Ikea Pax for hall help please

[Netcam]

I'm about to paint our hall after a big clear out and am intending to buy this to put all the 'stuff' in, including my bags and coats, which never seem to have anywhere to go!

Would you go for Harvik sliding doors or Forsand hinged doors (38cm deep, 2 x 50cm wide, 1 x 100cm wide frames).

We want white so it kind of disappears into the walls, and it is the cheapest option.

I have added pictures of Forsand hinged frames, can the handles be on either side? They look a bit weird on the 50cm frames both the left, I kind of like symmetry.

Or with the Harvik sliding doors, might they be a nightmare to assemble, would we have to bolt the whole 200cm width together and are there any attachments/holes to do this?

Picture of are hall is pre-painted, but finally cleared all the stuff out and got it ready!

@Netcam I have admitted on another thread I have a Pax obsession, I own over 20 of them throughout my house including a shallow depth one which is what you are looking at. They are very easy to put together and there are YouTube channels showing them being constructed. Mine are all hinged doors.

Definitely attach them to the wall for stability but also attach them together. Don't bother with the Ikea connector bolt shit, just take a screw that will go though one 18mm side panel and half way into the next. That way you can put the screws wherever you want rather than in a hole that you have to drill straight through. Wack a self tapping screw in instead. no drilling needed.

We use the full depth ones for coats, shoes, bags, hats, scarves and gloves. The children have always hung their coats on hangers. It is all they know in this house.

The 100 wide shelves would bow with too much weight. If you are able to get to an Ikea before you order, take your bags that you wish to store with you to see how much space they take up and how many shelves you will need. Billy units are not as deep and the doors for the full height cabinets are glass topped or full glass, no complete wooden door. I also have billy bookcases.

Sorry to go against the grain, but I had the 38 depth ones with hinged doors and it drove me mad. The depth isn’t enough for most coat hangers with coats on so the doors never closed properly. It just looked unsightly tbh.

I’ve also had sliding door in hallway, but not ikea ones and they were much better at containing the storage!

Just seen your built in comment. If when you get the wardrobes they fit beautifully there are lots of videos on YouTube of people making them look built in. If this is beyond you and your skills it isn't beyond a handyperson who could do it for you. Options are, open sections above the wardrobes or completely closed in with plasterboard or additional cupboards.

@Margarita45 the shallow depth ones don't have side to side hanging rails as they are not deep enough for hangers so instead they go front to back as in the diagram on the OP's first post. I think you bought the wrong rail for yours. Sorry.

I would go sliding doors. We have the 100cm x38cm in guest bedroom and it’s a pain having space to go between wardrobe and bed when doors are open.

@WrongBabyHat, thanks, that's all really helpful advice. Honestly don't want to go all the way to IKEA, most of my bags are smallish and soft/collapsible and the shelves will be used for other stuff too. It's just somewhere I could actually put them rather than a pile in the corner of the bedroom. I am sure I can put the shelves at appropriate heights and if I buy one ot two too many that would cost less than the petrol to get to IKEA and back. But useful to know about the shelves bowing as I had read that elsewhere too. So looking at all this, 2 x 50cm with shelves plus 1 x 100cm with hanging racks sound like a good option for my various personal coats/bags plus other house bits and pieces that I can never find a space for. And the hinged doors sound best from what people have said. If I was going for a slightly more expensive hinged door than the cheapest white ones, what would you go for? I am thinking durability and preferably no ledges to collect dust.

Thanks. There will be space to open doors and they won't be used that much, it is for stuff we use occasionally.

Yes but you need space to open and get around ideally. Ie ours 100cm are 50cm door. We have probably 100cm between wardrobe and bed but it’s a squeeze to get by if open which you do unless you get everything out at once. So if you have say excess kitchen stuff you would probably unload from shop onto table then move some stuff at a time back and forth. With 86-90cm gap, when open you get less than 40cm to squeeze pst with shoes and excess loo roll

@Netcam all my doors are no detail ones, easier to clean rather than little shelves for dust on the shaker style ones. I often forget that people live miles from Ikea mine is very close by so easy to drive to to check stuff or go back for extra items. I think the planner is great for helping to visualise the interiors.

I store my sewing machine and overlocker in a 50w but 60deep Pax, plus all the cotton/scissors etc. I just love storage, easy for everything to have a home and put it away.

That's fine, I can cope with that. It's only me who will mostly use it and I am not storing stuff I'll use often. We have lots of little spaces like that in our house as rooms are quite small and I don't mind. It's a compromise and a useful way to maximise storage space. We have units with doors and drawers in the living room behind the sofa with a tiny gap, but it works for that room and is fine to access stuff when I need to.

Thanks for your help. Do you think some doors are better quality than others? I'm thinking of perhaps durability if people brush past them? And which ones might be more wipeable if they get marked?

We have a run of 4 100 x 38cm pax in our hallway with hinged vikanes handleless doors. They’re by an oddly offset doorway so disappear into the side of the hallway and look really smart.

