Best Results Organizing

One of the most popular photos ever posted to the Paper Doll blog has been the Privacy Pop Bed Tent. Whether for a shared dorm room, children’s room, or any situation where you might want a little privacy – for sleeping, reading, meditating, or focus – a bed like this lets you place a divider between yourself and the world.

Organizing your space for privacy can yield much greater productivity.

A room or personal space divider can have the following advantages:

• Delineate a purpose for a space, motivating a stronger sense of purpose.
• Eliminate visual distractions for the user so you can maintain focus longer.
• Eliminate visual distractions for the audience during online classes, video chats, or during webinar presentations. (While virtual backgrounds can be useful, many computers are too old to run this digital solution.)
• Eliminate auditory distractions for the user.
• Dampen sounds for podcasts and audio/video production (if your dividers provide help with acoustics).
• Provide a sense of privacy from prying eyes. (If you aren’t worried about who is watching watching you, you can stay focused on your work.)
• Create a sense of ownership of one’s own space.
• Create a healthy barrier between oneself and others, particularly during flu season (and, obviously, as we are recovering from a global pandemic).

Recently, I’ve had a number of conversations with clients who are looking for better solutions for dividing their spaces.

Some have been working the better part of the pandemic from home with little to divide their own work space from that of their spouses or to divide grownup workspace from remote schooling space or play space from living space.

Others have been been struggling with a year-long, “Maaaahhhhhhhhm, she’s touching me!” lack of personal space among their kids.

Further, others are approaching a return to working in their offices and are dreading being distracted by their colleagues, anticipating having their focus, concentration, and privacy being threatened after a year of (somewhat) controlling the sensory inputs during work time.

And some are just freaked out about breathing around other people in an open workspace that, even during the best of times, ensured that they all got one another’s cold and flu germs.

Wouldn’t you like to create your own private, dedicated workspace wherever you are? Today, we’re going to look at a variety of options that can help you at home and work to give you more focus, a greater sense of privacy and a little more division between you and everyone else.

SET UP PERSONAL WORKSPACE DIVIDERS

The Poppin Dark Gray Portable Space Divider suits multiple circumstances where you might want a little privacy to accomplish your work:

• At desks or tables shared by multiple students (whether at home or at school)
• At a desk or table in your public or university library
• At a table in a coffee house or co-working venue

This sturdy 54″ wide by 20″ high divider unrolls and sets up to serve as a self-standing structure and says (politely), “This is my work area. All others, keep out! This means you!” letting you study, read, or work with efficiency and without distractions.

The Poppin Portable Space Divider is made of medium density fiberboard (MDF) and fabric. (MDF is an engineered wood product, manufactured by breaking down residual hardwood or softwood byproducts and turning them into wood fibres, mixing the fibers with wax and a resin to keep it bound. Then, by applying high temperature and pressure, MDF is turned into panels, which are generally more dense than plywood, so they’ll stand up sturdily.) Each of the 18 MDF panels is inserted as a slat in the dark grey fabric.

The divider is lightweight and and portable; just roll it up like a yoga mat, fasten the hook and loop closure, and carry it over your shoulder with the nylon carrying straps. No downward-facing dog required. 

The Poppin Portable Space Divider is available for $59.99 at The Container Store. (Poppin has also created Curved Desk Pads in grey, slate blue, and blush to partner with the Portable Space Dividers.     They are also available from The Container Store, for $19.99.)

If you own (or work in) an open office, you might be looking for something a little more upscale to give returning employees something to help them maintain focus. eScape Desk Screens come in a wide variety of colors (including Sky Blue, Green, Emerald Green, Orange-Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple-Red, Purple, Blue, Dark Blue, and for some versions, Silver Grey, White, and Sesame Black) and mounting styles.

The eSCAPE Edge Clamp with Knob Acoustical Desk Divider 12″ high version is made of colorful, 12 mm-thick, round-edged, acoustic tiles made from recycled plastic (PET) bottles. Five width options are available (23″, 35″, 47″, 59″ and 71″) and they are attached to desk surfaces with a knobbed clamps (two for the three smaller sizes, and three clamps for the two larger versions):

The 16″ high (shown below) and 24″ high versions offers the same colors, features, and options, but more privacy:

The clamped versions are sold by Skutchi for $133.39.

