), and the drawer bottoms seem more substantial than on most of their other products? Thinking of creating your own walk in wardrobe? Thanks! ), or build a soffit that comes down to the top of the Pax. I was thinking about installing the wardrobe frames without the cardboard back and just letting my shiplap walls show through the back. Hi. I would love to do this as looking into Pax wardrobes but want a more expensive custom look but have a question, obviously the baseboards and crown moulding are glued/fitted to the floor and ceiling, but I would still love to add the wood trim and drawer fronts. Its definitely a good idea if you have the space to paint the pieces first! From then on, it was just a matter of putting in the shelves, drawers and doors. Hi Erin, your post has inspired me to attempt redoing our walk in closet with the pax system, with customization as well. Question: If you have (and we MAY also have) all these carpentry skills, why didnt you just build the cabinets from scratch? One to fill the gap and one to make a nice smooth finish before painting. When I first started imagining how I wanted my closet to look, I became stuck on this image of Jenny Wolfs closet. What advantage did buy the Pax units give you? Is there a specific reason why you went with 1/2 inch thick vs 3/4 inch thick? And secondly thank you for posting such a comprehensive blog, weve just moved into our dream home but it is a MASSIVE DO-ER UP-ER, think 1840s house with everything ripped and and replaced in the 70s and then not touched since. Hi! We painted the room using a spray gun, which allowed for a super professional look. Thank you! I am interested in the source of the ceiling light fixture and the ceiling wall paper. I like your idea of extra shelving, great for storing seasonal items out of the way. Erin, I am sure you are flooded with messages! hey! We used the Zinniser primer first on the surface to make it matte and then used Roman wallpaper glue to install the wallpaper. It would be very helpful to me if you could confirm width of pax wardrobe and depth? Our house is quite old (1921). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Mother. Great job. Hi Lisa! Now the closet looks super custom and you can see how all components came together in a space that feels much more high-end than a basic IKEA hack! Quick question, the link for the poplar board takes reader to Home Depot with purebond. Let me know if you need further clarification. Another go-to paint for cabinetry is Benjamin Moore Advance, which has held up really well on our downstairs bathroom vanity and is more widely available and more budget-friendly. I, too, did two coats, allowing a few days for offgassing and curing before the second coat, and keeping windows open and fans running during painting and afterwards. I looks like it is in line with the top drawer. Were trying to build built-in closets in our closet-free brownstone and were not sure where to begin since our ceilings are 11 ft. Woof! I do have a question though, how do you catch drips when painting with a gun before it dries? I need an extension to one of my cords to reach the bridge connector. For this, we used some scrap strips of 1/8th inch tempered hardboard to bring the shelf up to level and secured it with screws. Have you had any problems with the wallpaper you used to cover the back wall seams? Ok your ikea hack closet is just stunning! Can you say how the paint has held up after several years? Thank you so much! In 2013 we bought another house and rented out that house, and fully assessed the kitchen. Youll know that the Pax wardrobe system is one of their best sellers with over 250 different combinations available. hopefully I dont have that issue. Hi! built Good luck! We moved it inside the pax unit and that top drawer is actually a drawer designed for the shallower frame, so its half the size of the standard drawers, allowing space for an enclosed electrical box behind it. Bravo! Once all the wood was installed, we used Bondoto fill all the holes and seams where the wood strips met. And did you prime the wallpaper with the rest of the system prior to painting, or did you cover and tape it off? This closet is beautiful! But there were some upgrades that I wasnt able to find any examples of in the wild, including recessing in-cabinet lighting and adding drawer fronts for an inset, full custom cabinetry look. Thank you! Im a total beginner when it comes to DIY and may be an off-topic question, but would like to add a pegboard to the side of my PAX sliding door closet. Youre one talented lady!! Ive shown this project to so many people, it really blows me away. Also love, love the paint color you used. So, this is a bit back of the envelope math and excludes any of the drawer hardware because that was gifted and is a big variable cost. Thank you for the details and the lovely photos. Could you please tell me how you were able to recreate the fronts on the drawers? Im very curious how the closet have held up and if theres anything you would have changed since then? How did you attach them, glue? Thanks! There are a few spots that require touch-ups (mostly due to some cracks in the caulk at the seams), but beyond that the paint has held up incredibly well certainly better than we expected! Looks fabulous. Btw, is there any way that a