I’ve always known that I wanted a custom closet in my home, especially one that would make it look and feel like I was shopping in a little boutique. When we built our home, the builder had stopped putting built-in closets so it was up to us to customize them as we so choose. I was definitely up for the challenge as I love customizing anything I possibly can. Having received quotes from custom cabinet/closet builders in our area that went upwards $10K, it only made sense to save a load of coins and get the amazing IKEA PAX wardrobe system. The closet system is fully customizable using the KOMPLEMENT accessories. I’ll show you my entire process on how I was able to achieve my very own custom closet.
The first thing I did to begin the process was measure the dimensions in my closet and go on to IKEA’s website to build a 3D version of what I wanted my closet to look like. IKEA makes it so easy to recreate your room space and then dragging and dropping the closets one by one to see how they fit into your space. Make sure you use Google Chrome with their 3D planner, I found out that it does not work with Safari.
Even though it took me a few hours to complete this virtual closet, it was fun! The customization is real I tell you! So many options to choose from and a lot of questions to ask yourself — do you want a white, grey, or black closet? How about doors? Now do you want those doors to have glass or non-see through. What about shelving? Oh the options!! I’m a lover of anything white because it enlarges the space and makes for a clean look. I added doors to my middle closet section because I wanted an added glam look with gold handle hardware. But seriously, the options you have are endless. As you add to the virtual closet, the program compiles each item into a list that you can then add to your cart to order. It only cost $49 USD to ship to me and honestly, that was worth it!
I placed my order on August 14th and it took almost two months to get to me. *insert side eyes* Yes, two months!! This was apparently due to COVID-19 delays which was completely understandable. Once it arrived though, your girl was elated! Even the delivery guy was tired from having to carry everything, sorry! This was the only way I could have gotten this into our home since we don’t have the capacity to carry such large items in our car.
Seriously though, I have to give many thanks to my husband and my uncle for working together to help build my system. It took two days but they got it done quickly. I was impressed! I had watched a YouTube video where it took someone a whole week to complete this project! Whew chile! It’s not a hard or difficult system to put together. It’s the time-consuming aspect that people find tedious.
Before
Thankfully, I had already purged a lot of clothes I no longer wear during our move into the new house. Removing my clothes didn’t take time at all since I just piled them up into the room next to our closet. 🙂 This was still a good opportunity to do even more purging of outfits I hadn’t worn in a while. I don’t like clutter so recycling items frequently brings me great joy. You can see that I still had boxes from our move on the floor because I knew this closet would change pretty quickly.
The Entire Shipment Laid Out
I’m thankful that we had the space in our master bedroom to have been able to store all the pieces. One by one, the frames were built, and then the individual shelves. My biggest advice is to make sure you build the frames in your closet if you will have trouble getting the tall pieces through the doors and any off angles.
I still have a lot of different things to add to my closet, like decorative flowers, a full-length mirror, fur rug, and other cute items to make it feel like my very own boutique. I originally bought the black Borghamn handles from IKEA to use, but when we went to Home Depot for these cabinet hole templates that you will need if you get the PAX with doors, I came across these clear with silver accents handles in the size 128mm that look so glam and fit the vibe I am going for perfectly. I can’t wait for the final product and I will update this post when I am done with the vision I have for the closet.
OMFG… you are amazing with your taste!!!! I wish we were friends lol but seriously your page is so inspirational, so much to learn and i LOVEIT. So how long did it take to build though?