We have 95cm of hallway left now they’re in and it’s not the widest with the doors open but not narrow enough to even be slightly annoying. They’re also opposite one of our entry routes and haven’t stopped us getting anything in - including a piano! I don’t think that 84cm would be too tight at all - we can walk past with stuff and the doors open and we’re not particularly slight.

They’ve been in for 6 years and still look marvellous. They’ve really helped us storage wise for coats and shoes (we have one cupboard each for DH and me) and overspill from other random crap one collects during life. I haven’t noticed any sagging from the shelves and they’ve had some pretty heavy stuff on them. We have the pull out hanging rails, shelves and some of the wire basket drawers and it’s worked superbly the whole time. Also we installed them ourselves and whilst the first one was a bit of a faff it was pretty quick and straightforward. The doors can go either way up so can have a handle either side so your issue with the 2 50cm units is solveable.

In your shoes I’d totally do it. The calm it has added to our hallway now all the mess is hidden (and is no longer messy because it has somewhere to live) is priceless.

@broccolibush, thanks so much for your post. I am now feeling enabled. Had a look at those Vikanes doors and think they would be worth the extra cost, especially with no handles, as that makes the depth smaller and removes the possibility of knocking yourself on one. It also looks a bit cleaner and less wardrobe like. So here is our updated design.

For info, these are the shelves we had in that space previously, measuring 220 x 35, which we have now moved to what will soon be our office/sofabed room and is actually the biggest room in the house, currently our bedroom but we are moving to the only en-suite. They are lovely birch wood shelves I've had for many years but they just didn't do very well as hall storage.

Glad to be of service 😁

Where are your other shelves from? I’ve been looking for tall, open backed shelves for DH’s study for ages and have failed. Would love a recommendation.

I've had them for about 17 years, got them from The Futon Company when DS1 was a toddler for toy storage, he is 19 next week! They are still immaculate, solid birch. They have been used in various rooms for all sorts of things over the years and are really easy to move. But I know the Futon Company don't sell things like this anymore. Good luck in your search, I think it's hard to find decent solid wood furniture at reasonable prices these days. They will always have a use for us, just not in the hall! They also look a lot better when they are not crammed with stuff.

I think hinged doors sound a better bet. I have some shallow depth Pax in my downstairs loo and they are useful for storage (mine are for utilty not clothes). Go for the 100mm width and maybe have doors which blend well with your walls, so they are unobtrusive? Push click openers?

@Netcam The Vikanes look good as no handles, so sleek and better for a hallway I would think. Doors wise I have the gloss ones, mirrored ones and the wood effect ones, all wipe down well but the gloss would show finger prints and scratches more I think. At the end of the day you can always have them painted in the future. Again lots on YouTube of painted Pax.

It is funny when you realise how long you have had things. My children now 20 and 17 had solid wood toy chests from Ikea in their bedrooms. Now they live in our lounge and have been painted several times over. Last year I stripped the wooden lids back to their natural pine and gave them a coat of varnish. I left all the dings, didn't sand them out because it reminds me of when the children were little.

Just had a look, the Futon Company do something that vaguely resembles our shelf units, but hard to know if the quality is similar and the design is quite different:
www.futoncompany.co.uk/storage/collection/living-room/oak-iso-wide-shelf.html

Thanks @Netcam though I think they’ll be too short - we have a lot of books. I really rate futon company furniture. We’ve just passed on a 15 year old stacking futon from when my nephews were small recently and it was still in excellent nick having been used daily as a sofa in our dressing room and fairly regularly for all and sundry to sleep on.

Will you share photos when your pax are in please?

We had the Pax with doors in our old hallway.
Similar size...
The doors were fine.
We had wire baskets below for shoes
Drawers for gloves etc
For the coat rails we nailed a coat hanger (with hooks) across the back. Because of reduced depth that worked best. The IKEA coat rails were added but took them out as couldn't fit much.

I will, but now having second thoughts again! I suppose it feels like a lot of money to spend on chipboard furniture. Part of me wants something solid wood as it lasts forever.

I agree about Futon Company, we have various things from there we have bought over the years and they have lasted well. We have other wood furniture bought over 20 years ago that is still in great condition, apart from a few dents from being moved around.

Been considering this for the hall:
www.thefurnituremarket.co.uk/soho-oak-tall-open-display-shelf-unit

We already have one of these in the living room, along with 2 bookcases, a nest of tables and hi-fi unit from the same range and they are really nice. We've found the storage really useful for bits and pieces and the mix of open and closed shelves works well and they look great but are quite compact for our small living room.

Or something like this:
www.thefurnituremarket.co.uk/cheshire-oak-double-shaker-linen-storage-cupboard

I think I could live without the hanging space, my coats could go on a shelf folded instead. I just want more storage that I can close away to reduce the clutter and so people don't just dump things on there.

Part of me just feels like if we're spending around £500 - £600, it might be better to go for solid wood and then we probably won't need to replace it in our lifetime.