pair of Besta unit doors can be used to cover the top part of the frame of a single PAX wardrobe frame, but the bottom part housing the drawers could be left as is, or covered with a separate set of hinged doors from the Besta series?? I will use the method you described of using washers. A little known secret is that IKEA sells packs of plugs designed to hide the many, many holes in the Pax system that are used for shelving, etc. We have one, but it was pretty inexpensive and goes everywhere, so works fine when you want to paint a whole room, but not so much when you are trying to paint cabinets. And you were right about the drawers not sitting flush with the frame. I understand now, about why you had to build up the base using the shelves. on Hacking the IKEA Pax into a Fully Custom Closet, Hacking the IKEA Pax into a Fully Custom Closet, https://erinkestenbaum.com/2018/11/07/one-room-challenge-fall-2018-the-reveal-week-six-master-bedroom-closet/, https://www.chrislovesjulia.com/master-closet-ikea-pax/, http://sarahgunn.com/one-room-challenge-the-reveal-2/, https://www.domino.com/content/ikea-pax-wardrobe-closet-jenny-komenda-little-green-notebook-hack/, WEEKEND READING, Vol. Thank you!! Hoping to create something similar in our master closet. Thank you so much!! The PAX system is great but it absolutely leaves little to be desired on the esthetic side. Do give me suggestions if you happen to have any. It really inspired me to have a built in closet in my small condo! I was really flummoxed about this step. Did you take the drawer tracks out in order to paint? This is stunning and truly inspiring. Most people hid the drawers by adding doors on the wardrobe units, but we didnt have the space, or the desire to add so many unnecessary cabinet doors to our space. Your closet is awesome, Erin! Although the most popular colour youre more than likely to see the Pax in, is the white option. There was literally no wear to it in 10 yrs. IKEA does indeed sell the L-shape divider (called the Komplement frame divider) that allows you to install the narrowest drawers in a wider frame. Once all the lights were installed, we moved on to the next step. Thank you!! 5: Build up bottom of unit to be flush with baseboards I did not understand how or why you did this? Obviously the other would be labor intensive but wouldnt it at least be cheaper and longer lasting? (Yes, not basketball, netball). Was wondering where you got your brass light fixture from? We just double prime with your recommended primer and will be painting soon. When it comes to paint, make sure to go with a paint that is rated for cabinetry, since the closet gets a lot of hands on use. Because we used a spray gun, we got a super light cover of paint in the holes but it didnt impact our ability to use the holes for adjustable shelves. your closet is absolutely exquisite! Sure the rods are white, which was looking really stark against the dark paint colour, so swapping them for wood rods felt more elevated in our space. You can see in the above shot that we had installed the plugs. Great job. Can you clarify the steps: Did you actually remove them and wallpaper the entire MDF, or did you take the time to wallpaper each section to shape/size? Also, re: building up the drawer fronts: Do the IKEA PAX drawers not come with front frames? How did you move the electrical outlet? Unfortunately no the primer step is listed after the wallpaper. Incredibly well done. Im not 100% sure what you mean by the bullnose, but the Metrie baseboards that we installed have a rounded profile on the top that gives it the decorative look. The pack i purchsased allows for you to connect 6 lights but how is that possible for the lights on the opposite side. Ill check out the Kallax. I will do the same. Could they be 22 deep? Hi, Whereas with the shoe shelves Im stuck to always putting my shoes there. This wasnt our first carpentry project, but it was definitely our biggest one to date. I was actually online today with an IKEA PAX design planner and she mentioned that I look you upisnt that something? So we replaced it with one of the higher end Ikea kitchens with the lighting system. I have read comments on bubbling, lifting, being difficult to cover with paint, etc. Once the drawer fronts were ready to go, we installed each drawer front one at a time, with screws in each of the four corners and a fifth screw along the top edge in the middle to prevent the wood from flexing. We keep a painters towel to pick up any small drips (but since weve upgraded our spray gun, weve experienced almost no drips). Next up, was installing the baseboards to the front of the units. Saw you responded below to other message but not mine? I am wondering if I could do the same but I have two windows facing the entrance door and I dont really want to cut one off. Can you tell me why you replaced the hanging rods? I read your article and shared it with literally everyone I know, I am in the process of finally updating my closet and I will be using the same paint and details. We also primed all the wood trimwork twice, to ensure we were creating the best possible base for the paint. Working on an addition with closet and want to ensure I leave enough space between wall and cabinetry. My width is the same as yours so I am using yours as a guide. Thank you so much for