Custom fitted wardrobes
They look the best, can be completely bespoke to your taste and they maximise the most potential space for your given area. No one with a sizeable budget or who has time constraints wouldn’t need to read this post. This is for the people who want to get the look for as low cost as possible. I went a bit more adventurous with my shelving but was too scared to go about this one from scratch!
For an even slicker look, make sure to check out How to paint Ikea furniture!
Ikea PAX
When doing a little bit of research at the likes of Sharps and similar for full fitted wardrobes, I could see how quickly the 4 figure sum totals up with the amount of resource needed and the overheads to provide you with what you want.
I was happy to compromise this and investigate the Ikea PAX system. I initially mistook it as customisable as the others but realised that it was more of a modular system and you build it up to the size that allows you to fit into your space. This isn’t a problem if you have a big space or even a dedicated walk in wardrobe roon to make some really sophisticated setups- all with pre existing components from the Ikea PAX system.
British Alcoves
We don’t have this luxury however. In a traditional british house layout, two of our bigger bedrooms have chimney breasts which aren’t going anywhere. The width of these were around 110 cm and a height of over 2.3 metres.
Great! PAX units will definitely work in this to get a significant wardrobe in. To get both rooms kitted out with a few shelves, drawers and shoe racks it would come to under £1000.
The problem – gaps
The issue I have is that these would be sitting with dead space either side of the wardrobe. They would look alright I’m sure, but I wanted them to be integrated with the room. This called for a few adjustments to the room to massively improve the form of the Ikea Pax.
Remove skirting
The skirting around the alcove becomes useless to me once it’s behind the fitted Pax wardrobe. So in order to maximise useable space in the room, I remove the rear skirting in order to gain a few cm to push the fitted Pax wardrobe back even further. This was a good enough reason for me to buy a multi-tool to add to my slowly growing Milwaukee collection. But to be honest a significantly cheaper one will also do the same job.
Raise the wardrobe
The fitted Pax wardrobe was going to have to be higher than the height of the skirting board. Then I’d lay new skirting around the front of the fitted pax wardrobe which would give a seamless finish. Working out the height of mine I built a 4 x 2 timber frame as the same dimensions of my Pax wardrobe.
This frame was then secured into the wall behind and to the sides. It was fairly easy to secure behind as I had removed the skirting so it was a case of drilling directly into the brickwork. After this timber frame is secured in position, I then screwed in an 18 mm thick ply base to the top to add additional height and add more stabilisation.
Slide the Pax wardrobe onto the base.
Whilst Ikea may be perceived as the cheap, light alternative, these wardrobes were far from that. Of course an oak or walnut like for like would have been impossible to manage but don’t crush yourself believing these are flimsy! Each Pax wardrobe WITHOUT any internals weighs over 50 kg. In an unfit COVID world right now I’m not in a state to even carry the boxes single-handedly into the house like I did a few months ago!
So once the Pax has been safely slid onto the base, I adjust the horizontal sides to make sure the edges are manageable for filling in.
Secure the back
An essential step! Too many horror stories of furniture falling on people and crushing them. Ikea provides the wall catch which I install at this point (and before the doors go on).
Filling the sides to make it a fitted Pax wardrobe
Depending on the size of the alcove, filling the sides can be done in multiple ways. For the master bedroom I kept the Pax wardrobe flush with one wall. This would mean that it was caulking difference to make it sealed. The other side was a gap of just over an inch. That would be not be feasible to caulk up!
Wood trim
I bought some 2.5 metre length wood trim from a local wood supplier. On the Pax wardrobe I then nailed in some 1 x 1 wooden batons. The nails were ideally placed through the pre drilled holes on the inside of the wardrobe for where the Pax systems go into.
Then the wood trim gets nailed into the 1 x 1 and the other edge is flush with the wall.
Caulking the fitted Pax wardrobe
Of course being an old house, none of the walls are perfectly straight. Even with the wood trim being flush against the wall, there are obvious gaps along the length. I still caulked this length just to make the whole piece look flush.
Cornice on top of the fitted Pax wardrobe?
I haven’t added one yet! I’m not sure on it as the room itself doesn’t have any. I’m in no rush but it’s good I have the option to add one later.
Painting the Ikea Pax?
This room looked good with the white but for the 2nd bedroom I had a go at painting the Ikea Pax before fitting it.
