insert vertical divider line between two nested divs, not full height

I have float left and float right <div> nested within a light blue box div as shown in the image below. I can't figure out how to insert a vertical line between them as shown in this image:

That has the following properties:

1) padding/margin on either side that I can control or looks reasonable (i.e. not much closer to one div than it is the other)

2) leaves a margin above and below as shown, i.e. does not extend the full vertical width of light blue div

3) dynamically maintains #1 and #2 as browser window gets bigger/smaller and blue box size increases/decreases with it

I'm looking for a simple, preferably CSS-only solution.

Relevant CSS:

#left {
  position: relative;
  float: left;
  width: 44%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

#right {
  position: relative;
  float: right;
  width: 49%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

#blue_box {
  position: relative;
  width: 45%;
  min-width: 400px;
  max-width: 600px;
  padding: 2%;
  margin-left: 40%;
  overflow: auto; /*needed so that div stretches with child divs*/
}

Edit Report

Try this. I set the blue box to float right, gave left and right a fixed height, and added a white border on the right of the left div. Also added rounded corners to more match your example (These won't work in ie 8 or less). I also took out the position: relative. You don't need it. Block level elements are set to position relative by default.

See it here: http://jsfiddle.net/ZSgLJ/

#left {
  float: left;
  width: 44%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  border-right: 1px solid white;
  height:400px;
}

#right {
  position: relative;
  float: right;
  width: 49%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
  height:400px;
}

#blue_box {
  background-color:blue;
  border-radius: 10px;
  -moz-border-radius:10px;
  -webkit-border-radius: 10px;
  width: 45%;
  min-width: 400px;
  max-width: 600px;
  padding: 2%;
  float: right;
}

answered 2011-03-19T21:57:58.800

insert vertical divider line between two nested divs, not full height

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