'Stunning': Some Love This TikToker's Double-Arch DIY, But Was The Work Worth It?

There's been a debate about whether open-concept floor plans are going out of style for some time. Quite a few experts believe the drift started with the pandemic. People working from home needed a space away from the distractions of day-to-day life. I'm one of them, so I definitely get that. It's the same if you want to go read quietly or study.

There are dozens of decorative room divider ideas you could use to separate a space, but over on TikTok, Sofia and her partner went whole hog with a double-arch wall. They'd been quoted $3,000 for the job, so they did it themselves. As an experienced renovator myself, I was interested to see exactly how they did it and how it turned out.

Jobs like this can be a disaster if you don't have relevant skills, but I must say they did well. Pretty much everyone who gave an opinion agreed that they had pulled off the transformation. Comments like "This turned out so amazing!" and "Great idea! Looks fantastic." are typical. I don't see that they achieved the dining space that Sofia talks about at the start of the clip, but she seems happy with the result. So what's the problem? Well technically there isn't one, but is doing something like this actually a good idea? If you have a loft-style space, should you tackle building a dividing wall?

The divider is made with store-bought lumber, plywood, and drywall. That's how we all do it. I would never use a sawzall to cut plywood because it will rip up the edges (a jigsaw cuts more smoothly), but I'm nitpicking.

The big question is whether it's worth the time and effort. This ain't one of those renovation projects you can DIY in a weekend. You also don't see the mess it created. Sofia admits there was a scary amount of dust, and I can tell you that it gets everywhere. Including adjoining rooms unless you literally tape the doors closed. By the way, although Sophia doesn't, you absolutely must wear a mask when sanding, because breathing that stuff is a serious health hazard.

I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but at the end of the day, what have they gained? There's a hi-fi tucked in a corner, but there doesn't seem to be the designated space they wanted for a dining table and chairs because they haven't really sectioned it off. Also, at the end of the video, the remainder of the room has been furnished and the back wall painted a warm hue, which makes it feel more cozy anyway. They could have created the same effect with a couple of folding room dividers and had the flexibility to open the space up for entertaining. Maybe it's just me, but although lot of people liked it, it's difficult to see how that loft-style space is much better after hundreds of dollars and many hours of work.