Renting a one-bedroom in New York City usually means living with exactly one bedroom, no matter how many people actually need a space to sleep. Franny Davis found a workaround: a temporary flex wall that turned her single bedroom into two, for about $1,700. She documented the build on TikTok as @franny_davis.
In her video, Davis shows the installation of a floor-to-ceiling wall system that divides the original bedroom into two distinct sleeping areas, without drilling into the building’s actual structure or making any change that couldn’t eventually be reversed. The result, based on the footage, reads as two real rooms rather than a curtain-and-tape approximation of privacy.
It’s worth being upfront about the limits of this approach before anyone gets too excited about replicating it: flex walls and similar temporary partitions are not universally permitted. Building policies, lease terms and even city or fire codes vary significantly, and what one landlord allows, another may prohibit outright. Davis’s $1,700 figure and the specific setup shown in her video reflect her own building and situation, not a guarantee that the same approach is available to every renter facing a similar space crunch.
That caveat aside, the appeal of the video is obvious to anyone who has ever done the math on New York rent. A one-bedroom that becomes two sleeping spaces effectively cuts the per-person cost of an apartment that would otherwise be out of reach for two people splitting rent, all without the legal and financial complexity of signing a lease built for a two-bedroom unit.
Flex-wall content has become its own recurring genre in housing-focused corners of social media precisely because it addresses a problem that resonates far beyond New York: high rents pushing renters toward creative, non-permanent solutions rather than simply accepting they can’t afford the space they need. Davis’s video stands out within that genre for showing a clean, professional-looking result rather than a makeshift fix.
The Takeaway
Before installing any kind of temporary wall or room divider in a rental, check your lease and, if possible, get your landlord’s written approval, since what’s allowed varies enormously by building, city and fire code. If a flex wall is permitted where you live, it can meaningfully change the math on splitting rent with a roommate or partner. And if you’re inspired by a video like this one, remember that the price and setup shown reflect one specific apartment and one specific system, not a fixed cost you can expect to match exactly.
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