If you’d prefer a free-standing version of the eScape Desk Dividers, Skutchi also sells those.

You’ll lose a quite a bit of desktop real estate to make room for the mounts, but you’ll save a bit of money, as the 12″, 18″, and 24″ high options (all with the same width, color, and feature options of the clamped versions) sell for $96.59.

Skutchi’s dividers are custom-made and available with free shipping.

Given everything that’s happened over the past year, you may be considering getting some kind of sneeze-guard to surround your work area or classroom space (for yourself, your children, or for the school in which you teach). These come at a wide variety of price points and aesthetic levels, from Applied Ergonomics’ fold-flat, polycarbonate school hygiene barriers, $299 a ten-pack:

to Mergework’s Terrace and Enclave Sneeze Guard Workspace Social Distancing solutions with multiple mounting options at fancy-pants pricing.

If you’ve ever worked in an office with cubicles, you know that the absence of a door can have impact on privacy. (To be honest, so does the absence of a ceiling, but unless you move that Privacy Pop Bed Tent into your cube, I’ve got nothing for you.) If you’ll be returning cube setup, your HR department might be interested in this rolling Quartet Workstation Privacy Screen to improve productivity (and morale).

The translucent, shatterproof privacy screen measures 38″ wide by 64″ high. The frame is aluminum, while the screen itself is polycarbonate, making the unit durable and lightweight. As-is, the screen can roll into place for cublicles up to 65″ tall, and there are leg extenders included for cubicles taller than 68″.

There’s even an attached whiteboard with a nameplate so you can tell colleagues when you’ll be available and let them leave messages for you.

The Quartet Workstation Privacy Screen is available from Staples, Quill, Granger, Amazon, and Walmart. Currently, the price ranges significantly, from $261 to $390, and is the least costly at Walmart and Amazon. (There is also a sliding, non-wheeled version, measuring 36″ wide by 48″ high, which slides into cubicle walls and is not wheeled; it runs about $205.)

USE ROOM DIVIDERS TO CREATE WORK ZONES

Sometimes, you need a divider of greater size and scope. Over the years, I enjoyed being interviewed online, like the eight shows I did for Smead‘s Keeping You Organized video podcast:

Secrets to Organizing a Small Business
Fears That Keep You From Getting Organized
Paper vs. Digital Organizing (Part 1)
Paper vs. Digital Organizing (Part 2)
How to Get Organized When You Have an Extended or Chronic Illness (Part 1)
How to Get Organized When You Have an Extended or Chronic Illness (Part 2)
Essential Lists for Organized Travel (Part 1)
Essential Lists for Organized Travel (Part 2)

The problem? Behind my office is another room that is not appropriate as a professional video backdrop. Until 2019, as a stop-gap measure, whenever I made these kind of videos, I’d turn my desktop computer toward the opposite wall and move my chair; however, the overhead lighting against this background made spidery shadows above and around my head. I felt like a true Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Player. 

About eighteen months ago, when participating in Ray Sidney-Smith’s Productivity Summit 2019, I needed a better solution. My plan was to try to get a pretty room divider, something along the lines of  the gorgeous Japanese shoji screens one often sees in movies — light wood, rice paper, hinged panels. Something like this, from Wayfair:

However, I was hoping for something a little less expensive than the (reasonable) $169 that this one goes for, and one available on a little speedier delivery schedule. Unable to find an appropriate screen locally, and with only a few days to go until the summit, my colleague Maria White suggested that I try Ollie’s, a factory close-out store.

There, for a decidedly more pleasing $38, I got a rattan, indoor-outdoor, hinged divider that, on video, looks far more elegant than it does up-close. If you have seen me on any recent webinars or video podcasts, you’ve seen it (and more importantly, you haven’t seen the room behind my office).

For a taste, you can peek at two recent Anything But Idle episodes I did with hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud, focused on women experts on productivity, organizing, and technology. There’s March 8th’s where I was a solo guest panelist, as well as March 15th’s (below), where I shared the spotlight with the always-glorious, brilliant, and charming Deb Lee:

(If you make it all the way through, see if you can find where I almost devolve into a fit of giggles.)

