Copyright ©2015 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
When we bought our house there was a partition between the Living Room and Family/Dining Room. It was made of 1×1’s spaced an inch or so apart, and there was plywood on the Family Room side so you couldn’t see into the Family Room. Oh, and they were stained in a Natural Burch or something. Brown. I detested it so, I asked He-Man to take it apart to remove the plywood then put the 1×1’s back and open it up. Being the good guy he is he did it. Then I painted them in Dover White.
The most recent image I have of the Partition is Christmas 2014.
It’s very 60’s, and we really wished we had sound proofing between rooms. There were two more smaller sets of the same slotted partitions in hall way where two bedrooms and the hall bathroom are, but years ago I had those removed and had the walls extended to replace them, and we enlarged the hall closet. I’ve loved having the bigger hall closet, and have never missed those partitions!
When we started planning the bedroom addition in September I ask to the contractors to also include removing the large partition and build a wall with a pocket door in its place. Thankfully it was in our budget.
Here’s how it looks finished.
Pardon the chaos in the Living room! I love that Queen Anne Pocket Door! Unfortunately, the large glass pane was scratched either during delivery or while the painting was being done. Hopefully we’ll get something worked out so that piece of glass is replaced.
We’re loving how much quieter each of the areas is when the Pocket Door is closed. I can sit in the Living room working on my computer and not hear the TV in the Family Room, and they can’t hear my computer when I’m watching movies or Photoshop Tutorials. We’re wishing we had done this sooner!
Phase II should start sometime in mid April. The new bedroom addition, total remodel of our Master bathroom, the closet in the Master bedroom has to be moved to the other side of the room to accommodate that, and the room will be enlarged a bit because we have to add entry hallway to be able to access the new bedroom.
We’ll be moving our entire Master Bedroom into the Living Room and sleeping there, and Baby Girl and #1 Grandson will be moving to the back bedroom that I now use as my Retreat. Baby Girl’s bedroom is getting a little bit bigger too.
I’ll be documenting the work with photos.
Nikon Df
More to come…
Circadianreflections Blog 
Happy Renos to you!!!
Very nice. Reworking one’s nest is a big undertaking, isn’t it? How grand it will feel when done.
Thanks Melissa! I feel a bit jumpy and out of sorts having things out of place, and disorganized. The light at the end of the tunnel is what I’m holding on to. I keep telling myself it’s not forever, and it will be worth it. 🙂
One downside to the “open space” movement is the fact that noise just drifts from room to room. It’s great if everyone always wants to do the same thing, but that is rarely the case. I like your idea. Pocket doors are a great solution and sometimes, we need our own space. Thanks again for sharing the photos and ideas.
He-Man had never seen or heard of a pocket door before now. That surprised me.
On the noise issue: We have hardwood floors throughout our house and just using large area rugs didn’t dampen the noise all that much. Since adding wall-to-wall carpet in all but the family room/kitchen has helped a lot. I am usually an early riser, and often will unload the dishwasher while waiting for the kettle to heat up, and while my tea steeps. Well, He-Man can hear that in our Master bedroom with the door shut! He’s been grumpy with me about making so much noise while he’s still trying to sleep too many times to count.
I’m very curious to see if he heard me unloading the dishwasher and opening and closing cupboards while putting the dishes away this morning. I had the Pocket Door shut, and the Mstr bdrm door was shut as well. It will be wonderful if he didn’t. 🙂