The base of this closet is made up of Ikea Pax frames, shelves and drawers. By adding trim and a beautiful decorative crown moulding, I made this Ikea Pax closet look custom made.

This closet remodel was part of our Fall 2022 One Room Challenge. It is a part of our primary ensuite and after our house flood, we had to be rebuild it.

I took this as an opportunity to improve the areas that bothered me after I built it the first time.

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Before: Primary ensuite closet

When we bought this house all of the closet had wire shelving. Mike and I were shocked to find that not a single screw was placed into a stud. Every screw was held in by drywall anchors.

before ikea pax hack closet. wire shelves and one closet rod.
You can see there was one layer of wire shelving and a rod.
joannie's side of the closet with no storage and an ikea hemnes dresser and wire shelving before the ikea pax closet hack installation.
Here’s the other side of my closet – right of the Ikea Hemnes dresser in the previous image
mike's side of the closet with wire shelving and an ikea hemnes dresser before the ikea pax closet was installed.
Mike’s side of the closet and his Ikea Hemnes dresser

First Initial Ikea Pax Closet Installation

Our closet was one of the first projects we tackled after we moved in. We had built our closets with Ikea Pax frames in our last house. Moving in to a new home with very little organization quickly took its toll.

pull away shot of Joannie
side of the closet after the first ikea pax installation but before the flood and final ikea pax closet hack installation.
Phase 1: pre flood. I never actually painted any of this trim or made drawer fronts like I wanted to.
pull away of an ikea pax closet installation with crown and baseboards applied to make them appear built in.
Mike realized he needed more shoe storage after this installation

Mike realized he had a lot more shoes than he thought. After the flood we installed a couple more Ikea shoe trays for his side of the closet.

up close shot of accessory organization tray on joannie's side of the closet during the initial ikea pax closet installation.
I was very happy with all of the organization I did on my side and didn’t make any changes.

I was very happy with everything I had done on my side to organize my space. I like to fold my jeans on shelves and hang up my slacks and skirts on hangers. There was also plenty of space for all of my shoes.

If I didn’t need all of the drawer space I would have preferred hanging my pants and skirts on the top closet rods and the shirts on the lower rods. This would have made the space appear cleaner because the bulky shirts would be lower and less in view.

pull away shot of ikea pax closet hack painted benjamin moore carolina gull with dentil crown moulding, mirror and gold and brass accents. target threshold rug on floor.
I moved the vent lower and built a decorative register so I could continue the crown moulding without interruption

What did we Change on the Next Ikea Pax Install

Removed dead space and dust collectors

We realized, very quickly, that we did not use the space we left open on the top of the Ikea Pax frames between the crown and the ceiling. I decided I would close that in to avoid all the dust that accumulated there.

Fine tuned trim work

The area that I store my dresses and jackets felt a little bit off. I wanted it to appear like it was planned rather than an after thought. I hid the fact that it had a dropped ceiling by making it look just like the Ikea Pax frames.

The baseboards had to be reworked. The new floor is lower than the previous floor. I added some lattice trim and shoe moulding to our baseboards and now it is a three piece continuous baseboard.

pull away shot of ikea pax closet hack of mike's side of the closet. shoes shelves that pull out, gold and brass drawer pulls, baskets from target on shelves and decorative trim wwith dentil crown moulding all painted carolina gull by benjamin moore, painted ceiling and trim all the same color.
Mike’s boots are stashed away behind that tall drawer.

Added Dentil Crown Moulding

When we raised the height of the Pax closet frames I added crown moulding around the entire perimeter of the room rather than just over the closet frames. In order to continue to crown without interruption I moved the wall hvac register down about 6″. Then I made a decorative register cover for it.

Added extra shoe storage for Mike

We added two more shoe trays to Mike’s side of the closet. It looks so much more balanced.

close up image of mike's pull out shoe drawer shelves and gold drawer pulls with slab fronted drawer fronts and hidden pull out accessory tray with drawer front. trim and baseboards and walls all painted benjamin moore carolina gull.
Mike didn’t realize he likes collecting shoes. They make a nice display next to his set of drawers.

Support the Drawer Fronts for Shoe Drawers

My shoe trays needed added support to hold a drawer front, so I created these cute brackets that I installed with pocket screws and glue. The slab drawer fronts are attached via pocket screws into the brackets as well as into the lower tray.

up close picture of joannie's shoe storage drawer with bracket supports she added for the slab drawer front with gold brass pull hardware and slab drawer front all painted carolina gull by benjamin moore.
Slab drawer fronts and brass pulls really create a statement in our Ikea Pax closet

Paint it all the same

We love a moody vibe and what better way than to paint the ceiling, trim and closet frames all the same color. This color by Benjamin Moore called Carolina Gull is a beautiful green with just the hint of gray. It brings drama and a little bit of masculinity to a closet that would normally feel very feminine.

pull away shot of joannie's side of the closet with dentil crown moulding, shelves with jeans folded, hanging shirts, woven baskets from target on shelves, gold brass drawer pulls and slab fronted drawers for this ikea pax hack closet. target robe hook from magnolia home on walls painted the same color as the ceiling and trim benjamin moore carolina gull.
This moody closet combines feminine and masculine accents in a cohesive way

Closet Sources:

Some of these items are no longer available, every effort to find a similar replacement has been made

Check out some of our other posts in this series: Primary Bathroom Reveal or Installing Baseboards

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2 Comments

  1. Big wow! Beautiful. The only things that I would suggest to make it better might be treating yourself to some new flat hangers. They make some pretty and/or sleek and they take the bulk out and the clothes hang nicer, IMO. You could replace and/or pull the rods up a bit and it would give more open area under the clothes.

    I am completely stunned that this is the same closet, though. You just upped your house value with this detail,I think. Or at least an “over the top” item for a buyer…. oh, but the closet on that one…. well done!

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