Photography by Lucianna McIntosh
Words by HANNAH CHAMBLEY
Styling by Amal Iqbal
½” square wood dowel rods
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2x4” studs
1x2” pine boards
38x48” acrylic panels
Click to See Before
5
4
3
2
1
– AMAL IQBAL
I like organized chaos, but I don’t want to see it all the time.”
Click to See Before
The solution:
The challenge:
Magic Trick
When we put the first partition up, I immediately moved the desk from the center of the room to the side to see how it felt—and it was an instant relief. In the “before” photos, it looks like a dining table being used as a desk. But now it actually looks like a desk. And, of course, the 3-inch-thick divider makes the space feel completely separate. It’s such a weird phenomenon, how depending on the way something is oriented, it can feel totally different. I think it shows that our brains really like to compartmentalize.
The solution:
The challenge:
In a Pinch
The pinching idea took a little bit of finagling. The partitions are actually the same design as the closet door I did previously. But for the closet, the acrylic is screwed onto the back because you only see the front side of the door. For this project, I knew that it had to look nice from both sides. After assembling the first frame, I was holding up the sheets with my hands on each side and had an aha moment: I realized they could be held in place by wood dowels on either side of the frame.
Finding dowels that were cost-effective in bulk was a bit tricky, but luckily I uncovered some on Amazon that were between $20 and $24 each (36 and 48 inches, respectively). I secured them on the front side of the frame using a nail gun. Then my husband helped me hold the acrylic sheet in place and we secured the other set of dowels to the back. It was one of those rare DIYs where it worked on the first try.
In hindsight, I wish I would have used quarter-round dowels, instead of square, to soften it and mimic the molding we added to the bottom half of the partition. That’s something I’ll note for next time if we ever reassemble it in a new space.
The solution:
The challenge:
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
I like organized chaos, but I don’t want to see it all the time. And people don’t warn you that, when you run a creative business, you accumulate…a lot of stuff. We didn’t have a room to hide all of that away. So instead of acrylic, we used quarter-inch MDF (and picture molding for character) on both sides of the partition to create solid bases, and as an added bonus, it hid the clutter. When both frames were built and the acrylic was inserted, we taped them off and painted everything the same color as our walls: a warm white from Backdrop called Harvest Moon.
The solution:
The challenge:
Crop Top
There’s a beam that runs along the wall with all of our windows. It’s a mixture of concrete and plaster, and I cannot, for the life of me, drill into it. We’ve tried, but it’s a mess. So we decided to only bring the partitions up 8 feet, just below the beam, to avoid that. Additionally, the only air vent in the living space is on the opposite side of the room. Leaving a gap at the top also allowed more air to flow through to the office area.
In an effort to make the gap feel intentional and add texture to the studio side of the divider, we planned to install wall-to-wall luxurious linen curtains. But due to budget constraints, we ended up spray-painting an electrical conduit for the rod and finding affordable linen curtains at IKEA that actually turned out beautifully. Plus they act as an impromptu backdrop if I ever need to film or shoot anything.
While a metal frame and glass windows would have been amazing, they would have been superheavy and much harder to construct. Theoretically speaking, if we were to build this permanently, we would have had to actually cut out the vinyl flooring to install the bases of the partitions into the subfloor. But we couldn’t do that in our rental apartment. I also couldn’t take out the baseboard to make it flush with the wall.
So we went with pine and acrylic sheets for the window frames and lumber for the base, and we attached everything to the wall with screws. We want to be able to disassemble the frame if we ever move or decide to repurpose the materials. At the end of the day, when this all comes out, I’m (hopefully) just patching some holes and will get my security deposit back.
The solution:
The challenge:
(Dis)assembly Required
1,000
Square feet
Roughly 2 weeks
Timeline
$420
Budget
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A
Create a defined workspace in a studio apartment.
Top priority
San Diego, California
Location
Amal Iqbal
NAME
mal Iqbal found everything she was looking for in her dream rental in downtown San Diego: 1,000 airy square feet of white walls, 9-foot ceilings, and large west-facing windows
Iqbal had to rewind a few years to find a spark of inspiration. Back in 2017, she applied to a business incubator program in Sacramento called Calling All Dreamers; the winner would secure a downtown storefront and a startup package with funds to get it off the ground. The retail brick-and-mortar layout she pitched for the competition was modeled after environments that allow you to see artisans at work, like letterpress studios and European bakeries. Although she didn’t win, the idea of creating a separate yet see-through workspace stuck with her: “I thought, Why do I have to wait for a storefront to make that dream come true?”
