IKEA Pax wardrobes- amazing & easy to build

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We finally managed to get a delivery slot and our wardrobe bits arrived on Thursday.

I was going to get someone in to build them for me but my colleague at work told me they're actually easy to do.

So I decided to offer the job to my 17 yr old DS for a £50 fee.

It took him/us about 7 hours to build and he's done a cracking job! Any excuse to use power tools!

We now need a joiner to tweak the doors for us, box in the top and I need to find some knobs/handles as wasn't keen on the IKEA ones.

Honestly it's a doddle to do!

I love how easy IKEA furniture is to build! I’ve done Pax wardrobes in two bedrooms. One bed. MANY Billy bookcases. All a lot easier than my Wickes kitchen units but they weren’t too bad....

They whole thing cost £920 plus £40 delivery. So a fraction of what a Sharps or Hammonds built in wardrobe would cost. My friend paid over £3k for smaller built in wardrobes.

I used wayfair who delivered within 24 hours, the wardrobe is fabulous quality and 10ft wide
I paid a no more flat pack £150 as the revues said it takes two people 7 hours, the wardrobe was reduced to £725

The chap took under 2 hours to put together

Job done ✅

Are Ikea wardrobes durable? I hope it doesn't fail apart in few years. I'll never buy Ikea wardrobes

Time will tell. I've never had wardrobes before from IKEA.

We've got Malm drawers and they've lasted 10 years and 2 house moves.

I know friends have taken theirs with them when moving and then reassembled them again.

I love my pax wardrobes - my bedroom is very small so I liked having the option of shallow depth and extra tall wardrobes and all the internal storage bits to make the most of my space. They are very sturdy and look as good now as when I bought them eight years ago.

We've had ours for nearly 3 years now and they still look as good as new.

I had ceiling height pax in my last place. I loved them but they were too big to bring when we moved. I had glass sliding doors which were heavy and hard to fit but they looked great.

I love your jewellery drawer!

We had ours five years and they still looked like new.

We’ve got ceiling high pax in every bedroom. DH boxed the sides so they look like fitted wardrobes. I love them.

The door hinges do take some tweaking to get them all to sit flush but other than that they are pretty easy to put together.

The ones in DSs room must be 10 years old and look great......

I've got Pax too, they are really sturdy. I wouldn't bother boxing in the top but then built in furniture makes me feel peculiar.

Jewellery is not my thing but I absolutely love the drawer? you have yours in! These look amazing! I'm just starting to look not for storage solutions after years of settling for big bulky brown second hand stuff!

The Pax stuff is so versatile. You can speak to an advisor but appointments weren't available and if you know what you want it's fun to plan out.

Yes love Pax. We have a wall of them in most bedrooms. Never wear out! Billy stuff looks good as new 20 years on. Love Ikea.

They look great OP. I've built some serious IKEA shelving stuff with my DD - she's very practical.

Thanks for the inspiration I'm going to need some wardrobes in my new flat. Just one query OP - did you screw them to the walls. I'm wondering how you do that.

They provide brackets and holes in the backs of the wardrobes but you do need your own screws and raw plugs

They also have adjustable feet if you have uneven floors.

@chukwe

Are Ikea wardrobes durable? I hope it doesn't fail apart in few years. I'll never buy Ikea wardrobes

Yes they are incredibly durable. I believe the first ones we had lasted 15 years and were taken apart twice for house moves. It is not as though Sharps wardrobes are all made of solid oak, they also have foil wrapped chipboard frames and doors.

The key to putting Ikea pax together quickly is when you initially put the two side panels flat to put the first cam lock screws in to attach the top and bottom pieces, you also screw on all the rails for the drawers and those little fixings for the shelving. That way you are not stood inside the wardrobe attaching them when they are upright. Plus it is easier to match them up so they are aligned.

The 4m run of Ikea Pax we put in the children's playroom 10 years ago which as you can imagine has taken a hammering are still in very good condition. Yes the doors are scuffed from diablo tossing and nerf wars but the drawers they open daily for shoes or getting their coats out are all doing well.

In total I have over 20 Pax wardrobes throughout my house. The interior fittings are very cheap but good quality and allow you to change it easily as your needs change, especially with them being in the children's bedrooms.

@Bouledeneige

They look great OP. I've built some serious IKEA shelving stuff with my DD - she's very practical.

Thanks for the inspiration I'm going to need some wardrobes in my new flat. Just one query OP - did you screw them to the walls. I'm wondering how you do that.

To make them sit against the wall you will have to remove skirting boards behind them or depending on how handy you are, some people construct a frame that lifts the wardrobe up above the skirting and then wrap skirting around the front of the wooden frame and ikea base to make it look built in. Have a look at this blog where they do it

insideoutblog.co.uk/traditional-fitted-wardrobe-ikea-hack/

If the floor is carpeted then all wardrobes will want to tilt forward due to sitting on the carpet gripper. That is why Ikea Paxt have adjustable feet at the front to level them up. They provide straps that fix to the top of the wardrobe frame and then into the wall. They don't provide the screws etc because every wall is different.

Thanks for your responses folks - that’s very helpful. I think from experience I would be able to construct wardrobes with my DD or DS’s help (and a little squabbling) but I’m not sure I would be capable to doing the wall fixing. But I might be able to get someone in to help with that element.

The room I want to put them in currently has wood floors but they are unlikely to be even. If at a later date I wanted to install carpet do you guys think it’s okay to run the carpet up to the wardrobes rather than being underneath it? To my mind it would seem to be better to have wardrobes directly rooted to a hard floor but I’m not an expert on these things!

We have taken up the carpet and removed the skirting board too. Our plan is to get our joiner to box in at the top, tweak the doors, add a bit of skirting board on each side then get new carpet fitted up to the wardrobe base.

Not going to happen anytime soon with lockdown #2 now!