the how-to. I think we went through at least 12 packs of these plugs. Our master bedroom contained a row of built-in wardrobe, rather crudely built from scratch by the previous owners a few decades ago. Very impressed with your humility. In doing a little more research online, I discovered that many people have had the same problem with the intense and long-lasting chemical smell of this paint, *especially when they do two coats instead of one,* and theres essentially nothing to be done about it except to wait several months until offgassing is complete. In my research, I discovered that lots of people have hacked the IKEA Pax or IKEA Billy systems to create a built-in look. Youre so welcome! The side panels stick out 2-3mm more than the panel in between, so that would leave an opening to be filled somehow. Another option would have been to run the plinth all the way up to the underside of the doors, but that would have made it more complicated. I cant *exactly* recall the cost of the project, but I do know that the Pax came in at around $1,500 before modifications and my best guess with the wood, trimwork, paint, puck lights, and hardware, that it was in the range of $2,500 $3,000. I hope you dont mind answering a few questions of mine considering its been almost 3 years since this was posted. I also wish that they offered smaller height and width, paneled, hinged doors, so if one wanted to cover just the top or bottom part of the wardrobe frame with the doors, it could be done. I initially thought it looked green until you mentioned the shade name, wow! The shallower drawer installed perfectly into the deeper unit and looks exactly the same as the other drawers from the front . The cost was roughly 800 euros for the IKEA components, 150 for the other items and 55 for the wall paint. We then added horizontal poplar strips that aligned with the bottom of the crown moulding, so the bottom edge of the crown would look properly built onto the units and not recessed into it (in the above photo you can see that theres some wood behind the crown moulding). We sanded the drawer fronts down and then brought them into the room. I love your attention to detail and vision. We fed these cords in a chain, where for each unit, one light branched off and fed into the unit from the very top in the back. Stunning! Thank you! I wanted a paintable wallpaper so it looked seamless with the units and I also love the hint of added texture. You shared that you wallpapered after the drawers and shelves (on the hanging side) were in place and then primed. 3 years later, we decided to sell that house. I also read that leaving the paint can open for a little while can help thicken it up, but we didnt notice that. I did have a question re: item no. We continued the wire through the ceiling (we have attic access and just drilled a hole on each side of the closet and fed it through ). Finally, I fixed the base to the wall at four points using 40mm angle irons. All in all, this built-in wardrobe project took me five days over a 3-week period from start to finish. I am just getting started on my install. At that point in time, we had never built cabinetry before, so it was pretty intimidating to do so and would have taken us A LOT more time to build out. If we had more time, we would have used a Kreg Concealed Jig with a Forstner Drill Bit for a more perfect round circle, but they look pretty great. Was this your first time doing a carpentry project or a spray paint cabinetry project? We found it was easiest to sand the edges of the poplar strip that would be exposed before installing. I had much better luck painting my closet shelves with BIN, which I did outside in the hot sun. grimo kleiderschrank armadio armario kast schrank almacenamiento hemnes garderobe pinnershippi bezoeken I did only one coat this time, leaving it outside for 4-6 hours afterwards, and the smell was barely noticeable when I brought the shelves inside at the end of the day. Anyway, here are 16 of the most stylish wardrobes that use the Ikea Pax. I needed a solid clean, but cleaned up very well. Thanks for the info. Its counterintuitive, but the MDF back actually does provide quite a bit of structure. https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/variera-cover-cap-white-00226315/, In retrospect, we absolutely should have. That being said, having grown our skills today, we would potentially tackle the full build-out from scratch today (if we had the dedicated time), just because we love a new challenge ha! Wed just bought our house and had very little money, so we bought the lowest run of the ladder ikea kitchen. First, I removed the old built-in wardrobe cabinets and stripped five layers of wallpaper off the walls. Thank you! Netballer. I didnt want to put all this work into making the Pax look custom only to have a seam give it away that these are indeed IKEA! I had to build a perfectly level base for the cabinets and make sure the finishing would allow for some movement without the plaster or paint cracking. Once we routed the holes for the lights, we drilled a hole straight through to accommodate the cord for the puck light itself. We used our favourite laser level to ensure all the drawer pulls were aligned horizontally on both sides of the closet. I was curious though as you approach the three-year mark, how