Suggestions are welcome!

the ratties were allowed back out already the very next day under stricter supervision.
they didn't touch any cords under my sharp eye BUT of course we hadn't thought of the cord under their favorite couch.
since the rats have made themselves a nest under the couch I should have figured out that the cord that crosses their nest would have suffered a great deal - which it had.
unfortunately the damage is pretty bad - if you touch the wires on the cord it will spark - so the rats are not allowed there anymore.
that means we can't let them out in the living room anymore until we figure out how to section the living room so that they stick to the cordless side of it.
I don't understand why we keep having so much trouble with this. I feel like everyone else who has had rats hasn't. most people give them access to their entire apartment!
the living room has been enough for our rats.
as a temporary solution we're only letting them out in the hallway and the bathroom.
we also bought them a playpen but they don't seem too excited about being transported from one cage to another cage-like area.
we're thinking about buying some kind of "walls" (you know the kind that people use when their babies just start walking and they want to section off places where the kids aren't allowed in?) to put up in the living room when letting them out.
I'm getting so desperate that I'm thinking about rearranging all the furniture in the living room. I really don't want the rats to be enclosed into a tiny space.
that's what their cage is for!