Elevate your hand if you happen to bear in mind how a lot closet area our bed room had once we moved in. The reply is zero. We used dressers for some time (and borrowed the tiny closet in our son’s room for our hanging stuff) and finally added some floor-to-ceiling Ikea Pax wardrobes to our bed room after about 10 months, which felt like we had arrived. A bed room closet is so good to have. And – large information! – as of penning this put up, we’ve added one other Ikea wardrobe to that wall… which suggests we’ve simply as a lot storage in our present bed room as we had in our final home’s FANCY WALK-IN CLOSET! I do know. It’s downright mind-blowing.
For comparability, that is our final home’s walk-in closet (it was an 8′ x 6′ room). Either side had one 29″ cupboard within the center and two 19″ cupboards (one flanking both sides of the bigger cupboard). That’s 67″ of linear closet area on every wall, for a complete of 134″ in the entire closet.
Right here we used the very same Pax programs (flooring to ceiling, 8′ peak once more, identical 24″ depth) however in our present smaller bed room we simply ran them alongside the left wall of our room. The configuration right here is three 39″ wardrobes plus one 19″ wardrobe on the tip, for a complete of 136″ linear inches.
It’s wild to us that our final home had a devoted 100+ sq. foot room to accommodate this quantity of storage, and in our smaller closet-less room we simply ran the wardrobes alongside a wall, and nonetheless managed to work in an even bigger mattress than we’ve ever had! Discuss residing massive, even whereas downsizing. It’s fairly superb.
So this put up is to point out you the way we obtained all of that storage into our smaller bed room – and to element precisely how we make them look fully built-in. Plus, we took a bunch of up to date footage of our room for you too (there’s a sneak peek of our new chair and a shot of the glass doorways open).
First up, somewhat background…
Why Use Ikea Pax Closets?
We fell in love with the Ikea Pax closet system 15 years in the past once we first used them so as to add clothes storage AND create a comfortable sleeping nook in our first home. Not solely are they a budget-friendly answer, in addition they provide loads of customization and group choices so you possibly can actually tailor your Pax to your wants. That’s why we’ve used them many times, together with for our “fanciest” closet makeover in our final home.
You’ll be able to take a look at that closet reveal put up for all the main points (how a lot it price, earlier than & afters, how we organized it, and even a video tour), however again to our present home…
Why Add One other Closet Now?
After we initially added the Pax wardrobes to our present bed room again in 2021, we left area on one finish for a doorway that we have been planning to maneuver there finally (at present it’s simply across the nook of that wall under). On the time, we thought transferring the entry level to our bed room over there can be an improve, however after residing right here some time we realized seeing the mattress by way of a doorway from the entryway/informal sitting space the place we regularly entertain doesn’t really feel like an improve in any respect.
At the moment, the door to our bed room seems to be in on the other wall the place we simply have a dresser – so it doesn’t really feel as “intimate” as seeing a mattress from the entrance door or the hangout zone downstairs. So we’re glad we waited it out and didn’t transfer that doorway prematurely. I actually suppose if we did we’d have moved it again to this spot later.
So with that crystal clear realization of “Nope. No door right here!” – we knew this nook of the room would look lots higher with yet one more wardrobe working alongside that wall, moderately than squishing the inlay dresser you see under in that spot (you possibly can see from the photograph above that it now lives on the wall that’s seen from the kitchen/sitting space).
Including yet one more closet on that finish undoubtedly makes the wall look extra full.
Once more, right here’s that distinction. Goodbye random enclave on the finish of that wall, whats up extra closet area!
I do know the images above make it appear to be the closet overhangs the wall, however it doesn’t. It truly leaves the identical quantity of wall area that we already had subsequent to the bed room door, in order that nook truly seems to be fairly balanced – prefer it has at all times been this fashion.
We undoubtedly thought-about utilizing some tremendous thick filler items on every finish to make the closets totally flush to the door wall, however finally determined we appreciated it higher this fashion with out cumbersome finish items flanking the closets.
I’ll share some extra footage of how the area suits collectively on the finish of this put up, however let’s dive into the constructing course of.
Making An Ikea Pax Closet Look Constructed-In
Pax wardrobes are literally one of many simpler Ikea items to hack in case your aim is to make them look extra like a customized built-in closet. The principle trick is to make use of trim or molding for that totally floor-to-ceiling look. The Pax system is available in both 79″ or 93″ heights, so if you happen to’ve obtained 8ft ceilings (96″) like us, all you must do is fill that 3-ish inch hole. You could must do some hole filling on the perimeters too if you happen to additionally need it to go wall-to-wall (which we did right here). That course of is just about the identical one we’re sharing on this put up).
We truly captured all the course of – from unboxing to portray! – on a timelapse video you can watch under. We’ve additionally obtained a extra detailed step-by-step tutorial after the video as properly.
Constructing-In A Pax Wardrobe: Timelapse Video
We condensed this course of down to only 5 minutes, however in actual time it stretched over the course of about 4 afternoons. The primary 2 have been extra labor intensive with assembling and constructing within the closet, whereas the second 2 have been principally simply ready for caulk and paint to dry. So it’s undoubtedly one thing you can principally full in a weekend.
Be aware: You can even view this video on YouTube.
Instruments & Supplies Wanted
Along with your Pax wardrobe items themselves (wardrobe field, doorways, hinges, inside fittings, and many others) you’ll additionally wish to have the next objects obtainable:
I’m going to skip over the precise wardrobe meeting and set up elements, since Ikea covers that fairly properly of their directions. You’ll be able to watch them within the timelapse above if you happen to’d wish to see them in motion. and we added some notes to the video for you, like how I added an outlet gap. Beneath we’re going to start out on the stage the place you’ve already obtained your Pax in place and secured to the wall.
