Maximizing Closet Space with IKEA Pax Closet System

Learn how we managed to turn a narrow closet with wire shelves into storage galore with the IKEA Pax closet system. I share my honest experience with our delivery and DIY installation.

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Our daughter has one of the best closets in our home. It’s 10 feet deep and almost 5 feet wide, so there’s plenty of room for storage! But the problem was that it had two measly wire shelves and hanging rods along the long wall. And a single wire shelf with a hanging rod along the short wall. It was always a mess and didn’t hold much stuff.

There’s a time and a place for wire shelving, but in my opinion, it should be avoided in almost all bedroom closet situations. Unfortunately, we have it in every closet in our home, so we will transform them over the next few years.

Here’s how it looked originally with her stuff in it. You can see how underutilized her walk-in closet is. There was no need for all of that hanging space. She needed drawers and shelves!

But prioritizing my daughter’s closet first came down to the fact that I needed her dresser for her sister. And I knew her closet was big enough to hold all of her clothes and then some. I simply needed to get the right system in place.

My thoughts were that if I could get all of her clothes into her closet, not only would it free up floor space in her room, but her sister could get a free dresser. Ahh, yes, hand-me-downs are awesome!

Choosing the Right Closet System

My goal in choosing a closet system was twofold: I needed a system that worked efficiently with the space and didn’t leave any dead space. And the second priority was to find the best option for our budget. We wanted inexpensive, but good quality.

For the most part, we weren’t dealing with any weird corners or windows or multiple doors, so I didn’t think we needed anything super customizable. The IKEA Pax Closet System fits that bill!

As for the budget piece, the Pax closet system was the winner there, too.

I’ve seen amazing transformations with the IKEA Pax closet system, so I included it in my preliminary research. The Pax system from IKEA is a fully customizable system with great options for storage, but it’s not nearly as expensive as custom closets I priced from The Container Store, Easy Closets or California Closets.

I have used the Elfa closet system from The Container Store in my garage. So, I’m familiar with the product, but decided to choose a more economical solution this time around.

In the end, if you have a closet that doesn’t need major customization and want to go with a less expensive option, this may be the right choice for you, too!

Before you Start

You must do some preliminary work before you even begin to design your closet organizer.

The biggest task is to measure the wall space once, twiceor , even three times. You do not want to get the measurements wrong.

Also, take note of permanent fixtures like lighting, light switches, windows, electrical outlets and doorways. It’s possible to have some of these items moved, if you need to. But if you don’t want to do a major project, you can usually work around them.

I almost made a huge mistake in ordering the wrong depth of closets. If I had ordered the original set I picked out, it would have hit the light fixture. Thankfully, I re-measured before I ordered and went with the more shallow depth and it was perfect!

I also removed the baseboards behind where the PAX wardrobe frames would go. But I built the frames first and made sure I was cutting the baseboards at exactly the right spot before I cut them.

The PAX Closet Planning Tool

IKEA offers an awesome PAX closet planning tool that allows you to “see” the closet before you order it. I went through multiple renditions of the closet before settling on a final design.

The closets are built on IKEA’s PAX wardrobe frames that come in 3 widths, 2 depths and 2 heights. We have 8-foot ceilings upstairs, so we chose the 93 1/8 height frames.

On the back wall of the closet, we chose the 22 7/8-inch depth frame, while on the long wall of the closet, we chose the 13-inch depth frames. With only 5 feet of width in the long closet, it just made sense to go with the more shallow frames. We wouldn’t have had enough room to move if we’d gone with the deeper frames for the long wall.

Once in the PAX planning tool, you can give it the measurements of the room and it will suggest configurations for you. When I was making my plans, there wasn’t a corner option, but now there is. It will help you determine the most efficient ways to work with a corner.

This is the final design for the back wall of her closet. I wanted to have space for hanging longer dresses and a pants pull-out.

Then the long wall design looked like this with some more hanging storage, lots of shelves and plenty of drawers. It is pretty simple, but has tons of storage space!

