The long-term plan for our extra bedroom is to one day turn it into a master bathroom (with a huge shower, lots of counter space and two sinks) that leads to a walk-in closet. I’ve wanted a walk-in closet my ENTIRE life and have never had the opportunity to have one. Instead, I try to organize my regular sized closet as much as possible with my ‘on season’ clothes and my office closet holds my ‘off season’ stuff.
Over the years, we have used the extra bedroom as a playroom for Jack and now as an exercise room for me. And it is a pretty huge room – right now it holds an elliptical, 2 exercise bikes, 2 yoga mats fully stretched out and a bunch more random stuff. Oh, and the walls haven’t been updated since we moved in 9 years ago — it came with that wall color and the ugly border at the top of the walls.
I was recently thinking, maybe I should start working on my walk-in closet plans NOW, rather than doing it all at once. That way, I can start using it and also pay for one wall of a wardrobe before we build a bathroom, which is much less painful.
So, I’m thinking of starting with this wall:
There is about 8 feet of space (96 inches) without blocking the door or the window. I thought I could start looking for wardrobe organizers for that space and then build out when we get to the bigger project.
There are SO MANY options though and I could really use some feedback! Originally, I was thinking of having open closets but then I started thinking about having something with doors that could close.
Here are some of my inspiration photos:
This is one of the Pax wardrobe options from Ikea (you can find it here). It is 68” wide so I could certainly go wider than this one. It costs $465 and I like that it includes hanging area, shelves AND drawers. The downside is that this is out of stock at both of my nearby Ikea stores and they do not deliver to my zip code.
With that being said, there is a Pax Designer Tool on the Ikea website where you can build your own closet from Pax pieces. I made this version which is like the one I found, but with an extra hanging wardrobe bit on the end to make it 88 5/8 inches wide so it will fit better on my wall. This version is $550.
Then, I started looking at less expensive options and came across the KLEPPSTAD wardrobe (you can find it here). It has three doors, is 46 inches wide and costs $129.
Here it is with the doors closed:
And here it is with the doors open:
It is similar to the Pax, but doesn’t include the drawers. However, since it is 46” wide, I could get two of them for a total of 92” of space and it would cost $258, which is less than half of my custom-built Pax version.
When put together, it would look similar to this but a little wider:
I’m not sure if I want doors or not though. Once it’s an actual walk-in closet, it might be nicer to be able to see everything. Or would it be nice if things were tucked away? Or… maybe I could build it and just not put the doors on?
Of course, I didn’t just shop the Ikea website. I also looked at Home Depot, The Container Store and Amazon. The Container Store was WAY too expensive for a very similar look. I wasn’t finding anything I liked that was freestanding on the Home Depot website. But I did come across something interesting on Amazon.
This is the Tribesigns Freestanding Closet Organizer (you can find it here). It is 79 inches across for $330. It has four pockets of areas for hanging clothes, shelves and it even comes with the four cubby boxes.
And I’m torn. I feel like any of these would be a great option for clothing storage. However, because they are all great I’m not sure what would be the best option for me. I’m not sure if I want something without doors or something with doors?
I’m kind of overwhelmed with choices! Do you have strong feelings on doors vs no doors? Do you have a closet situation that you love or hate that you’d like to share? Help me!
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Doors might be nice for this transition period when this is still a multi-purpose room. This way it will feel less distracting when you are able to close the door and concentrate on your workout.
Also, it might be better not to get the one with drawers since IKEA drawers tend to have flimsy bottoms and if after this investment they break, you would be disappointed. Better to have a separate, sturdy, chest of drawers, maybe on a perpendicular wall.
That is a good point! I have had good luck with Ikea drawers in the past though… I have one dresser going on 15+ years and another that is 10 years old and they are both doing great!
I ended up getting the Elfa closet systems for our closets and garage storage. I was able to add on over the months/years since all their parts of interchangeable and also customize as my needs changed. But I also waiting until their January/August sale so saved at least 20-30%.
I looked at the Elfa closet system, but it looks like they only have options to build it into an existing closet — so you would need to have walls on each side to secure everything. Unfortunately, I need a free-standing option since it will be going on a bare wall and not reach the other side walls. I love that you can keep changing up the parts as you need too though and a sale is always fantastic!
I had the KLEPPSTAD in a small apartment where I was using it as my only closet and I kind of hated it. It takes a lot of additional storage boxes/bins to keep it organized, and even then I wasn’t a fan. If you’re only using it for a few pieces the way they stage it in the photo it’s probably fine, but if it’s used to full capacity I personally wouldn’t recommend it.
Thank you, that is excellent feedback! Do you remember if there was an option to add a second hanging bar? I’m thinking it would be more efficient if I could have 2 levels of hanging items…