Our small walk-in closet was in dire need of some re-organization and an aesthetic upgrade. Come see how we did this DIY IKEA closet makeover on a budget with the IKEA Pax units and get some budget friendly closet inspiration for yourself!
When we built out home in 2013, I knew I wanted to use the IKEA Pax system in our small walk-in closet in the main bedroom. It’s a sturdy system that offers numerous possibilities for organization with drawer, shelf, rod and pull-out options. However, we weren’t able to afford all the pretty drawers and shelves after we exhausted our resources building our home.
I added the wire baskets instead of the IKEA Komplement drawers because they were cheaper. The problem was that they always looked messy and unorganized. Since we see our closet from our bed, I wanted a more eye-pleasing look.
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Another issue was that I used narrower Pax units for the inside sides of our closet, and they didn’t use the space properly because they were too narrow. I thought it would make more sense to use these units elsewhere in our home and turn these areas into much needed hanging storage.
Watch my YouTube video to see how I transformed my small walk-in closet to something more functional and aesthetic with IKEA organization: Products used in our IKEA closet makeover:
Adding the white drawers to the Pax units definitely made our closet look instantly tidier and more high-end. They were simple to put together and easy to install.
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We also added some crown moulding trim on the top of the cabinetry and casing trim on the sides to make it look more built in.
I purged and organized all of our clothing and added rods for hanging on the inside sides of the closet. That enabled me to make the other side of the closet mostly drawers and shelves for a more streamlined look.
We have some heating pipes we have to access on the lower right-hand side of our closet, so adding the Pax divider and a pull out laundry hamper was a simple solution to hide that area.
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A simple display shelf in the middle of the closet allowed me to display some of my favourite thing like my teal suitcase, some art, and accessories. I also love how this looks when viewing it from our bed.
Now tell me: What do you think of this budget-friendly IKEA closet makeover? I’m so happy with how it turned out, and I think it looks so much better than before!
Hey there, I'm Christina Dennis, the creative force behind The DIY Mommy. I'm all about budget-friendly DIY and decorating ideas to make your space shine. Let's create homes that bring us joy, one project at a time! 🌟Need some closet inspiration? Thanks to IKEA and a little imagination, this small walk-in closet now has space for everything we need and more!
Bedroom Wardrobe Design Ideas + Ikea Pax Review
Confession: I have a small obsession with maximizing storage space. Each area I tackle is like a new puzzle, and I love it. (I know…nerd alert!)
I love when everything has a “home” and is easy to access. It allows me to keep my house picked up and organized (mostly). And it makes it easier for the rest of my family (ahem,
So when it came time to design my daughter’s closet, I pulled out the measuring tape and turned to my favorite place for all things organizing…IKEA.
A Walk In Closet In A Tricky Space
This closet was a poster child for wasted space. There were just 3 shelves with hanging rods and nothing else. It seemed small and always felt cluttered.
I guess I was pretty excited to get started, because I completely forgot to take a before picture! And I only took a few progress pictures. But here’s an idea of what we started with:
Also, you can’t see it very well, but this closet is where the attic access is. I had to keep that in mind when designing so we could still allow access to the attic.
Walk In Closet Makeover With Ikea Pax
After ripping them out, we repaired the walls and gave them a fresh coat of paint. We also ripped out the dim light cover and replaced it with a canned light. Because of the attic access door, there wasn’t room for a fun light fixture.
Here’s the only progress picture I took while we were actually building. (Like I said, I get so caught up in projects, I forget sometimes!)
We secured two PAX frames to the wall. The rest of the space was going to be for 2 hanging rods and a mirror.
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We added a closet shelf (pre-primed) around the whole top and supported it with 1X2’s and a corner brace. Then we installed a closet rod from the PAX to the wall along with a second shelf and rod below it for additional hanging space.
After filling in nail holes and painting, we finished assembling the rest of the PAX systems. Everything we used from IKEA (including the exact measurements) is linked at the bottom of this post. But here’s a quick rundown of what we used:
Because of the attic access, we had to stick with the more shallow, 14″ PAX wardrobes. So here we have the smaller wardrobe with 3 KOMPLEMENT drawers and 2 KOMPLEMENT shelves.
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With it being so shallow, a regular hanging rod wouldn’t work. But typical IKEA…they’ve got a solution for that! We used this pull-out hanging rod which works great.
I love that we were able to fit in 2 more areas for hanging. Especially the one down low where my daughter can reach her most used clothes easily.
At first, I was nervous that the shallow KOMPLEMENT drawers wouldn’t hold much. But turns out, they fit plenty! So it worked out great. We went with 5 drawers and 3 shelves for the wider wardrobe.
Replacing Our Reach In Closet With An Ikea Pax Closet System
So, to make the future replacement easier, we cut out the carpet around the wardrobes when we installed them. Then we secured them to the subfloor and reattached the carpet with new tack strips.
Here’s a better shot of the corner support for the top shelf. Oh, and I forgot to mention the final 1X2 layer we added to the face of the top shelf. It gives it a nice, completed look.
We put my daughter’s things back in her closet, but there’s still so much empty space in there! Before, it was a mess and there wasn’t room for anything!
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I’m so pleased with how this project turned out. It might still be a small walk-in closet, but it sure feels a lot bigger! It holds a lot more too.
The pre-primed shelves came from Lowe’s and we already had the closet rods. So there you have it! A small walk-in closet completely customized for around $375.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!
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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!
Khloe's Closet Upgrade Using The Ikea Pax System
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.
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.
Ikea Closet Hacks For The Pax System
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.
The storage baskets are
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