As you can see, we used one 39 1/4-inch wide frame on the short wall, and three 29 1/2-inch wide frames for the long wall. I could have used a configuration that filled the space I had, but I wanted to leave a little room on the end for a clothes hamper. No regrets!

Building the Closet Frames

I’ve put together so many IKEA furniture pieces over the years, and they are pretty self-explanatory. But in case you haven’t used them, be warned that they don’t come with words, but visual instructions only. You will want to read through and understand all of the instructions before starting.

Go slowly with the first frame until you get into the groove. I started going too fast and accidentally installed the back piece backward on the third frame. I wasted time undoing it and starting over.

Grab a helper and it will go even faster!

Tools You Will Need:

• Hammer
• Drill
• Level

You will want to pay close attention to your ceiling height and whether or not you can build the frames on the floor or upright. I had enough ceiling clearance to build them on the floor, but I ran out of floor space after the first two were built.

So the last two had to be built standing up. And we had to build them all inside the closet because we couldn’t have moved them in there fully assembled.

Definitely secure these frames to the wall with the provided attachment system.

And they also come with a simple screw to secure the frames to each other. Just be sure to use the holes you’re not going to use for your interior accessories. I installed all of my interior accessories first, then secured the frames to each other.

Now that the frames are built, you’ll feel like it’s almost over, but it’s not! It’s time to put the interior accessories into the frames!

PAX Interior Accessories

Why is choosing drawers, shelving and organizational accessories so fun?! Let’s chat about the pieces we chose.

We chose a lot of standard white shelves and basic drawers, but I’ll share some of the more fun things we purchased as well.

Note: You will see a lot of American Girl dolls and accessories in these photos. This closet is for my pre-teen daughter. And while she doesn’t usually play with her American Girl dolls anymore, she does love having them nearby. I love that it’s almost like an apartment for her dolls. I love that the closet will grow with her as we put away the toys and she accumulates more clothes over the year.

KOMPLEMENT Pull-Out Pants Hanger

I love the ingenuity of this pull-out pants hanger and how easy it will be to store her pants and jeans one day. For now, it won’t be used, but I know it will get a lot of use later. This is installed inside a divider frame, which is super helpful for maximizing the space inside a larger wardrobe frame.

This 22-inch deep pull-out pants hanger will fit two pants on each rail with a little bit of overlap. And if you’re using this in a 13-inch deep frame, you’ll be able to fit one pair of pants on each rail.

KOMPLEMENT Mesh Pull-Out Basket

This basket is awesome for storing shoes, clothes or anything that can be thrown into the drawer. It’s good for shoes because it has plenty of airflow. In our case, we’re using it as American Girl toy storage, which is perfect!

Basic Clothes Rail vs. KOMPLEMENT Clothes Rod

We have two places for hanging clothes and they differ based on the depth of the frame base. In the 22-inch deep frame, you can use a basic clothes rail and hang clothes side-by-side.

While with the 13-inch deep frame, you will have to use a KOMPLEMENT clothes rod, which means the clothes are hung facing out. For now, it’s holding her pants while the pants hanger is being taken over by the toys. But one day, I imagine she’ll use every inch of the hanging space!

This is the main reason why I went with the 22-inch deep frame at the back of the closet. I didn’t want all of the clothes to face out. But for a special few pieces, it’ll be fine.

IKEA KOMPLEMENT Shelves

We used lots of standard KOMPLEMENT shelving in our closet because they are so versatile. It’s important to add a shelf above any drawers because it allows you to utiliize that space and keep dust out of the drawers.

We bought some storage bins for the top of the closet, so we made sure to install the shelves at the perfect height for the bins to fit.

I love that my daughter now has ajewelryy drop zone for getting ready in her closet. It keeps the clutter off of her bathroom counter or in her bedroom.

KOMPLEMENT Drawers with Framed Fronts

IKEA offers several drawer front styles, including plain fronts and glass fronts. But I chose the drawers with framed fronts because it felt the most classic and like my style. I love how you can add a drawer handle if you’re comfortable with a little DIY. I will probably add them later on.

