A few weeks ago, I shared our plans to give our closet a complete overhaul, and tear out the old non-functioning closet and install an IKEA PAX Closet. The Friday before New Year’s Eve, we headed to IKEA with our shopping list in hand and brought home roughly 30+ flat pack boxes which as thrilling and crazy, know that inside each box contained an IKEA puzzle! Our Sacramento IKEA is set-up where you create a shopping list online with all the items you need for your closet, and then head to the store and see a sales associate and they print you out an order number and list and then take it to the cashier to purchase and then pick up the items. The process was so smooth and a huge timesaver! We didn’t have to pull any items ourselves, everything was perfectly loaded up, and this feature was free! I think we waited about 15 mins to receive our items. I’m not sure how other IKEA Store is set-up, but from reading lots of blog posts about the process, it seems that you pull your items from the colossal warehouse.
OUR IKEA PAX HAUL
I was so excited to get home and tear everything out! But, we still had a closet full of miscellaneous crap that needed to be sorted and tossed. Over time our closet became a dumping ground for stuff, a place to stash things. I used to open the door and full-on cringe. The closet gave me anxiety, and for the longest time, I felt stuck. Like there would never be a solution. After looking for closet options, I quickly landed on the IKEA PAX closet; I loved the design style of the PAX, how customizable each unit can be and its affordable price point. With some planning, I knew we could maximize our small closet and get the most bang for our buck!
Read more about the design process for our closet here.
Building Our PAX Closet
After removing all the stuff from our closet, we got to work. We wanted the units to fit flush to our walls, so we removed the baseboards and set them aside.
Seeing our closet empty felt incredible and exciting! As you can see in the photos below, we were totally under-utilizing our space.
We stored all the IKEA PAX boxes in our garage and only brought in one box at a time; this helped from feeling overwhelmed with the number of boxes. We gathered our tools and got to work building the small cabinets first. We followed the directions and quickly realized due to space on constraints it made more sense to build the cabinets standing up. Without a doubt, the building of the PAX closet is a two person, sometimes three person job! Some parts of the process can be done alone, for example, I built all the drawers myself while watching TV.
Tips on Building IKEA PAX Closets
Follow the directions closely and take your time!
Build the smallest PAX frame first; it will help when you tackle the larger sizes
Determine if the unit should be built laying down or standing up
When installing drawers in the units, start from the bottom up, it makes the process easier
Overall it took us around three days to build the frames; we had family in town on New Years weekend, so we never had a chance to dedicate an entire day to building. After we built each unit was built, we placed the frame in place. Building Our PAX Closet
After removing all the stuff from our closet, we got to work. We wanted the units to fit flush to our walls, so we removed the baseboards and set them aside. We stored all the IKEA pax boxes in our garage and only brought in one box at a time; this helped from feeling overwhelmed with the number of boxes. We gathered our tools and got to work building the small cabinets first. We followed the directions and quickly realized due to space on constraints it made more sense to build the cabinets standing up. Without a doubt, the building of the pax closet is a two person, sometimes three person job! Some parts of the process can be done alone, for example, I built all the drawers myself while watching TV.
After getting the units fully installed, I re-painted the inside of the closet. Giving the closet a nice freshening up.
OUR IKEA PAX CLOSET INSTALLED
I’m so happy with how our closet is coming together, the drawers and shelves were super simple to install. We learned when installing the drawers, its best to start from the bottom and work your way up. As a reminder, Hasani prefers to hang most of his clothes, in his PAX unit we installed double rods. He has an upper shelf for hats and sweaters. His smaller cabinet has four drawers and four shelves, giving him ample storage.
My IKEA PAX side. I have four drawers in my larger unit and a pull out drawer for accessories and one hanging rod. My plan is to fold most of my clothing. My small has three shelves for my shoes and one hanging rod for coats and dresses.
We’re nearing the home stretch and a few items on our list to check off, below is what’s left on our project list.
Install Baseboards
Replace light fixture with something fun, maybe a sputnik light?
Find storage cubes for open shelves
Find a full length mirror for back wall in the closet, I really want get dressed in our closet so a full length mirror is a must. I like this one from Target
Add organizers in my top drawer where my under garments will reside, so everything stays nice and tidy
While its tempting to fill our closer right back-up, we want to be thoughtful about how we organize it and make sure the clothes we keep, ‘spark joy’ Did you notice my reference to the new Netflix Show Tidying Up? I have her book, pretty much skimmed through it. But thanks to the TV, her method totally clicked, when it came to going through our clothes once again! We’re slowly in the process of putting our clothing back into our closet.
In the next couple of weeks, I up to share our master bedroom closet reveal! It totally feels like a brand new space. I’m loving all the storage we have and how much space we have! What do you think our closet makeover so far?
