It looks like a miracle, however we’ve gone from completely zero closet house in our bed room (after we moved in we simply had dressers) to having simply as a lot house as our final home’s massive walk-in closet! We’ve beforehand lined how we put in Ikea Pax wardrobes and how we made them look built-in, so immediately we’re throwing open each door & drawer to indicate you ways we’ve organized them. For those who’re in search of tricks to maximize your storage & particular merchandise that may make it really feel extra personalized, that is the submit for you.
It must be mentioned upfront that neither of us have what we’d name a considerable amount of clothes (though I’ve at all times had a factor for sneakers and jewellery, so there’s nonetheless loads of that happening). You’ll be able to learn all of my suggestions for curating a minimal closet right here – however I’ve really been capable of develop mine a bit these days, because of all the storage we’ve added to our bed room during the last 3 years.
Since our home is in a mostly-finished section and we’re spending rather a lot much less on dwelling renos than we’ve for the final 15 years, I’ve been having enjoyable discovering secondhand clothes/luggage/sneakers/jewellery with a number of the money I’m not spending on furnishings and House Depot runs – ha! So that you’ll see a little bit little bit of that too (there’s a video tour in right here for you as nicely).
Why We Love Ikea Pax Wardrobes
The Ikea Pax closet system is in style for a cause. It’s extremely customizable, presents tons of inside fittings and organizers, and will also be “hacked” with paint, {hardware}, and extra to offer it a customized look. That is the third home we’ve used it in (right here was the primary, over 15 years in the past!) so it was a no brainer for us after we needed so as to add a wall of built-in closets to this room.
We have been capable of match three 39″ wardrobe packing containers (double doorways) and one 19″ field (single door) alongside this wall (that’s all the best way to the precise and not using a brass knob within the picture above). The three bigger wardrobes – seen open beneath – act as our day-to-day closets. The smaller closet on the tip accommodates our vacation decor and is just accessed very occasionally (John’s nightstand simply strikes out of the best way for the couple of occasions a yr we have to get in there).
We used plenty of Ikea’s inside fittings but additionally added another methods together with issues we already needed to make every part work as laborious as doable for us. Don’t fear, we’re rounding up all the pieces on the finish of this submit for you.
Closet Group Video Tour
You’ll be able to see me open each door and drawer within the video beneath, so whether or not you wish to see how issues are organized or simply wish to poke round another person’s closets (sounds enjoyable to me), right here you go:
Be aware: It’s also possible to watch this video right here on YouTube.
The Left Closet: Sherry’s Sneakers, On a regular basis Equipment, & Lengthy Hanging Storage
Now we’ll take you thru every part one after the other. The left wardrobe is the one we added earlier this yr and it has actually been a sport changer, particularly as a result of it provides me room to retailer longer objects like full-length attire and boots much more simply.
Somewhat than put in drawers like we did within the different two vast wardrobes, we added this Ikea divider to separate the underside into two 19″ sections. You’ll be able to customise it with drawers or slide-out trays, however their slide {hardware} takes up extra vertical house than these primary cabinets.
With this configuration, I used to be capable of match 25 pairs of sneakers and boots in right here and, by lining every pair up toe-to-heel, I can see all of them from the entrance (the matching shoe is behind the entrance one). I nonetheless maintain another pairs of often-worn sneakers in our kitchen porch cupboard, however it is a great place for all the pieces else.
The highest of the divider created a pleasant little touchdown spot for some on a regular basis equipment that I have a tendency to succeed in for, like belts, my fav sun shades, purses/clutches, on a regular basis jewellery I put on most frequently, and that type of factor.
Among the storage items up listed below are issues I’ve had for some time, like this stacking jewellery organizer, however a more moderen addition is this acrylic divider that I exploit for holding my small clutches organized. It makes it really easy to slip one thing out with out all the pieces toppling over. Extremely advocate.
For my bigger purses and scarves, we put in this pull-out hanger above the smaller objects. You’ll be able to see within the first picture of this part that I even have some luggage hung over hangers too (make sure to watch the video for more information about why and the place we put all the pieces). It has been a fantastic system for holding all of my luggage in a single spot with out taking on plenty of house. Additionally… why sure I did get a secondhand Fendi bag just like the Jersey lady that I’m. I’m an enormous fan of The Actual Actual, Poshmark, and What Goes Round Comes Round (in addition to any and all in-person thrift shops). P.S. I like animal print, okay?
Oh and every of our three massive wardrobes have a prime shelf that’s tougher to entry – John can attain it, however I want a stool – so we largely maintain miscellaneous stuff up there. As an example, on this part, I’ve some unused artwork frames and canvases.