I get your concern @Netcam, I was completely the same. In fact I nearly spend £thousands on something bespoke but in the end am glad I didn’t because I like the flexibility of the Pax system in that you can change the innards as your needs change. Ours have been in since 2017 and in daily use and still look brand new. We’ve just installed more in our dressing room and honestly I wouldn’t be able to tell you which are new and which are old they’ve lasted that well. Goodness I sound like a Pax evangelist!

Also I think with ikea stuff that if you buy the more expensive bits they do last forever. My parents have ikea stuff from when I was young - I’m mid 40s now - that is still great, and survived international moves and storage. Equally when we rejigged our dressing room I sold a couple of 20 year old chests of drawers that were solid as anything. Of course if you buy a £5 coffee table it won’t go the distance but the pricier stuff does last.

@broccolibush, yes, I am sure you are right. And IKEA are definitely good value. We do have cheaper chipboard furniture in various places, kitchen/bathroom and we got a couple of painted chipboard bedside tables from IKEA recently which are quite nice. DS2 has IKEA chipboard stuff in his small boxroom bedroom too as it was the only place we could find anything suitable and affordable to fit the compact space. But we have quite a bit of solid wood too, which I prefer. I am also wondering if this might work for the hall instead, might be less overpowering as it is lower:
www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk/furniture/romsey-natural-solid-oak-large-sideboard/1007142.html
Or this:
www.thefurnituremarket.co.uk/hereford-rustic-oak-large-3-door-3-drawer-sideboard

@Netcam I can see you're moving away from the Pax plan but I will add a couple of thoughts in case it helps... My DD has almost the exact same wardrobe setup in her (small) bedroom and it has been excellent. The shallow depth makes it really unobtrusive.

1. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/skubb-box-with-compartments-white-10185593/ These are brilliant for small bits and bobs (maybe hats/gloves/sunglasses in hallway cupboard) Especially good for high-up shelves because lightweight and the handle at the front means you can pull the whole box out, find what you want and slide it back again. Could also rotate summer/winter stuff in this way.

2. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kuggis-box-with-lid-white-60280205/ We have 200cm height wardrobes and 230cm room height and these boxes fit very neatly on top of the Pax. We have x 2 of the large size with x 4 of the skinny A4 size stacked side by side on top. They are very sturdy and pretty heavy when full so really only for storage rather than everyday use.

3. The hanging space may be shallower than you expect so I recommend hanging your coats on a rail and measuring the depth at the widest point If they are too bulky the door won't quite close properly and probably get on your nerves! We have these hangers https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/komplement-valet-hanger-white-70256931/ We drilled a hole into the end of the wardrobe and fixed it that way rather than attached to the predrilled holes. DD uses it for airing clothes or hanging an outfit ready for a party or whatever but could be good for coats.

4. If you went for 100cm the shelves do eventually bow but it takes a lot of weight over a long period of time for that to happen. We have Pax as office storage too with some seriously heavy books and files and the shelves started to bow after about 5 years or so.

5. Lastly, and probably it's already been mentioned but if you're ordering it all online be mindful about where your door hinges will need to be because it will impact on the internal fittings you choose. We had to return several drawers and swap them for shelves/wire baskets to make the most of the internal space.

HTH - although it's taken me so long to write you've probably already bought something by now!

@Bowlowner, thanks so much for your really helpful and carefully considered response. We haven't bought anything yet, still thinking about it all.

It's all part of a major move around of stuff in the house. Our bedroom is swapping with the office/sofabed room. We also have 2 new M&S oak chests of drawers to match our existing wardrobes arriving on Friday which were quite expensive as well as a new mattress next week, all of which has been a big expense.

This is resulting in major furniture reorganisation and basically removing and putting back all our stuff, with an opportunity for a bit of a clearout.

Our bedroom/office sofabed room furniture swap is happening this weekend. So we have decided we should wait until we've sorted through everything and found a place for it all and see what we have left to store in the hall. Then we might be in a better position to decide on exactly what we need.

DS1 and DS2 are also swapping bedrooms. DS2 will inherit an over 20 year old but very nice John Lewis solid wood chest of drawers from us that won't fit in our new bedroom. And this will free up an ancient one of these from IKEA that could house at least some of the stuff in the hall temporarily until we have figured out what to buy:
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/trofast-storage-combination-light-white-stained-pine-white-s89102095/
Eventually we are hoping to use it in our rather untidy under stairs cupboard and the time will come in all of this process to sort that out.

So really the whole thing is a work in progress!

We have 2 x 100 in our hallway with the Hasvik sliding doors. Love them. They are screwed together, and screwed to the wall behind. The doors are very stable and we frankly don't care if it looks too wardrobe like, as it replaced a free-standing wardrobe anyway and is so much more versatile.

I have a full depth 100 + 50 + 50 in my bedroom too, also with the sliding doors, so understand why you might want that combination. (I have short hanging space for tops/ skirts in the 100 with 5x drawers underneath. Then long hanging in a 50 for dresses etc, with baskets/ shelves under. The other 50 is solely shelves and mesh baskets.)