is the paint holding up? I got this question a lot on IG and shared some photos there but I cant seem to include them in my comment here, so Ive added them to the bottom of the blog post I left the interior drawers white and you can barely see the gap between the drawer front and drawer itself, if we find ourselves with some spare time, we might run a bead of caulk along the top to ensure you cant see any gaps at all, though. Because the top of the baseboard profile is flat horizontally, it allows the wood that we applied later on to the fronts of the cabinetry to flow seamlessly. The floor is not only warped and concave, but it also vibrates slightly as you walk up and down. Correcting now! Im saving this for a future home. Thank you for sharing. Let me know in the comments if anything needs further clarification and I can update to address those questions. We were a bit bummed at first about having the shallow frames on the one side but its actually been AMAZING!! Since the paper is pretty thick, it completely hides the seam when painted out (it was still visible through the paper before it was painted as it was somewhat transparent). Thank you!!!! Then, I made the depth slightly less than the cabinets themselves, so the finishing plinth would recess just a millimeter or so backward. This is so dreamy and I would love to see a follow-up now that its been a few years! Thank you so much for your response. Not only did it not fall apart, it was actually in really good shape such good shape I felt I couldnt just ditch it. Beautiful closet. This is gorgeous. Did you just cover the existing wood fronts, or remove them and remake them? This is awesome! Im on the fence in buying IKEAs already made PAX closets then hacking it or buying the plywood from Home Depot and cutting/building it myself while also using the PAXs Komplement as add ins. You inspired me so much so that I have now assembled 8 PAX units in my walk in. It is complex for me to understand, simply because I cannot visualize it. This closet came in at under $3K if thats helpful info, I know that a California closets would have been 3x more at a minimum, so it was an easy choice for us, but we didnt hire a carpenter, so I dont know what it would have cost in labor. Was it that much less expensive in the end? When spraying, its better to do multiple thin coats of paint than heavier ones to allow for greater durability. Is this what you used for your project? We far prefer having a more expansive walkway/ space to change over the extra storage we could have eked out of the bigger units but a much more cramped closet. I am curious. Im curious how youre liking the shallower 13 side with hanging clothes. We painted the original IKEA hanging rod hardware to match the closet paint and then cut down basic wood hanging rods to fit each wardrobe. Clean, neutral and simple and will go with most decor. 1 we didnt have any issues with the wood splitting One of the advantages to the IKEA system is that we could use existing drawer bases, internal organizers, and other organization pieces to max out the organization of the closet. Also..I have one more unit to put together, I am thinking about trying to get very thin plywood instead of using the back with the PAX system, (cut to size of course). Using some spare Pax/Komplement shelves, we installed them on top of the interior base of the units to bring it up to flush with the baseboards, since we had to apply them to the front of the Pax units themselves. We set up our laser level (weve named it our tool of the year since it has made our lives SO much easier) to keep our baseboards level. Thank you so much for the reply, and congrats again on the amazing project. Hey Erin! Thanks! And good luck, sounds like an incredible project (restoring a mid-1800s house is my dream!). Couldnt really find it. Hi! I want to note that all the upgrades we made were purely for aesthetics. You know how the paint finish has held up(??? Question: do you mind sharing a link to your paint sprayer? Its a good question! On the sides, we added flat panels of wood to cover the gaps between the Pax units and the wall. Em xxx, Thank you! great job, but why didnt you fill up the holes prior to priming Let me know what your thoughts are in the comments below. Were trying to decide if we should also Pax and then add customization like this as well. Can you share what you did with the ceiling? , Hello! A great work you have done, and Im planning to do something similar.. but why such a bad color? Hope that helps! I have PAX lighting that Im using in another part of my house. We used 1/2 inch thick Poplar boards that we cut down on the table saw to create strips to cover where the wardrobe units met and the filler boards on the sides, where the wardrobe units didnt quite reach the wall. I wish you had a youtube channel and 2. are you available for hire? Your closet turned out beautiful. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I am curious why you did not choose to paint all the pieces first before you assembled them in the closet? I understand you took out the drawers and shelfs but what about all the attachments that keep the shelfs in place? May in inquire as to what brand/finish/paint you used to spray the color in both your closet and master bedroom? We plan on doing something very similar to this in our room so I have saved your fab post! Because we knew we were going to have rattan boxes on a top shelf, we knew the cords would be invisible. Im at the trim stage now. I scanned all info and questions but didnt find. Do you, by any chance, have a video tutorial with a step by step explanation, that I could watch, so that I can understand visually, exactly what each and every step in this process is? I do have a concern this thickness may be too heavy as a drawer front. We worked with Emtek on this project and opted for gorgeous, super heavy unlacquered brass cup pulls and attached them through the drawer front and the drawer itself. Did u paint this or did u use wallpapers? The drawer fronts were actually simpler than expected, where we used the same 1/2 inch Poplar board and just cut it down to size. After that was cleared, I built the base, consisting of 12mm chipboard, three rows of 39x109mm pine beams and a top layer of 20mm MDF board. STUNNING SHOW STOPPER! Beautiful closet. Dont worry that the drawer fronts may not sit flush with the trim on the front of the units, we address that later. Can you please share custom drawers s faces dimensions? A few iron angles to fix the base to the wall, Small strips cut from the MDF board used for precise leveling, 16mm screws (to fix the profiles to the cabinets), Silicone sealant (specific type that prevents paint from cracking), Interior wall paint (color Farrow & Ball London Clay; I had it mixed at my local DIY store based on their store brand paint), Compact cordless screwdriver with adjustable angled coupling for working in really tight corners, Crowbar (useful for adjusting the base, getting it perfectly level). You primed with a roller but sprayed the finishcorrect?! Did you have to find extensions for your lights? So inspiring and such fun to marvel! On the left side, (where theres hanging rods), we left the top shelves in place because we had built them into place and sprayed those shelves in place. Hope that helps! This is stunning and if someone showed me these pictures I would have said definitely custom. Ive been finding all my attempts result in the paper rolling away (prepasted paintable wall paper). Its critical that your baseboards are level across all the units, because you need to create square openings for your drawer fronts later on. THIS WEBSITE IS A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM, AN AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A MEANS FOR SITES TO EARN ADVERTISING FEES BY ADVERTISING AND LINKING TO AMAZON.COM. The closet paint is Farrow and Ball Inchyra Blue in Modern Eggshell and the bedroom is Benjamin Moore Smoke in the Regal Pearl finish. I love everything about it. I love your choice of color too. The combination of open shelving and drawers where you can place your favourite decor items and make it your own. I had that issue with an old IKEA dresser years ago that drove me bonkers, but, I think because we have so much more space than we need right now, we arent stuffing the drawers (unlike 22 year old me living into a tiny NYC apartment, ha! Please! Could you please tell me where the beautiful artwork is from and who the artist is? The Ikea Pax is frequently posted all over Instagram and Pinterest. However, I am not quite understanding the whole mechanism of attaching the drawer fronts to existing drawers (even though it seems from all the comments, that you have really explained it as simplistically as possible). I am going to try this in a high end flip we are currently working on. The poplar had to be ordered for delivery to our house, since it wasnt available in stores. BEAUTIFUL WORK! They look fab. Carpentry always confused me. When you look closely at the pictures, you can see the cabinets stick out over the plinth just a bit to hide the MDF base. We bought a spray gun on a whim and it isnt really designed for big projects like the walls, but weve made it work anyway, so Im not sure I have the best recommendation :/ (its the Wagner Home Decor Sprayer). Can you please explain and if possible share some pictures of the build up in processlike an area of the base that was built up next to an area that was not? This is where the 90 degree angled screwdriver came in handy, as I could otherwise never reach between the ceiling and the top of the cabinets. Hi Ashley! Using the vanity in our adjacent bathroom as the guide for how we wanted the drawer fronts to look, we opted for a flat front, which is a nice streamlined look and also lower effort than a shaker style. We also have an ikea PAX closet and Im having trouble finding baskets that fit in that little top shelf. Erin, you are my IDOL!!!!! Its a small detail that you may not notice, but is one of those things that you certainly would have noticed had it not been installed. That paragraph under the picture in #6. Hi!! I must say again, the results are stunning and I hope youre fully enjoying your suite!!! How did you handle the transition between vertical trim and baseboards? Did you tape off all the rails etc when you sprayed? Wow! So that comes to about $2,500, but, we used pretty high-end Farrow and Ball paint, so I think the cost could have been closer to $2,100 total with more budget-friendly paint Hope that helps the cost will vary a lot with differing layouts and wardrobe unit counts.