But for now, we’re so thrilled with how much stuff these drawers hold! They are easy to assemble and install and have a soft close feature.

It’s amazing to me how installing this closet system eliminated my daughter’s need for a dresser in her bedroom. I love how we’re using the space so much more efficiently now. As you can see we still have plenty of shelf space to grow into.

IKEA also offers drawer organizers that fit their drawers perfectly, if you need them. I have them in a few drawers for undergarments and socks, but didn’t take pictures of those drawers.

KOMPLEMENT Pull-Out Trays with Inserts

IKEA has these awesome pull-out trays with optional inserts. The 22-inch deep trays offer more versatile inserts, but we were working with the 13-inch deep trays. So, this is what they offer. We bougth the felt drawer liner and felt divider separately, becaue the bundle was sold out.

For now, my daughter uses it to hold some bows and hair accessories. But I imagine it will morph into more jewelry as she gets older. As this point I’m pretty jealous of her closet system. Ha! I didn’t add the dividers in the second tray, just a felt liner. And she uses the other tray for her small bags and purses.

See all of the tray inserts here.

KOMPLEMENT Valet Hanger

There is about a 12-inch spacleft overer between the edge of the closet system and the wall. I did this on purpose to allow for a clothes hamper, which we’ll talk about in a minute. But I saw this valet hanger that you can add to the end of the closet, and I just had to have it!

Right now it holds some bags for us, but it’s a great place to hang up something to dry. Or hang up tomorrow’s outfit and have it ready to go! I love using space that would otherwise be empty.

Slim Clothes Hamper

So, as I mentioned, there is about a foot of space left on the floor for a small hamper. I searched all over for the perfect slim hamper to fit in this space and I think I found my favorite hamper ever!

I bought one for my younger daughter’s closet as well and both of my girls love it! The smaller size is easier for them to carry. They take up very little floor space, as sturdy and even have hand grips on the bottom for picking up and dumping into the washing machine.

I think they are a great option for kids and small spaces! I was worried they wouldn’t hold much laundry, but they work perfectly for our twice-a-week washing schedule.

More Interior Accessories that I Didn’t Use

Depending on your needs, there are many other accessories you can use or customize for your closet. We don’t keep shoes upstairs, but I know for many people they would need shoe storage in their closets.

So, a few awesome accessories for IKEA closets that we didn’t use include:

• Pull-Out Shoe Shelf
• Pull-out Multi-use Hanger (I plan to get one of these for bags.)
• Shoe Inserts for Pull-Out Tray
• Glass Shelf
• Shoe Shelf

IKEA PAX Closet Delivery

Since we live 3 hours away from the nearest IKEA, I decided it was worth it to have all of the pieces shipped to me. Since the IKEA PAX system planner knew exactly what I needed to complete my order, it was easy to simply add everything to my cart.

I was nervous about having it delivered, because I’ve had multiple furniture orders damaged over the years. But this delivery went smoothly and the guys even carried the boxes upstairs to where I would need to install the boxes. This saved me a lot of sweat equity, because those boxes were heavy.

So for the shipping cost of $99, it saved me a round trip of 6 hous, and the time it would take to shop for everything on my list, AND having to carry it up the stairs in my home. It was well worth it in my book.

Final Thoughts

After everything was assembled and the clothes were put away, I wanted to cover all of the holes on the sides of the closet.

IKEA sells VARIERA covers for the unused holes, so I grabbed 3 packs and thought that would be plenty. Ha! I’ve ordered more and will finish covering them all later. But can you see what a difference they make?

While some people choose to place base trim and crown moldings over the closet system, I decided not to do that for now. You can also finish the closet with caulk around the edges and paint. I may come back and make it look more finished or built-in, but for now, I’m leaving it as is.

In the end, this closet system cost right at $1,500. I’m thrilled with how it turned out and how much space it gave us for storage. I’d install it again in a heartbeat!

I hope that if you’re considering installing a closet system for yourself, this will help you make your decision. It’s a great way to go the less expensive DIY route!

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