your main door, this Ikea hack can also double up as a door privacy screen, so that you can relax in the comfort of your living room, away from your neighbour’s prying eyes!

This article was first published in Renonation.