With the arrival of baby #3 and moving the big girls into one room – maximizing the space in their little closet quickly moved to the top of our project list.
I had seen a few similar closet makeovers on Pinterest and knew that the Ikea Pax Wardrobe System was the answer to our small closet problems!
Materials and Project Cost:
- Ikea Pax Wardrobe: $80
- Komplement Drawers: $25 ea (used 4) – $100
- Komplement Shelves: $10 (used 7) – $70
- Wood Clothing Rods: $10 for 8ft (we reused the existing one to cut in two for one side, and bought one more for the other side) – $10
- Wallpaper – we had leftover wallpaper from our 1/2 bath project to install on the inside of the Pax unit
Tools Needed:
- Table Saw
- Power drill
- Screws
- Multi-tool (to cut baseboard)
- Optional – wallpaper tools – wallpaper smoother, water mist/bottle, large sponge, *sharp* utility knife
Ikea Pax Closet Makeover
The goal was to maximize the space in a budget friendly way, while also keeping it functional for my 6 year old and 3 year old.
We first removed the existing shelf, patched the holes and primed/painted the closet. My plan was to wallpaper the entire inside of the closet, but decided on keeping it simple. So we kept the closet a bright white to match the Pax unit and make it look a little more “built in”.
We chose the 14″ deep x 29″ wide pax wardrobe as it was the best fit for our closet. Once we assembled the wardrobe, I installed the extra Magnolia wallpaper we had on hand from our 1/2 bath project on the interior. I am so happy we did that! The little pop of pattern is so fun!
Once that was done, we slid the wardrobe back and used a multi tool to custom cut the baseboards enabling us to push the wardrobe flush against the wall. Measuring from both sides to make sure it was dead center, we were able to get a super tight fit and after a little caulk to hide the seam, it looks amazing!
After securing the wardrobe to the wall, we installed the drawers and shelves. We did 4 drawers (2 for each kid) but the pax wardrobe system has so many different options and configurations. *NOTE: I am waiting on my brass cup pulls for the drawers to arrive.
The trickiest part of the whole project was probably installing the shelves and clothing rods on the outside of the wardrobe.
Each shelf was cut to fit. On the wardrobe side, we drilled a hole and used the plastic bracket that comes with the shelf and on the wall side (back and side), we screwed in 1×2’s into studs to support the shelves (and the weight of whatever I wanted to put up there lol). Painted to match the rest of the closet.
For the clothing rods, we kept things simple and budget friendly by sticking with the natural wooden closet rod. We repurposed the one we already had and just purchased a second one. We cut both in half so we had 4 total.
(before caulking 1×2 seams)
The storage baskets are from Target and are a great way to hide winter hats, extra socks, toys, etc. I’ll link them at the end of the post.
We absolutely LOVE how it turned out, and can’t wait to do this in the nursery closet.
Product Links:
11″ White and Leather Decorative Coiled Rope Basket
13″ Round Decorative Basket Natural – Threshold (currently out of stock)
Other basket options from Target:
Decorative Cube Basket with Leather Pull
Round Basket in Braided Matgrass & White Coiled Rope
Basket With Round Handles Large
Stool is from HomeGoods
Other stool options:
Serena and Lily Dipped Stool
Shaker Accent Table or Stool
Prinz Round Children’s Stool
xo Jess
20 Comments
Alyssa Waters
HI! I love your closet so much and looking to do something similar for my daughter. What was the length of this closet? Im trying to determine if my daughter’s 62″ closet would work well for this
Jess
Hi! This closet is 81″ wide by 24″ deep with a 48″ wide opening for the doors. We used the 29″ wide pax system in the middle.. but you could totally opt for one of the smaller ones! I think they have a base unit that is 19″ wide and still has all of the shelves, drawers, and other customizable pax things for that size!
Marie
How wide is your closet? Trying to figure out what size Pax system we should go with.
Melanie
So darling! Did you use wallpaper paste? Or some other adhesive?
Jess
Hi Melanie! Thank you! This wallpaper was pre-pasted, so all I had to do was mist water on the back, fold over for a few minutes and then install like you would on the wall (using a sponge, seam roller, etc)
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Isabel
Hiiiii. I’m looking for a wood rod like that. I cannot find one as cheap as you listed. Do you have a link? Or store you got it from?
Isabel
So cute! Where did you get the wooden rods? I cannot find them anywhere for $10 bucks! Can you leave a link?
Jess
Hi! We purchased a 72″ dowel (that was just under $10) from our local home improvement store and then cut it in half – we needed 26″ for each, so we had a little left over. We also only needed to purchase one because we repurposed the clothing rod that was already in the closet. Here is a link to the one we got (or something similar) – https://www.lowes.com/pd/Madison-Mill-1-25-in-dia-x-72-in-L-Round-Poplar-Dowel/1000152147?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-mlw-_-ggl-_-LIA_MLW_122_Mouldings-Specialty-Millwork-_-1000152147-_-local-_-0-_-0&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQiAxc6PBhCEARIsAH8Hff1JySyiy_CPHswuJTOp3YJX7Q4E4TZGQ_iG878DfNEDpdR3DL8JvdQaArMyEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Cath
How tall is this base.
Jess
Hi Cath,
This base is 79 1/8 ” tall
Linnea Farnsworth
Hi Jess, I love this so much and want to do something similar for my kids. I have a question- do you have more clothes in those drawers, or is it shoes? I’m just wondering where you keep the girls’ shoes and if we could get by with doing this and getting rid of the kids big dresser. Would free up some nice real estate in their room!
Jess
Hi Linnea! So I added one of these baskets on each side on the floor for them to keep their shoes in. I found with my kiddos, that having a shoe basket was the best way for them to keep things organized. From Target! https://rstyle.me/+Yi5mbZUl94vMlW262K7NnQ
Vanessa
I love this and want to try this for my girls closets! Did you attach the sides to the actual closet walls?
Cat
Hii! What closet rod brackets did you use/how did you attach it to the side of the Pax? I want to make sure the screw doesn’t go through the Pax wall, while also being sturdy. Thank you!
Cat
Hi! What brackets did you use, so the screws did not go through the side of the Pax?
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Grace
What shelving did you use to go all the way around the very top (the very top row of shelving)? Was it pax or an existing shelf or a wooden shelf you installed yourself? Thanks!
Jess
Hi! We used one 29″ pax system in the middle (so the middle of that top shelf is the very top of the pax system) then we took 2 pax shelving units the same depth and installed them on either side (we put 1×2 on the back and side walls to help support) we did need to trim about an inch off each shelf so they fit the closet. Hope that helps!