I’m Buying IKEA Pax Wardrobes For My Storage Closet (Here’s Why)
Over the weekend, I made a big decision. I decided to buy IKEA Pax wardrobes for the storage closet. I know, I know. I’ve gone through so many other ideas for the storage in this room that you’re probably thinking this idea won’t stick, either. But it will.
Here’s what I’m buying:
And here’s the most shocking part. I’m going to use these products just as they come, right out of the box. No customizations. No paint. No trim. No nothing. I’m going to pull them out of the box, put them together, screw the sections together, anchor them to the wall, and be done with it.
And here’s why I finally decided to go this direction…
The price:
With tax and delivery, this entire unit will cost $1222. That cost, to me, is not what I would consider inexpensive. But it’s a heck of a lot better than the Elfa system from the Container Store. Remember this six-foot Elfa system that I looked at a while back? All of these components cost $3300 before tax and shipping.
And again, that $3300 would only cover 72 inches of my 92-inch-wide wall. That leaves me with 10 inches of space not covered by storage, and the depth of the shelves and drawers is 16 inches. I love the look of it, but I can squeeze more storage out of that wall. The Elfa doesn’t cover it, and the price is way too high for me. As many people suggested, I looked on Marketplace in my area to see if people were selling pieces at discounts, but they weren’t. The Marketplace offerings in my area are terrible. Perhaps if I lived in a big city like Dallas or Houston, I’d have more success in finding them, but it’s rare to find anything good sold on Marketplace here in Waco.
The size:
As I mentioned, the wall is 92 inches wide, and I have about 21 inches of depth between the wall and the trim on around the door. The IKEA Pax wardrobes are the closest thing I could find that comes even close to those dimensions at a reasonable price.
The overall dimensions of the components I chose are 88.5 inches wide by 22 7/8 inches deep. That means that I’m going to lose almost two inches of my 3.5-inch-wide trim on that side of the bathroom door, but quite honestly, I don’t care about that. If this were a main room of the house, I would definitely care. I would take the time to build something custom just to be able to spare the trim and keep the trim consistent around the entire door. But I keep reminding myself that this is a storage room. No one else will be using this room, and even if I show people this storage room, the trim around the door on the inside won’t be front-and-center when I open the doors. They’ll actually have to be inside the room and turn around to see the trim around the door.
The time involved:
I can unpack these boxes and put together an entire wall of storage in one day, two days at the most. But when I think about building something from scratch, even if it’s something as simple in design as this last option by The Awesome Orange on YouTube that I had considered, this would take so much longer.
Would that save me money? Of course it would. But then I consider how much time and effort it would take to do all of the purchasing, loading, bringing it home, unloading, cutting, sanding, caulking, wood filling, priming, painting, staining, etc. With the time I have available to work each day, factoring in the other things I have to do and taking care of Matt, that’s at least a week-long project, if not more. And I don’t want that. Not for a storage room. Again, if this were a main room in our house, I’d build custom storage without hesitation. But again, this is a storage room, and I really want to get this room done and move on to something else. And finally…
IKEA Pax gives me everything I want and need:
I wanted two things for this wall of storage — drawers at the bottom in two of the sections, and adjustable shelves. That’s it. And I get both of those things with the IKEA Pax. And not only do I get drawers and shelves, but I get deep drawers and shelves. They won’t be 12-inch-deep shelves with 11-inch-deep drawers. Or they won’t be 16-inch-deep shelves with 15-inch-deep drawers. These shelves and drawers will actually utilize all of the depth of space that I have available on that wall.
So, IKEA Pax it is. It’s not cheap, but it won’t break the bank, either. And I’m actually looking forward to the simplicity of it.
Note: I didn’t even realize it, but Pax is on sale right now at a 10% discount. Plus, I joined IKEA Family which gave me a discount on shipping. And then, for some reason I don’t know, it gave me a $5 off coupon. Hey, every dollar counts, right?! 😀 So I got the whole thing, including sales tax and shipping to my front door, for $1087.91. That’s not too bad for a whole wall of storage, including drawers, that I don’t have to build from scratch myself!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I was picturing the shelves starting on the far wall, not closest to the door. This would leave a few inches of space by the room’s entrance, not sacrificing any of the trim. Is there a reason why you want the shelving to start by the entrance?
I may end up doing that. I’ll see how it goes once I get the units put together and line them up on the wall.
This makes a lot of sense. The only caveat is you might have to adjust how you build them, since you probably can’t tip them up in that small space.
Can’t wait to see it all come together!
AWESOME! I think you made the right decision.
Nice! Sounds like a great choice!
Absolutely! I still consider flat pack
as a semi-DIY project! And you can save your time and every for doing something g you find more fun!
“Energy” not “every” 😊
They are 10% off now!!!
