Ikea PAX Wardrobes: Expanding Our Closets Part 1

Happy New Years everyone! I've been sort of quiet lately in the blog realm, but quietness definitely does not equal laziness. If you're a reader of this blog you might remember we put an offer on an old fixer-upper in homestead and put our house on the market. Well, since then we had a lifesaver-of-a-home-inspector come in and reveal some not-so-nice things about the house we were going to buy. I was bummed, but mostly grateful that we found out some major issues with the house before we bought it. I'm fine with major renovations- we expected that. What we did not expect was extensive termite damage that basically deemed the basement stairs all the way up to the main stairs unsafe, water damage that had made its way to the entire second floor (it's a three story home), and structural issues that would take a lot of money to fix. All things we would never have seen without the trained eye of a professional. I feel bad for the homeowners, but since the house has been unoccupied for many years, it's to be expected to find a lot of unknown issues.
Anyways, with that said we left our home on the market for three months to see if we'd get any offers. Around Christmas, it got way too busy to have showings and since we no longer had a house to move into, we pulled ours off the market.
At first, I was discouraged by the feedback of our home. It was mostly good, but people didn't like the noise from the traffic, something we can do nothing about (also something that doesn't really bother us). The house itself is great, and we've decided to give it some time. I've basically come full circle from wishing we could move to loving the potential my home has to offer. I think it's a good place to be- to be content and thankful for what you have.
Ok, now to the good part. With the decision to stay, we're doing some minor renovations to better fit our needs. Number one on the list: CLOSET SPACE.
Pittsburgh homes have these wee little closets. I saw this inspiration photo on another blog and thought our room would be a perfect place to try.

They're simply three Pax wardrobe's from IKEA, painted and trimmed with molding to make them look like one unit. My husband was an easy sell because his clothes would finally all be in one spot. First I looked on craigslist and found two wardrobes for sale for half the price. Score. Then once we got them home we realized they weren't the right depth that the guy said they were. Bummer. We still used one for the center piece though, and it at least save us $50.
Now these wardrobes are not cheap, let me warn you. Particle board, yes. Cheaply made, yes. But inexpensive. Not really. I'm sure it's a cheaper solution to something like a California closet though, and you're able to customize it however you want. All in all, I think we spent about $400 not including doors (our room is too narrow for doors, so I think we'll leave those off). But honestly, I think that's cheaper than buying the equivalent of two large (used) dressers, which would provide less storage and take up more space. So here's what we have so far:

The long wall in our bedroom all cleared off and ready to go. 

First frame in the process of being built. Not terribly difficult, but definitely a two person job.
If you wanted to paint them, you'd probably want to do that first while they're in pieces.
I wanted them white.

First frame completed and moved into place.
Sorry for the bad pictures,everything's a mess, but it's a work in progress.

Time to add drawers. A much easier process, and I really like the quality of the hardware.
These things open and close smoothly, and they're super spacious.
Like fits-ten-piles-of-folded-t-shirts-spacious.

Setting up the boards for the middle frame.

Success. Built and in place. We anchored the three pieces together with a few bolts and nuts.
Again a two person job- one for pushing the frames together, while the other person screws the bolts in place.

Adding our clothes has been my favorite part. I left room in the center piece to act as a vanity.
I like how the center piece is recessed- I wasn't sure if our "mistake" in buying the wrong size would look bad or not. But it kind of looks like we meant to do it, and it allows a place for my stool without it sticking out in the middle of the room.

Next I wanted to paper the inside vanity area to set it apart.
I bought this contact paper hoping it would do the trick.

It's super fun looking, but I think installing this might be the death of me. 

After getting my first row on, I realized the pattern doesn't line up for the next row.
I'm now contemplating ripping it off, and just painting it a contrasting color. 

Overall, this has been an extremely exciting process. It wasn't at all easy like I thought it was going to be, but I like the way it's coming together. My next step- adding trim to make them look like one unit and repainting my room. I'm thinking something dramatic and moody, maybe something in the indigo family with gold and seafoam green accents.
Click here for Part 2 and finally Part 3 of our remodel.