Room Dividers Attached to a Ceiling

Hard vs. Soft Room Dividers

• Like translucent screens, lightweight curtains keep the overall space as light as possible. Washable curtains are convenient to clean and relatively inexpensive to replace -- a damaged hard screen or panel can be costly to repair or replace.

  A well-made hard room divider, such as ceiling-mounted shoji screens matched to your decor, offer a finished appearance. The sleek good looks of these panels and the glowing rice paper framed in quality wood gives a designer touch to a variety of decorating schemes. Unlike curtain systems, well-made privacy panels can function as walls, limiting pets to a specific area, slightly reducing sound between areas and becoming an architectural feature of your living space. You can also install panels made with durable PVC panels.

Track Curtains

• Curtains create less of a barrier when your hands are full, for people with mobility limitations and for pets, than solid room dividers that close off a space completely. Manufacturers continue improving this design and many systems offer flexible tracks that hang the curtain right at the ceiling, without the hardware-filled gap between the track and the fabric featured on certain hospital curtain systems. Installing ceiling-mounted curtains may present a challenge -- especially if you need to bend the track. Using tension wire or a cable system at the top of the wall offers a practical option for a curtain room divider.

Sliding Panels

• Opaque sliding panels mounted from the ceiling close off an area for privacy or to separate activities, creating a solid barrier between two areas. Sliding the panels open increases the sense of space. This system works well for lofts, homes with open floor plans, home offices and studio apartments. Solid ceiling-mounted dividers run on tracks and come in a variety of materials, colors and styles. They give the effect of a sliding door. Floor to ceiling solid panels may help to muffle sound and improve a space's acoustic properties, depending on their materials and thickness.

Ceiling-mounted Room Divider Tips

• Check the ceiling's condition before investing in a ceiling-mounted room divider. Certain older ceilings and poor-quality materials may crack or drop chunks of plaster if you attempt to install ceiling hardware. Use a stud finder and knock on the ceiling to assess the ceiling's condition and strongest areas. Translucent room dividers give more light between spaces and help to prevent the darker, closed-in impression that solid room dividers might create. Light colors, such as white, cream, yellow and pale shades of peach, blue, green and violet give the space a brighter mood and reflect more light than medium to dark-colored room dividers.