Awesome! And I joined the IKEA Family program (which is free) and got a discount on the components plus a discount on the shipping. And I had a $5 off coupon. 😀 Every dollar counts! So I ended up getting the whole thing, including sales tax and shipping to my door, for $1087.
Glad to hear you testify, after all it IS only a storage room. Other than Matt’s equipment, you should have more than enough to use. What are you putting in here?
Basically anything I want to store that doesn’t naturally fit or belong in the pantry or my closet. I have a lot of stuff that fits into that category.
I think a good decision. More time to other inside projects come winter.
This is such a smart choice, and good for you for not caring about the trim–as you say it’s a storage room!! I’ve had great luck with the IKEA products and you are far above my DIY capabilities. Can’t wait to see it come together!
I am sending a very hearty ….BRAVO!!!!!
Sounds and looks great. Your time is so valuable and I agree with a storage room it will look awesome and use your valuable time on another project.
I know $1000 sounds like a lot on the surface but in today’s world you are saving money and time and frustration which is worth much more than a few dollars. This was a great decision and you will be happy when it is completed and you can move onto something you will enjoy doing.
I have an unnatural obsession with IKEA and when they built one in Columbus I heard the angels sing!!! But when I retired we moved to S Az south of Tucson and the closest one is 2 hours away ☹️. I love to see all the hacks people do with them. That said, will the shelves be sturdy enough to hold what you have? They are fiberboard after all.
Glad you’re making decisions and moving forward.
They’ll be fine. They’ve all held up very well in my studio, and I don’t think I’ll be storing really heavy things in here.
I think its a great idea to use the IKEA cabinets! Could you install the cabinets up against the back wall with a few inches of space between the cabinets and the front wall? Perhaps you could install a filler board up against the door moulding over to the side of the cabinet. Is there some sort of narrow moulding you could replace the current door mouldings with all the way around the door?
It’ll really all depend on the light switch. I have two light switches and an outlet right there just to the right of the door (if you’re standing in the room). So the cabinet will cover that. I’ll have to decide how to handle that, and that will determine which wall I snug the cabinets up to. I was thinking of snugging them up to that wall just inside the door, pulling the switches through to the inside of the cabinet (which would require a hole in the cabinet) and then using really narrow trim around the door, or at least on that side of the door. I’m not concerned about the door having symmetrical trim.
Ohhhh….. the light switches and outlet present another challenge. The hole in the side of the cabinet seems like a good solution. Would you install a filler piece between the side of the cabinet and the back wall? I would want the narrow space enclosed because it would be impossible to clean the floor or paint in there in the future. I do find it surprising that you aren’t concerned about have the trim around the door symmetrical.
Yes, I’ll be adding a filler piece. I’ve thought about utilizing that space in some way, but 3.5 inches isn’t a lot of space. 😀 I had thought about some sort of pull-out hanger that can be attached to the wall to hang a broom and other thin items, but I might be expecting way too much from 3.5 inches. I need get the Pax in the room first and then see with my own eyes if those 3.5 inches can be utilized or if they just need to be closed off with a filler piece.
I LOVE THIS!!! A simple solution, and a BIG project that will be completed quickly. And then you can move on to some fun finishing details for the storage room (if you want) or you start fulfilling your next big house dream.
Kristi,
This is the smartest thing you have written about in ages. This is a super great idea. You will have the shelves put up and stuff moved in less time than if you built them. Then you will be done and on to something more interesting.
Like your secret bathroom!
I’d send you a “high five” if I could.
Ha, this is exactly what I was thinking 🙂
Can’t remember if you did needed it, but they do ship parts it you request it. We had a kid bed frame come apart. A helper friend inserted it the wrong way when the kid room was getting assembled. A peg fell out of a cam, that peg bent, and a supporting dowel broke (we had skipped glue). Fortunately after digging on their site and logging into IKEA family. We were able to request the parts to ship to home and they came in. IKEA family had a lovely record of all we had purchased which was nice to look at as a resource. I recommend saving pictures/scans of the Pax wardrobe instructions. The instructions includes the numbers of the parts in your PAX assembled. Every few years they update something on the longstanding items some who knows if the hardware will change. The PAX or Kallax would go Last chance then come out again. Of course the same friend alerted us to the favorite, but fancier kid loft bed in the as-is area. It was a trustable condition (you reserve items online to pick-up) so we ended up getting a new bed for under $150 as well. This worked out super well, kiddo started hanging out in their room, not making a beeline for the TV after school, and cleaning it up more with the rearrangement.
Oh, a very smart decision. I have had great luck with Ikea items…mostly used in my craft/office room. For this room they should work well, and saves you so much time and effort…for a storage room…perfect. Better to put more efforts into the primary rooms, or outside when the weather changes. I love your way of thinking. Can’t wait to see your pets in the inside pictures again. 😊