Sunlight is a valued commodity in any residence. It helps our plants thrive, and it is an important part of what helps us thrive as well. For this reason, room separators which allow a constant flow of sunlight is a wonderful & valued thing. In the case of an apartment or dorm, a contemporary room divider may be desired to separate two different roommates with 2 different senses of style, two different sleeping schedules, and two different lifestyles. However, if there is one window in the room, then 1 room materoommate is literally left in the dark. This is not true with some modern style room dividers.
In the style of classic Asian Shoji homes that are built of wooden frames covered in rice paper, Japanese dividers are made in much the same way. Frames of spruce or birch are built in simplex designs, the stretched with durable semitransparent rice paper. The dividers provide concealment. You can't see through the rice paper, except perhaps shadows, but light can extend through the rice paper so that people on either side of the divider enjoys some degree of sunlight. Additionally, Japanese partitions come in several beautiful designs. Some feature floral artwork printed or painted on the rice paper; others take their decorative beauty from lattice-style woodworking.
Another set of modern dividers that provide privacy but can allow light to pass through is the louvered divider. These are wood screens, usually made of three or four panels. They can be simple or intricately decorated and they are generally made of sturdy wood. Louvers cover part, if not all, of the panels, and when closed, the solid wood divider blocks out all sight from the other side. With most louver dividers, however, the louvers can be opened. This does little to minimize the privacy afforded by the divider, but what does change is the amount of sunlight that can drift through the room through the spaces between the louvers.
Either of these modern style room dividers come in a number of styles & sizes, and prices range from below $100 to close to $1,000, depending on a number of factors. Size is an issue because they can range from four feet tall to seven feet tall, and some can be bought with additional panels, so that a three-panel screen can become a six- or seven- panel screen. The model you choose will also affect price. Most room dividers are free standing and movable; however, there are also varieties that roll or slide on tracks installed in the floor & ceiling.
Finally, a large part of what affects the price of a room divider is the materials from which it is made. A divider crafted from solid oak with hand painted rice paper may have a fairly steep price tag, while a frame of particle board or plastic will provide some cost savings. That is not to say that an affordable room divider will look cheap or ugly; many retailers carry very attractive options for a reasonable price tag.
