Last fall, our house sustained water damage in multiple places due to contractors' negligence. As a result, we went through the lengthy process of dealing with insurance, repairs, and living like guests in our own home. In the midst of all this, I suddenly had the AHA! moment of all aha moments. Since our closet was already cleared out and waiting to be painted, we just need to remove the existing wire shelves then we'd have a blank slate for a closet makeover. If there was a time for such a project, this.was.it.

In our household, DH gives me free rein on design decisions, but says he has veto power, lol. I was fully prepared to present my case, but surprisingly he didn't think a closet makeover was a harebrained idea at all. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.


I was pretty much set on the IKEA Pax wardrobe system for a few reasons: 1) Best value for a semi-custom look (we spent $1,000 whereas a complete custom closet will have cost us $3,000+), 2) Rave reviews from a friend about her Pax closet, 3) Had everything on my wishlist (doorless, deep enough wardrobes to cover hanging clothes, jewelry pull-out tray).

Ultimately the final decision came down to whether I could customize the Pax to fit our wants in the limited physical space. Our closet is long and narrow, measuring at 160" x 61.5" (about 13' x 5'). Using the PAX Planner (one of their many 3D planning tools), all I had to do was input the closet dimensions then start dragging in options. Quite a lot of time was spent on this step -- all fun though because I seriously enjoyed every second (perhaps IT was the wrong career path?)


I was this close to pulling the trigger on the top closet design... until I realized I forgot to take into account the attic opening in the ceiling! The opening was off-center, so there was no way to keep the symmetry with 4 large wardrobes. I cried a little inside as I went back to the drawing board. I played around with more configurations before deciding on the bottom closet design that was basically a rearrangement of the first without compromising too much on interior organization space.

IKEA makes it easy to purchase the finished closet online via a one-click button. Shipping is a flat fee of $40 (best.deal.ever). There is also an option during checkout where you can pay an additional fee for people to come and assemble the closet (I believe a few hundred dollars).

We spent a good part of a long weekend building our 6 wardrobes and their interior compartments. It definitely helps to have more than one set of tools (especially hammers). I'm a weakling so could only build the smallest wardrobe frame myself before needing DH's help to move it upright and into place. The first wardrobe frame took the longest to build; each of the rest took less than half the time. We actually bought a couple extra rods and interior shelves because I wasn't 100% sold on the configurations until I saw them in-person.

The finished closet in its empty glory (personally I think the closet looked the best in this state):



All moved in, surprisingly with some room to grow (sweaters are okay, but no more coats!):




And there you have it! The semi-custom walk-in closet of my dreams.