How to Make a Room Divider With Shelves

Room dividers often come with hinged panels.

A room divider is an ideal solution for segmenting a large room, portioning it off into different sections. Room dividers often come in the form of folding panels with hinges, allowing you to position the divider in differing shapes and configurations. Adding shelves to a homemade room divider gives it a dual purpose, allowing you to store objects in the space.

Things You'll Need

• Three pieces of equally sized wood
• Straightedge
• 4 hinges
• Carpenter pencil
• Drill
• Screwdriver
• 3 shelves
• Shelf mounting brackets

Instructions

1. Locate three pieces of wood of equal height and width. Repurpose old shutters to give the room divider character or use three sheets of plywood or other thin wood.

2. Place the three pieces of wood onto a flat surface like a work table. Use a straightedge to ensure the bottoms line up evenly.

3. Put your hinges into place. Use decorative door hinges or heavy-duty cabinet hinges depending on your appearance preference. Place one hinge at the point where the center and right panels meet, several inches above the bottom. Place another hinge directly opposite, where the center and left panels meet. Place the other two hinges several inches below the tops of the panel meeting points.

4. Use a carpenter pencil to mark the locations of the hinge screw holes. Remove the hinges from their spots.

5. Drill starter holes for the screws into the wood at each of the screw hole locations. Use a drill bit appropriate to your specific hinge and screw types.

6. Place the hinges back in their spots and use a screwdriver to secure.

7. Measure the width of the room divider's center panel. Cut three pieces of wood to form the shelves, based on this measurement or purchase pre-made shelves in an appropriate size. Create additional shelves if your room divider is tall.

8. Mark the spots for shelf mounting brackets on the center panel of the room divider. Use a drill to create starter holes for the brackets. Screw the brackets into place.

9. Stand the room divider up and put the wood shelves into place on the brackets to complete the structure.

Tips & Warnings

• Paint the entire room divider one color or leave the wood exposed for a rustic look if using old shutters.

• Use only the center panel of the room divider for shelves to ensure proper balancing when standing.

• Place shelves on both sides of the room divider panel so you can store things on either side.

References

• This Old House; How to Make a Folding Screen Using Old Hinges and Shutters; Amy Hughes; 2011
• Frugal Home Decor; Making a Room Divider; Lee Dobbins