Elevate your hand when you keep in mind how a lot closet area our bed room had after 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 ultimately 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 implies now we have 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). Both sides had one 29″ cupboard within the center and two 19″ cupboards (one flanking either side 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 techniques (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 48 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! Speak about dwelling giant, even whereas downsizing. It’s fairly wonderful.
So this put up is to indicate you ways we bought all of that storage into our smaller bed room – and to element precisely how we make them look utterly 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, just a little background…
Why Use Ikea Pax Closets?
We fell in love with the Ikea Pax closet system 15 years in the past after we first used them so as to add clothes storage AND create a comfy sleeping nook in our first home. Not solely are they a budget-friendly answer, in addition they supply loads of customization and group choices so you possibly can actually tailor your Pax to your wants. That’s why we’ve used them time and again, together with for our “fanciest” closet makeover in our final home.
You’ll be able to try 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?
Once 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 had been planning to maneuver there ultimately (at the moment 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 could be an improve, however after dwelling right here some time we realized seeing the mattress by 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 in on the alternative 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 assume if we did we might 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 loads higher with yet another wardrobe operating alongside that wall, slightly than squishing the inlay dresser you see under in that spot (you possibly can see from the picture above that it now lives on the wall that’s seen from the kitchen/sitting space).
Including yet another closet on that finish positively 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 fairly balanced – prefer it has at all times been this manner.
We positively thought-about utilizing some tremendous thick filler items on every finish to make the closets absolutely flush to the door wall, however in the end determined we appreciated it higher this manner 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 purpose is to make them look extra like a customized built-in closet. The primary trick is to make use of trim or molding for that absolutely floor-to-ceiling look. The Pax system is available in both 79″ or 93″ heights, so when you’ve bought 8ft ceilings (96″) like us, all it’s important to do is fill that 3-ish inch hole. It’s possible you’ll must do some hole filling on the perimeters too when you 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 your complete course of – from unboxing to portray! – on a timelapse video that you could watch under. We’ve additionally bought a extra detailed step-by-step tutorial after the video as effectively.
Constructing-In A Pax Wardrobe: Timelapse Video
We condensed this course of down to simply 5 minutes, however in actual time it stretched over the course of about 4 afternoons. The primary 2 had been extra labor intensive with assembling and constructing within the closet, whereas the second 2 had been largely simply ready for caulk and paint to dry. So it’s positively one thing you might largely full in a weekend.
Word: You may also view this video on YouTube.
Instruments & Supplies Wanted
Along with your Pax wardrobe items themselves (wardrobe field, doorways, hinges, inside fittings, and so forth) you’ll additionally need to have the next gadgets out there:
I’m going to skip over the precise wardrobe meeting and set up elements, since Ikea covers that fairly effectively of their directions. You’ll be able to watch them within the timelapse above when you’d prefer to see them in motion. and we added some notes to the video for you, like how I added an outlet gap. Under we’re going to start out on the stage the place you’ve already bought your Pax in place and secured to the wall.
Step 1: Make Your Plan
Like I mentioned, the principle trick to creating it look in-built 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 best way 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 will probably connect to. Right here’s just a little overhead view of how we solved this. What you see me nailing within the picture above is the piece that’s labeled “trim” within the picture under:
The “backer piece” is just a few spare 1×3 I had laying round, however it will probably actually be something. It would connect flat in opposition to the highest of the closet (nailed in from beneath). Then no matter you employ as your seen trim could be nailed into the 1″ aspect of the backer. I promise it will 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 either side – to dimension. Subsequent got here the tough half: getting the location of the backer excellent.
Assuming, like us, you need the trim to be flush along with your closet doorways – resist your intuition to put in this piece flush with the entrance fringe of the wardrobe field. That may solely work in case your trim had 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 executed right here is taped a few items of scrap trim (aka, the identical 1×2″ that I’ll be utilizing as my remaining molding) to the entrance of my backer piece. That approach I may maintain up my backer piece and double-check that my remaining trim would find yourself precisely the place I wished it. On this case, it might be flush with my current trim (since we had 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 may also see this half in motion through 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 bought connected in exactly the proper spot. As a result of on this aspect, I wished the trim to be precisely flush with the aspect of the Pax field.
You may also see above that we had already connected 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: Lower & Connect Your Trim
As soon as your backer piece is nailed into place, you possibly can minimize and nail in your trim (aka: the molding that may truly be seen and provides your closet a built-in look). Since now we have an uncovered nook, we selected to miter minimize ours on an angle for probably 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 totally (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 will have to get artistic 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 dimension.
Within the picture above we’ve truly already accomplished the final step, which is…
Step 5: Caulk & Paint
As soon as every little thing 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 totally different Ikea merchandise are totally different whites). However we’ve discovered that our wall & ceiling shade – Sherwin-Williams Pure White – is a fairly shut match. We’ve simply been utilizing it as a result of, if nothing else, a minimum of 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 folks prefer to see particular inside elements of the Pax wardrobes and the way we’ve chosen to retailer stuff in ours. Possibly 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 after 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 always be reducing 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 48 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 previous walk-in closet, we severely contemplated sacrificing some wall area so as to add a window for some pure gentle in there. And now, despite the fact that our present closet is rather less conventional (wardrobes alongside the wall of the bed room versus having an precise closet), we’ve bought daylight in spades!
Now that you just’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 custom-made and our final home’s closet, which was filled with favourite Pax elements!
Different Ikea Customization Initiatives
Wanna see another Ikea hacks? Listed here are a couple of of our favourite customizations:
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