It almost feels miraculous: we went from having no closet space in our bedroom (just dressers when we moved in) to a full wall of storage that matches the capacity of our previous home’s large walk-in closet. We’ve already written about installing Ikea PAX wardrobes and how we made them look built-in, and now we’re opening every door and drawer to show how we organized them. If you want practical tips for maximizing storage and product ideas to make the system feel custom, this post covers it all.
Full disclosure: neither of us owns an excessive amount of clothing. I do have a soft spot for shoes and jewelry, though, so there’s still plenty of those. I’ve shared tips before about curating a minimal closet, but lately I’ve been adding a few more pieces thanks to the extra storage we built over the past three years. With less time and money tied up in renovations, I’ve enjoyed hunting secondhand finds—clothing, bags, shoes, and jewelry—which you’ll see scattered through this tour (there’s also a video tour).
This bedroom project is practical and fun: we gained everyday convenience and storage without constructing a custom closet from scratch.
Why We Love Ikea Pax Wardrobes
The Ikea PAX system is popular for good reasons: it’s highly customizable, offers many interior fittings and organizers, and responds well to simple “hacks” like paint or new hardware to create a built-in look. This is the third house where we’ve used PAX, so choosing it for this room felt like a no-brainer when we added a wall of closets.
Along this wall we fit three 39″ wardrobe frames (double doors) and one 19″ frame (single door). The three larger wardrobes serve as our daily closets; the narrow end cabinet stores seasonal items and is accessed only a few times each year. We used many of Ikea’s interior fittings and supplemented them with a few non-Ikea solutions and items we already owned to make each section work efficiently.
Closet Organization Video Tour
There’s a video tour where I open every door and drawer so you can see how everything is organized—helpful whether you want practical ideas or just enjoy a peek inside someone else’s closets.
Note: the full video tour is available on our video channel.
The Left Closet: Shoes, Everyday Accessories, and Long Hanging Storage
The left wardrobe, which we added earlier this year, has been a game changer. It accommodates long items—boots, full-length dresses (including a dyed wedding dress), and other tall pieces—without squishing them.
Instead of full-width drawers like the other wardrobes, we added a divider to split the bottom into two 19″ sections. That layout lets us keep shoes and boots neatly lined toe-to-heel so we can see pairs at a glance. With this setup I fit 25 pairs here; frequently worn pairs remain in a kitchen porch cabinet for quick access, while everything else lives in this closet.
The divider’s top becomes a landing zone for everyday accessories: belts, sunglasses, small purses, and the jewelry I reach for most. I use a mix of older organizers and a clear acrylic divider for clutches that lets me slide items out without everything toppling over—simple but highly functional.
Above that, a pull-out multi-use hanger stores larger purses and scarves. We also hang some bags on hangers—details I demonstrate in the video. A lightweight mirror attached to the door makes it easy to grab sunglasses or test a necklace before walking out the door. Little additions like that make the space feel efficient and intentional.
The Middle Closet: Short Hanging Clothes, Folded Pieces, and a Pullout Tray
The middle wardrobe is also mine. It stores shorter hanging pieces on the bar above and six drawers below. The top shelf holds travel items like sleeping bags, but everything else in this unit is clothing and getting-ready essentials.
We use slim velvet non-slip hangers because they’re compact and help maximize hanging capacity. Velvet hanger clips allow those same hangers to hold skirts without needing different hardware.
Under the bar are six drawers. The top one is a shallow pullout tray with felt organizers for jewelry and small getting-ready items—makeup, travel-size toiletries, spare sunglasses, and the like. The felt inserts keep rings, earrings, and bracelets tidy and easy to find.
Below the jewelry tray, the drawers hold socks, underwear, and pajamas in the top full drawer; denim in the next drawer (jeans on the left, jean shorts on the right); then tops folded into soft fabric bins to prevent mix-ups; colder-weather tops and sweaters in the next; and finally a wire pullout basket for bathing suits and cover-ups at the bottom. The wire basket is a great workaround for the PAX system’s bottom hinge limitations.
The Right Closet: John’s Clothes, Hats, and a Quirky Top Drawer
The last large wardrobe belongs to John. He doesn’t need much space—he’s happy with a few drawers and a hanging bar—so this unit also stores some of the family’s winter coats during colder months.
John uses the same slim hangers for dress shirts. Most of the year, heavier coats are compressed into vacuum storage bags and tucked away in a suitcase under our son’s bed. The space-saving bags reduce bulky coats to a fraction of their volume, making seasonal storage simple and tidy.
John added a cube organizer shelf on one side of his closet to gain more folded storage without losing functionality. Fabric bins keep sweatshirts and winter accessories corralled. His drawers are organized with a mix of Ikea fabric boxes and spare containers: the top drawer holds tees, socks, underwear, swimwear, hats, and—yes—hidden candy. The next drawers contain pants and shirts, exercise clothes, and a drawer for messy work clothes and occasional formal items like ties and dress shoes. His everyday shoes live in the outdoor shoe cabinet on the kitchen porch.
Both of us keep a few toiletries in our closets to avoid monopolizing the bathroom; having a lightweight mirror on the door makes quick grooming tasks easy without heading downstairs. The top shelves in each wardrobe are used for miscellaneous or hard-to-reach items.
The Bonus Closet: Seasonal Decor
The narrow 19″ wardrobe in the right corner is blocked by a nightstand most of the year, but it’s far from wasted. It holds all our Christmas decorations—ornaments and lights on the top shelf, decor in the middle, and our full 6’5″ tree (broken down into segments) on the bottom. We only move the nightstand twice a year to access this cabinet, which makes the otherwise awkward corner incredibly useful.
Our Closet Organizing Essentials
Here are the core items we relied on to make these closets work hard and stay tidy:
- Slim no-slip hangers
- Velvet hanger clips for skirts
- Stacking jewelry box
- Clear acrylic purse dividers
- Small jewelry dishes and display trays
- Boot shaper inserts
- Charcoal odor bags for freshness
- Velvet ring display or a jewelry insert for drawers
- Pull-out multi-use hanger for bags and scarves
- Cube organizer shelf with fabric bins
- Lightweight door mirrors
- Vacuum storage bags for seasonal items
- Felt drawer organizers and expandable drawer dividers
Whether you have a custom closet or a small nook, thinking through how you search for and use items will help you design a system that actually works. Group like items where your brain expects them, add small functional touches like a mirror, and create flexible “overflow” spaces for packages or seasonal gifts. And sometimes a little candy in a top drawer is a valid organizing choice—no judgment.
Other Closet & Organization Posts
If you want more closet inspiration or organization tips, check out our other posts for tours and ideas from past projects.
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