FIF Blog
FIF Blog
mobile logo Making Double Bunk Beds Work in Open Plan Layouts

room dividers Tag

Making Double Bunk Beds Work in Open Plan Layouts
October 12, 2026

Making Double Bunk Beds Work in Open Plan Layouts

Open plan homes are increasingly common across the UK, from city studio flats and warehouse conversions to barn conversions and large family loft rooms. They bring light and a sense of space, but they also leave nowhere to hide a bed. A double bunk bed, with a double below and a single above, can sleep three people within the footprint of a single double, which makes it a genuinely useful piece in a home without separate bedrooms. The challenge is making it feel intentional rather than squeezed in. In this guide we look at where to position a double bunk in an open space, how to create a sense of enclosure with dividers, shelving and rugs, how to manage light and noise from the living and kitchen areas, which frame styles suit visible sleeping zones, and how to keep storage tidy so the whole space stays calm. We also cover a few important safety points....

Continue Reading
How to Arrange Bunk Beds in Open Plan Layouts
October 12, 2026

How to Arrange Bunk Beds in Open Plan Layouts

Placing a bunk bed in an open plan space can feel tricky, because there is no obvious bedroom wall and the bed is tall enough to dominate the room. With a little planning, though, it can sit comfortably within a studio flat, a loft conversion, a garden room or a large family living area. The answer is to treat the bunk as the anchor of a defined sleeping zone. Choose a solid wall, ideally away from the kitchen and the main entrance, and then use open shelving, a slatted room divider, a rug or a change in lighting to separate that zone from the rest of the space. In this guide we explain how to pick the right spot, how to keep natural light flowing, how to orientate the ladder and how to stop the bed blocking key sightlines. We also look at storage, noise, guest privacy and ways to make the zone feel calm without closing it off completely....

Continue Reading
Making Storage Beds Work in Open Plan Layouts
October 9, 2026

Making Storage Beds Work in Open Plan Layouts

In an open plan home, anything left out is on show to the whole room, and there are fewer walls for wardrobes and cupboards to hide it. A storage bed can absorb a surprising amount of everyday clutter, but only when it is chosen and positioned with the entire space in mind. This guide sets out practical solutions to the most common problems. We compare lifting ottoman bases with drawer bases and explain which works better when the bed sits close to a sofa, desk or divider. We look at the exterior details that keep a bed looking tidy from every angle, how to position it so storage opens into clear floor rather than a walkway, and how a shelving unit can define the sleeping zone while adding storage of its own. You will also find simple ways to organise what goes inside, choose a sensible size and keep the bed looking good during the day....

Continue Reading
Furnishing an Open-Plan Home: How to Choose Your Wardrobe
September 23, 2026

Furnishing an Open-Plan Home: How to Choose Your Wardrobe

In an open plan home a wardrobe is seen from the living area or kitchen as well as the bed, so it has to be chosen as architecture rather than as bedroom furniture. This guide starts with the decision that shapes everything else: whether the unit sits against a wall or stands perpendicular as a divider between the sleeping zone and the rest of the space. It explains how height changes the character of a flat, why mid height units often suit smaller apartments better than full height ones, and how to choose a finish that answers to the kitchen and living area rather than only the bed. There is practical detail on sound travel, blocked daylight and cooking smells in studio layouts, along with advice on planning a wardrobe interior that also absorbs bedding and luggage, and on securing and finishing a free standing divider properly....

Continue Reading
How to Zone a Master Bedroom Using Your Wardrobe
September 22, 2026

How to Zone a Master Bedroom Using Your Wardrobe

Turning a wardrobe into a room divider is the simplest way to create two functional areas in a master bedroom without building work. This article explains how to decide what the second zone is actually for, since a dressing area, reading corner and workspace each need different light, services and floor area. It sets out three workable positions for the wardrobe, including perpendicular placement, a back to back arrangement behind the headboard, and an L shaped run from a corner, with guidance on which room shapes suit each. There is practical detail on finishing the exposed rear panel, lighting each zone independently so the partition does not cast shadow, and using rugs to reinforce the division. A worked example of a typical master bedroom pulls the ideas together, followed by an FAQ covering room size, safety and alternatives. Power positions, radiators and door swings are flagged as the practical checks worth making first....