For what it’s worth, if you do want any of a variety of hinged screens, upscale or downscale, two good shopping options are these at Wayfair and the sumptuous designs at RoomDividers.com, including their shoji screens, art prints, office partitions, and other room dividers, like this 6-foot double-sided, Lavendar Road canvas print for $149:

In researching this post, I occasionally found intriguing room dividers that do double-duty. For example, this RHF 5 1/2-foot tall, four-panel privacy screen at Amazon doubles as a corkboard message board and costs only $119.99.

It’s not necessary to purchase special furniture simply to divide a room to provide more focus on each space’s individual purpose.

For example, if you already have a free-standing bookshelf, around five-feet tall or higher, like the Ikea Kallax shelves, you can easily divide a room into sections merely by placing the bookshelf between your two spaces, making a sleeping area and study space, or office and workout area. Check out Apartment Therapy’s The Best Bookcase Room Dividers to get some inspiration.

CONSIDER SPECIALITY DIVIDERS FOR YOUR SPECIAL NEEDS

Of course, sometimes, you will want specialized furniture.

Imagine you’re building a career as a podcaster but you’re a renter and can’t affix acoustic tiles to the wall to create an audio studio. And let’s say you don’t have a walk-in closet loaded with a wardrobe of clothes to muffle the sound. You might opt for the Versare Versipanel Flexible Sound Control Partition Wall, sold by Walmart for $819.

The Versipanel is designed to be an attractive, sound-absorbent, wall enhancement. It’s 8 feet wide by 6 1/2 feet high, comes in blue, black, and grey, and is one single fabric panel with flexible segments.

Rather than being positioned straight-up, like most room dividers, the panel is meant to be positioned with some curve in it in order to stand up & be stable on its own. (For a larger divider, multiple units can be connected end-to-end with the pre-installed heavy-duty magnets.)

Store the Versipanel flat against the wall, or (like a VERY LARGE yoga mat), it can be rolled up and carried away to storage.

If you offer specialized teaching services for tiny humans, whether at a child care center, private school, or tutoring service, you might have a reason to invest in a more serious set-up. Discount School Supply has a wide variety of room dividers, from their Big Screen Right Angle Panels (for $185):

to their line of Big Screen Right Angle Panels mini-classrooms (sure to muffle sounds and improve focus) for $586.87.

FIND YOUR IDEAL DIVIDER

This post is just a sample of your options for organizing by dividing your space, creating zones, giving you privacy, and eliminating distractions. It’s meant to give you a taste of the possibilities available rather than a complete resource. Depending on your physical needs, budget, and the size of your space, you may want to use the following search terms to locate the right dividers for you:

• Room Dividers
• Privacy Panels
• Modesty Panels
• Hygiene Barriers
• Anti-Microbial Barriers
• Acoustic Dividers

THE ULTIMATE IN PRIVACY

If none of these ideas provide you with the level of privacy you need, especially in the workplace, there is one option short of sealing yourself up at home and pretending you’re still on lockdown, though it may be difficult to get your company onboard with the costs.

Poppin has a line of office “phone booths” that gives you a safe, quiet office within your office. The PoppinPod Om Sit and PoppinPod Om Stand, both for $5499, are made of high-grade glass and steel, and give you the privacy to focus, make confidential telephone calls, and isolate yourself from that office mate who does that thing. (You know what it is. Let’s not spell it out.) 

Both of the PoppinPod Om versions come in black or white, have USB chargers and a motion-activated light and fan, and feature dark grey, sound-absorbing PET lining. They’re shipped and delivered fully-assembled, because apparently the Poppin people have seen us trying to assemble Ikea furniture and don’t want to embarrass us.

For fancier workspaces, or if you’re hoping to have a work partner with you but still divide yourselves from your colleagues, the PoppinPod Kolo series upgrades from the Om experience and can accommodate 2, 4, or 6 individuals at prices ranging from $7000-$30,000.

And let’s face it, this is as close to Doctor Who‘s TARDIS as we’re ever going to get.