Our closet is installed, trimmed out and loaded up and I’m so excited to share all the after photos with you today. (Psst! There’s a video tour inside the closet and every other drawer in the bathroom on CLJTV right here). Â While we went all out in our bathroom, as you may have read in the budget breakdown of it in yesterday’s post, we wanted to keep costs down in our closet, while still having it look just as high-end/custom but mainly, VERY functional. After a lot of research, we landed on the IKEA PAX system and you can see how we designed it here, how we installed it here and here, and how we trimmed it all out to make it look built in here!
Ready for the afters?
As a reminder, here’s what the before looked like looking into our closet. The former toilet closet (that we moved to the other side of the bathroom in the renovation) jutted into the closet making Chris’s side an odd shape and the whole layout created a bottle neck leading into our closet.
Here’s how the same angle looks today:
We widened the doorway, added lots more light and got rid of the bottle neck. We deepened it by about 12 inches on my side (the right), and Chris’s side gained about 3 ft, thanks to moving the water closet to the opposite side of the bathroom in favor of a linen cabinet in its place–something we didn’t even have before. Our closet is now 96″ wide and 80″ deep. And, of course, added a his/her closet system (we kept our same sides :) that feels a lot more like a dressing room to us. Can we just call it a dressing room?Â
Here’s how the same side looked before.
When Chris and I were designing our sides, we both took into account how we like to organize our clothes. I like to fold my jeans. He prefers to hang his pants. I really needed more rack space to hang shirts and long dresses/jumpsuits and Chris only hangs his button ups, but liked ample drawer space for his t-shirt collections. I thought about how I like to store workout clothes (in a drawer) and what we don’t use that often, but still need a place for (swimsuits, ties).
The bottom drawers across both sides are filled with our shoes and we are so glad we switched to this method after a few commenters suggested it. It allows me to stack sandals to the brim, while keeping a consistent look across the board of drawers, or use it for something else altogether if down the road I suddenly have no need for shoe storage (????).
One simple tip that doesn’t take any more time is organizing clothing by color. It looks so much better and actually helps you find what you are looking for faster, too! Chris has just one rod of shirts and I divided mine by short sleeve up top, with long sleeves at the bottom.
The shelves are deep enough that I was able to fit storage boxes two deep filled with swimsuits, coverups, unmentionables, and some misc/sentimental things. It was important to us that everything fits in our closet. We don’t have seasonal clothes or a stash of shoes elsewhere. It’s all right here and although I’m constantly donating things that I no longer love with my whole heart (if I haven’t worn something in a year, it’s gone!), I am truly amazed how much fits in here now that it’s organized.
Since the closet is open to the rest of the bathroom (as it always has been), we ran the same marble flooring  into the closet and heated it the same so it’s cozy underfoot. We added windows and a great exhaust fan for when the shower is going, so even though we’ve always had our clothes opened to the bathroom, we’re even less concerned about any moisture lingering on our clothes now. Over the weekend, we toyed with the idea of adding a pretty runner in the closet and are definitely open to it if we find the right one.
In addition to trimming out the PAX system, I think the vintage art (that actually inspired the entire bathroom!), pleated light fixture and even the small green ottoman are all things that help make it look a little more special and add some character. We wanted to keep the mirror (also from Ikea!) and back wall white to really let the other elements, including the clothes, shine.
I love how the bathroom and closet work together, but more importantly, I love how they work. It’s so much easier to keep things cleaned, put away and organized when those things actually have a place to go. For the first time, I have a spot specifically for scarves and belts. The quote, “A place for everything, and everything in its place” are words to live by for sure, but having the “place” first is the key.
I’m happy to report that it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either! Our closet came in at right around $2000.
Our PAX Wardrobes totaled $1584.73
Nissedal Ikea Mirror $50
Vintage Art $78
Pleated Light Fixture $114
Green Ottoman $150
Trim $40
GRAND TOTAL: $2016.73
For a better feel of what we keep in every drawer, be sure to check out the video tour right here!
Missed a post? Check out Designing our Ikea Closet, Installing our Ikea Closet (here’s the video!), Trimming out our Ikea closet.
You closet dimensions are the exact size as ours. Are you able to somehow share the exact dimensions of each component of the system or your plan you created? It all seems like exactly what we would want.
This post goes into more detail!
I’m in the process of installing an IKEA PAX into our Master Closet. I do have one question, I’m left with extra space on the ends of my PAX especially with the wall there it leaves about 1-2 inch remaining space that I’m not sure what to do with, how and what process did you do to make it a more “built in” look and what did you do with your extra space?
You can just use a filler piece for those areas! It’s very common with Ikea
looks fabulous! can you recommend a company to do my closet?
IKEA PAX are easy to DIY, and I believe IKEA has a team that will make house calls in certain cities? Can anyone confirm this?
What is the depth of that Ikea mirror? Can the drawers still be pulled all the way out? I can’t find the measurements online.
One more question :-) Is it fairly easy to change locations of things over time? How are the brackets attached?