Continue Reading
Furnishing an Open-Plan Home: How to Choose Your Bedroom Furniture Set
September 15, 2026

Furnishing an Open-Plan Home: How to Choose Your Bedroom Furniture Set

In an open plan home a bedroom furniture set has to work as part of the wider room, which changes almost every decision. Backs and sides of furniture become visible, storage has to conceal rather than display, and heights need to stay low enough to preserve sightlines across the space. This guide covers the difference between an integrated studio bed and a separated sleeping area, why low profile upholstered frames with finished headboard backs suit open layouts, and how to use a single sliding door wardrobe as both storage and divider. It also looks at coordinating finishes across kitchen, living and sleeping zones, managing sound and light with textiles and curtain tracks, scaling furniture to tall volumes, and planning circulation routes so the bed never sits across a main path. The article closes with two habits that keep a visible sleeping area looking considered in daily use, plus a short FAQ on privacy and storage....

Continue Reading
Do Room Dividers Reduce Noise? Decibel Test Results for 12 UK Models
September 15, 2026

Do Room Dividers Reduce Noise? Decibel Test Results for 12 UK Models

Freestanding room dividers change how a space sounds but cannot make it quiet, and buyers hoping to silence a household have chosen the wrong product, according to a new explanatory analysis from Furniture in Fashion. The report separates two commonly confused acoustic jobs: blocking transmitted sound, which depends on mass and airtight sealing that no freestanding screen can provide, and absorbing reflected sound, which softens echo within a room and is where fabric faced panels genuinely help. It notes that slatted and open weave screens have negligible acoustic effect because sound passes through the openings, and identifies a full height bookcase filled with books as the most effective freestanding option, since it adds both mass and an irregular scattering surface. The analysis publishes no decibel figures because no controlled testing was conducted, and points to Approved Document E as the reminder that real separation is a construction matter....

Continue Reading
A Brief History of the Folding Screen: From Han Dynasty China to UK Studios
September 13, 2026

A Brief History of the Folding Screen: From Han Dynasty China to UK Studios

The folding screen is the oldest portable architecture still in everyday use, and Furniture in Fashion traces it from Han dynasty China to the studio flats and shared houses where it has found new work. Our history follows the shift from single rigid panels placed behind a seat of authority to the hinged multi panel form that stands unaided, the Japanese byōbu whose name translates as wind wall, the lacquer screens that reached Europe through East Indies trade and acquired the Coromandel label from a shipping route, and the modernist reinvention of the screen by designers including Eileen Gray in the 1920s. The report closes with practical guidance for British homes: screen heights and panel counts by purpose, the angle that keeps a screen stable, and why slatted or woven panels usually beat solid ones in small single aspect rooms....

Continue Reading
Room Divider Dimensions: Height and Panel Width Data for UK Ceiling Heights
September 13, 2026

Room Divider Dimensions: Height and Panel Width Data for UK Ceiling Heights

Room dividers should be specified against a sightline rather than a ceiling, according to a new editorial analysis published by Furniture in Fashion. The report examines how folding screen heights and panel widths behave in British ceiling heights, from period terraces with generous headroom to new build homes sitting close to the minimum set by the Nationally Described Space Standard. It sets out suggested height bands for zoning a seating area, screening a home desk, dividing a studio and working under a sloping loft ceiling, and explains why a screen that almost reaches the ceiling reads as a failed partition. The analysis also addresses the most misunderstood point about folding dividers: a screen only stands up when opened into a zigzag, so its usable width is always less than the flat width quoted on a specification. No invented statistics appear anywhere in the report....

Continue Reading
Room Dividers and WFH: How UK Demand Changed 2019-2026
September 13, 2026

Room Dividers and WFH: How UK Demand Changed 2019-2026

Home working turned the room divider from a decorative object into a functional one, and the requirement changed shape along the way. Our analysis finds that British homes now use dividers to solve sightlines, video call backgrounds and the psychological end of the working day, rather than to soften a corner. The clearest pattern is a move away from solid full height partitions towards partial division: slatted screens, open backed shelving and low storage runs that interrupt the view without interrupting daylight. This matters because most UK reception rooms are single aspect, so a solid partition leaves half the room with borrowed light. We also find that renters shape the category heavily, since their solutions must be freestanding and reversible, and that acoustic expectations routinely exceed what any freestanding screen can deliver. Furniture in Fashion sets out where each divider type works, the clearances required, and why storage led division now outperforms decorative screening in typical British rooms....

Continue Reading