It’s also possible to see that there’s a mirror we held on the left door (we blurred stuff that’s private like photographs, drawings our youngsters made, and so on), however that’s actually useful for selecting sun shades or throwing on a necklace or one thing. I even have one other considered one of that very same mirror on the left door of my different closet for make-up/earrings – only a small addition like that may make issues really feel tremendous purposeful & environment friendly.
The Center Closet: My Shorter Hanging Garments, Folded Garments & A Pullout Storage Tray
The center part can also be my stuff (John simply wants a couple of drawers and a dangling bar and is joyful as a clam – we’ll get to his closet in a minute). Properly, this wardrobe can also be the place we retailer sleeping luggage and different journey stuff on that prime shelf – however in any other case it’s all my garments in right here.
This wardrobe is ready up like a fairly conventional closet. I’ve obtained my hanging bar up prime and 6 drawers beneath. For our hanging bars, we’re large followers of these slim velvet hangers as a result of they’re so compact, they’re non-slip, they usually are available in a lot of colours (ours are rose gold). Sorry wooden hangers, we’ve moved on 😉
I additionally ordered some velvet hanging clips so I may use the identical hangers for my skirts (shorter skirts are on this wardrobe, and longer maxi ones are within the different closet with my lengthy pants and lengthy skirts).
Underneath the hanging bar are the drawers with the remainder of my garments. Properly, apart from the highest one which is a shallow pullout drawer outfitted with felt organizers.
I’ve obtained random getting-ready stuff in right here like make-up, deodorant, hair stuff, sunscreen, lesser-worn sun shades and jewellery, and so on.
I particularly love this part for storing small jewellery like rings, earrings, bracelets, and even stuff like spare buttons. And sure, these are tinkles razors that I exploit on my mustache. Me-ow.
Under that shallow drawer are the remainder of my garments. You’ll be able to see me pull all of them out and describe how they’re organized a bit extra on the video tour, however the prime is principally socks and underwear and pjs and stuff like that.
The drawer beneath that one is the place I’ve all of my denim (the left two stacks are denims and the precise stack is jean shorts).
The subsequent drawer down homes numerous tops, that are organized utilizing a few of these comfortable Ikea bins that we’ve had for ages. I fold my bodysuits longer in that slot on the precise aspect and it helps me not pull out a prime considering it’s a tank but it surely’s a bodysuit (#AlmostEverythingIsBlackAndIGetConfused).
The drawer beneath that one is colder climate stuff, like long-sleeved tops and sweaters. Choose not my lack of fancy folding – that is my revolt after years of working at Specific in faculty.
And final, however not least, the underside drawer has bathing fits and cover-ups (the best way these Ikea methods work, you possibly can’t have a traditional drawer on the underside as a result of the closet door hinges should go there – so this pullout steel basket is the best choice we’ve discovered). Sure, I reside someplace that permits me to have a whole drawer full of these items. As a woman who used to have one bathing swimsuit and will solely actually swim outdoors a couple of months of the yr after I lived additional north, this thrills me to no finish.
And simply as I discussed, you possibly can see that light-weight mirror caught to the left door of this wardrobe as nicely, which turns out to be useful whereas making use of sunscreen, make-up, placing in earrings, and so on.
The Proper Closet: John’s Garments, Hats, And One thing Bizarre In His Prime Drawer
The final of the three giant wardrobes is all John’s. It’s greater than sufficient house for him, for which I’m glad. Hashtag synergy.
Earlier than we tour John’s stuff, let me level out that although it seems near the mattress, he has no bother attending to his stuff (see beneath). If it have been too cramped, we wouldn’t have upgraded to a king-size mattress earlier this yr. However we did, and we like it, and we’re by no means going again.
John additionally makes use of these slim hangers for his gown shirts on his hanging bar. He doesn’t put on them that usually as of late, which is why there aren’t too many (though there are inexplicably 3 variations on the identical blue examine sample). His lack of ten million collared shirts supplies us some bonus house to retailer the household’s winter coats in right here through the colder months. And we’ve a sneaky means of creating them virtually disappear in the summertime months after we don’t want them…
Many of the yr all of us get by with no jackets or lighter ones which might be stored in our laundry room by the entrance door (see beneath). But it surely does often get chilly sufficient right here to warrant a heavier coat, therefore holding them in John’s closet to be at arm’s attain through the winter months.
The place do they go the remainder of the yr? Properly, we shrink them down utilizing these house luggage that connect to any commonplace vacuum hose. Look how these two fluffy winter coats slim waaaay down because of out little house bag technique (prime pic is earlier than, and backside is after)
Then our little flattened coats simply slip into one of many suitcases that we retailer wayyyy behind our son’s under-bed space (he has baskets he makes use of and may simply attain all alongside the entrance fringe of the mattress and our suitcases reside behind these). The house luggage not solely maintain our coats compact, but it surely makes them simple to unpack from the suitcase each time we go on a visit through the hotter months.