So she started sketching. Drawn to the industrial elements of lofts and the effortless character of Parisian interiors, she settled on two 8-foot multi-pane partitions to create a defined studio area. Iqbal was ahead of the game, really. She had acquired most of the tools and hardware needed from two previous DIYs—a similar frame in the hallway and her bedroom closet door. But even with her background in architecture, detailed plans, the resources, and most of the materials, the project still posed a few hurdles.
In her own words, Iqbal offers a candid account of her transformative, under-$500 rental reno.
that let in a ton of light. But there was, as there usually is, a catch. The studio only had two doors—one for the entrance and one for the bathroom, rendering the rest of the space one big rectangle.
“My husband is the type of person who, if we lived in a cardboard box, he’d be like, ‘Cool.’ His environment does not affect him,” Iqbal jokes. “But as a creative being who also works from home, my environment directly affects me. I knew I needed to make the space look good and function for us both.”
And for Iqbal—a freelance graphic designer, interior stylist, lifestyle blogger, and former landscape designer who had recently launched her own business—the project would give her the chance to put her design skills to the test.
That was 2018. Fast-forward to May 2022, and Iqbal had done just that. The blank canvas had become a colorful, cozy apartment for her and her husband, complete with gallery walls (plural), patterned wallpaper, and plenty of pastels (her favorite). But one part of the home in particular still felt off: her WFH space. Tight quarters left just 18 inches between the arm of the sofa and the desk, allowing no separation between her “office” and the living room. “It was difficult to look over and not feel guilty about not getting work done or the studio being messy,” she admits.
Click to See Before
Credits
Sanford Sofa, Pottery Barn; Paige 3 Flush Mount Light, Mitzi; Lenda Curtains, IKEA; Throw Blanket, Native Poppy; Fabric Office Chair by Leagoo, Amazon; Mirror, Anthropologie; Organic Shapes Table Lamp, Sarah Sherman Samuel x West Elm; Medium Magic Hands Print by Jennifer Ament, Jennifer Ament.
Not getting on the landlord’s bad side.
minimal hardware.
Use lightweight materials and
An impenetrable concrete beam.
Stop 1 foot short of the ceiling.
Securing the acrylic sheets to
the frame.
Pinch them in place.
A desk felt more like a dining table.
Tweak the layout.
Credits
Ripple Chair, Sarah Sherman Samuel x Lulu and Georgia;
Marnie Floor Lamp, Soho Home.
Credits
Eloise Pendant Light, Anthropologie; Ingrid Dining Chairs and Terrace Coffee Table, West Elm; Rug, Lulu and Georgia.
Credits
Lubi Daybed, CB2; Billy Bookcase, IKEA;
Blue Patinated Brass Sheet, Electric Sun Creatives;
Tout est Magique Print by Milou Neelen, Artfully Walls;
Vilette Vase, Lulu and Georgia; Grecian Bust Pot,
Anthropologie; Silas Table Lamp, Soho Home;
Stevie Vase, Marloe Marloe; Footed Neoclassical
Bowl, Trace Aesthetic.
Picture molding
Graphic designer Amal Iqbal’s Parisian-inspired partitions prove that even a wide-open space can be WFH-friendly.
and
Conquer
Divide
Next-to-nil storage space.
Block the view from the living room.
“I like organized chaos, but I don’t want to see it all the time.”
(Dis)assembly Required
The challenge:
Not getting on the landlord’s bad side.
The solution:
Use lightweight materials and
While a metal frame and glass windows would have been amazing, they would have been superheavy and much harder to construct. Theoretically speaking, if we were to build this permanently, we would have had to actually
cut out the vinyl flooring to install the bases
of the partitions into the subfloor. But we couldn’t do that in our rental apartment. I also couldn’t take out the baseboard to make it flush with the wall.
So we went with pine and acrylic sheets for the window frames and lumber for the base, and we attached everything to the wall with screws. We want to be able to disassemble the frame if we ever move or decide to repurpose the materials. At the end of the day, when this all comes out, I’m (hopefully) just patching some holes and will get my security deposit back.
1
Crop Top
The challenge:
An impenetrable concrete beam.
The solution:
Stop 1 foot short of the ceiling.
2
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The challenge:
Next-to-nil storage space.
The solution:
Block the view from the living room.
3
I like organized chaos, but I don’t want to see it all the time. And people don’t warn you that, when you run a creative business, you accumulate…a lot of stuff. We didn’t have a room to hide all of that away. So instead of acrylic, we used quarter-inch MDF (and picture molding for character) on both sides of the partition to create solid bases, and as an added bonus, it hid the clutter. When both frames were built and the acrylic was inserted, we taped them off and painted everything the same color as our walls: a warm white from Backdrop called Harvest Moon.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
The challenge:
Next-to-nil storage space.
The solution:
Block the view from the living room.
3
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issue
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SM22: Home Is Where You Are
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“