Step 1: Make Your Plan
Like I mentioned, the principle trick to creating it look inbuilt is simply filling the hole between the highest of the Pax to the ceiling. Nearly such as you’re creating some crown molding round your closets.
The problem is that the Ikea doorways go all the way in which to the highest of the field, leaving no uncovered floor to nail your molding into. So earlier than you add your trim, you’ve gotta add a “backer piece” that it could possibly connect to. Right here’s somewhat overhead view of how we solved this. What you see me nailing within the photograph above is the piece that’s labeled “trim” within the photograph under:
The “backer piece” is just a few spare 1×3 I had laying round, however it could possibly actually be something. It’s going to connect flat towards the highest of the closet (nailed in from beneath). Then no matter you utilize as your seen trim could be nailed into the 1″ aspect of the backer. I promise this may make extra sense as we go.
Step 2: Align & Connect Your Backer Piece
First, we used the miter noticed to chop our 1×3″ backer items – one for both sides – to measurement. Subsequent got here the difficult half: getting the location of the backer excellent.
Assuming, like us, you need the trim to be flush together with your closet doorways – resist your intuition to put in this piece flush with the entrance fringe of the wardrobe field. That might solely work in case your trim have been precisely as thick as your closet door. Because it’s not, we’ve at all times needed to mock one thing as much as get our placement excellent. That’s the place this pet is useful.
What I’ve completed right here is taped a few items of scrap trim (aka, the identical 1×2″ that I’ll be utilizing as my closing molding) to the entrance of my backer piece. That method I may maintain up my backer piece and double-check that my closing trim would find yourself precisely the place I wished it. On this case, it will be flush with my current trim (since we have been including this final wardrobe to an current one right here) in addition to flush with my doorways.
With the backer firmly held in place with my hand, I secured it with a few nails utilizing my nail gun. You can even see this half in motion throughout the timelapse video above.
Right here’s one other view of that course of, as repeated on the opposite finish of the closet. You’ll be able to see how the scrap piece of trim helped us make sure the backer piece obtained hooked up in exactly the suitable spot. As a result of on this aspect, I wished the trim to be precisely flush with the aspect of the Pax field.
You can even see above that we had already hooked up the trim on the entrance of the closet. Discover how a lot it hangs over the wardrobe field? However as you’ll see under, it’s completely flush with the door when it’s closed.
Step 3: Reduce & Connect Your Trim
As soon as your backer piece is nailed into place, you possibly can reduce and nail in your trim (aka: the molding that may truly be seen and provides your closet a built-in look). Since we’ve an uncovered nook, we selected to miter reduce ours on an angle for essentially the most polished look.
Then we nailed the trim items into the backer, as you possibly can see under. Don’t fear concerning the nail holes. You’ll be able to fill them later with caulk or wooden filler.
Step 4: Including Quarter Spherical To End It Off
As you possibly can see above, our 1×2″ molding wasn’t tall sufficient to fill the hole to the ceiling completely (and a 1×3″ was too large). However fortunately a chunk of quarter spherical was sufficient to shut the hole. Relying in your ceiling, you’ll have to get inventive with what molding or mixture of trim works finest. You can also at all times use a desk or round noticed to tear a bigger piece of wooden to measurement.
Within the photograph above we’ve truly already accomplished the final step, which is…
Step 5: Caulk & Paint
As soon as all the pieces is constructed, use paintable caulk to fill any nail holes, gaps, or seams – like the place your moldings meet the wall, the ceiling, and one another. From there you possibly can paint your trim to match. I’ll admit we’ve but to discover a paint that completely matches Ikea’s white (particularly since completely different Ikea merchandise are completely different whites). However we’ve discovered that our wall & ceiling colour – Sherwin-Williams Pure White – is a reasonably shut match. We’ve simply been utilizing it as a result of, if nothing else, no less than it’s an ideal match to the adjoining floor in our room.
The Completed Constructed-In Closet
We completed this mission a month or two in the past, and it’s been so nice having the “bonus” storage. To not point out that the wall doesn’t really feel in limbo anymore.
We’re additionally engaged on a closet group put up as a result of we all know individuals wish to see particular inside parts of the Pax wardrobes and the way we’ve chosen to retailer stuff in ours. Perhaps Sherry will do the entire video tour deal.
The most important takeaway from this many-years-long closet evolution is that wild realization that we didn’t truly find yourself giving up a complete lot once we moved to a home that’s half the dimensions of our final one. Again when we determined to downsize, we assumed that we’d continuously be slicing corners and sacrificing area, so the truth that our present bed room has simply as a lot closet area as our final home (which had a 100 square-foot walk-in closet!) – it simply shocks us. And to now be luxuriating within the largest mattress we’ve ever owned… we simply didn’t see that coming.
We additionally snicker about how, in our outdated walk-in closet, we critically contemplated sacrificing some wall area so as to add a window for some pure mild in there. And now, although our present closet is rather less conventional (wardrobes alongside the wall of the bed room versus having an precise closet), we’ve obtained daylight in spades!
Now that you simply’ve seen how we added to our built-in closets, we’ll be again with a whole-shebang tour of how we’ve organized them inside (that has been a little bit of a transferring goal as we proceed to optimize it, however it’s on our to-do checklist!). Within the meantime, be at liberty to take a look at the opposite aspect of the room and the different Ikea storage we personalized and our final home’s closet, which was stuffed with favourite Pax parts!
Different Ikea Customization Tasks
Wanna see another Ikea hacks? Listed here are a number of of our favourite customizations:
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