So, lengthy story quick, a lot of the yr John’s closet seems prefer it does beneath, the place his shirts have a bit extra room to unfold out. However we needed to indicate you the “winter model” of his closet to exhibit how versatile and hard-working these areas could be for us. And what a distinction some $17 house luggage could make.
One other factor John did since he didn’t want all the hanging bar house was add this dice organizer shelf on one aspect. This isn’t an Ikea product, but it surely was a fantastic dimension and it simply sits on the shelf and matches properly. We screwed it to the within wall of the wardrobe to additional safe it, and John makes use of these material bins to corral stuff like sweatshirts within the backside two and the household’s winter gloves and hats up prime. These winter equipment are hardly ever wanted, which is why it’s no drawback to be blocked by his hanging hats (if he takes them down he can simply slide out that prime basket).
John’s drawers are organized utilizing a mixture of material Ikea bins (like these and these) and random different containers we had round. His prime drawer accommodates necessities like t-shirts, socks, underwear, bathing fits, extra hats, and – sure – a stash of sweet that he retains hidden from his spouse and children. He’s a sucker for these post-Halloween sweet reductions.
As you will have additionally observed, each John and I maintain a few of our toiletries like deodorant and hair stuff in these closets. That’s as a result of, as we talked about on this submit about how we reside with just one rest room, we don’t need anybody unnecessarily monopolizing the lavatory with issues that may simply be completed in one other room (our daughter has a vanity-type setup in her room for instance). And John and I every have these mirrors on our closet doorways so we do this type of stuff in right here as an alternative.
Again to the drawers. His second drawer has pants and shirts (kinda like my denim drawer) and his third drawer is all train garments. He even has room in there for all of his race medals and a yoga mat.
His final commonplace drawer accommodates his “messy” garments for portray and yard work and stuff. Plus, he randomly retains some extra formal stuff in right here too, like a few ties, undershirts, and gown sneakers. Since he doesn’t put on that stuff fairly often, he doesn’t want a ton and it doesn’t take up a lot house. His day-to-day sneakers are saved in the out of doors shoe cupboard on our kitchen porch with the remainder of the household’s sneakers.
We by some means forgot to take a photograph of his backside drawer, however you possibly can see it within the video (it holds John’s laptop computer bag and a few spare sheets together with Burger’s beloved blanket that we’ll maintain eternally). And on the very prime shelf John retains our journey duffel bag and, in the mean time, some puzzles we’re bringing to his mother & dad the following time we go to.
We additionally each have spare house underneath our hanging bars that’s type of a “flex house” that turns out to be useful if we’re having visitors over and must rapidly put away some mail or packages that arrive. We additionally use it this time of yr to stash our vacation items earlier than we wrap them. And talking of the vacations…
The Bonus Closet: Seasonal Decor
Like we talked about, there’s a 19″ Pax wardrobe tucked into the precise nook of this wall, and it’s blocked by John’s nightstand more often than not, however that doesn’t imply it’s wasted house. We’re capable of match ALL of our Christmas decorations in there – ornaments and lights up prime, random decor within the center, and our ENTIRE 6’5″ Christmas tree on the underside (because of it breaking down into smaller segments).
We principally solely transfer John’s nightstand and open this cupboard two occasions a yr – as soon as in November to get stuff out after which once more in January to place stuff away. I’m so glad it’s not only a lifeless nook that serves no objective and we really get to fill it with seasonal stuff. Good storage = our love language for actual.
Our Closet Organizing Necessities
I discussed plenty of issues on this submit that we use to maintain our closets organized, so I needed to wrap issues up by placing them multi functional place for you:
So whether or not you’ve a customized closet or only a primary little nook, hopefully a few of these methods will help. Even serious about how you’ve it organized and seeing if you may make extra sense of issues. For instance, I may retailer my quick skirts with my longer ones and attire but it surely simply made much more sense to retailer them within the different wardrobe with my shorter hanging stuff as a result of my mind works that means and I’d be in search of them on my “shorter hanging bar” versus on an “all-skirts bar” if I had it organized that means.
Equally including an affordable little mirror additionally helped with operate a lot. Anytime you end up strolling to a second location to do one thing is a clue you would possibly discover it MUCH EASIER if you happen to can create a spot to try this factor throughout the main location.
And lastly, generally you simply want sweet in your prime drawer. No judgment.
Different Closet & Group Posts
For those who’d wish to see extra peeks inside our closets, or get extra group suggestions, you would possibly take pleasure in a few of these posts:
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