I really love our 1940’s house we bought back in December. And I’m really excited about some of the upcoming renovations we are planning to do for it (more on that to come!) and how it will look afterwards. One thing I’m not excited about? The lack of closet space that comes with owning a house from the 1940’s. Ya’ll it’s ridiculous……or maybe the amount of stuff we have is – either way, it’s a problem and one that isn’t getting solved in our first round of renovations. So what’s a girl to do when she’s got limited space and has to empty out the room she’s using as a closet for a nursery?!

IKEA to the rescue.

Initially in my La la land mind, we were going to be able to do renovations and extend our master bedroom with a master closet and bathroom all in one Big Bang project. Then we decided to plan for a family right away and those fairyland dreams of all my renovations quickly slipped away. All of the sudden my priorities shifted, and this small room that had become my wardrobe room now needed to be emptied so I could plan a nursery. BUT HOW?! Where were my shoes going to go? My dresses?! ALL THE EMOTIONS – none of the space to contain them.

I knew I needed what I will continue to refer to as a “temporary fix” for my closet needs (temporary because by golly no matter how long it takes I am doing that master add-on and getting a bigger closet to truly solve this issue). And since this was a temporary fix, I needed it to not cost big dollars because with a renovation and a baby on the way it basically feels like I’m that emoji that is vomiting dollar bills (ya feel me?!).

One brave Saturday my reluctant husband and I ventured out to Ikea for us to check out the options they had since I figured they would be the cheapest option and have the most variety for what I needed. I was SO pleasantly surprised by what we found.  We ended up with the most shallow version of the Ikea Pax system since I didn’t want to take too much space up in my master, the version that unfortunately doesn’t have doors – but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

One of the best things about this system is how custom it is. You basically buy the frame and then have all the freedom to piece together how you want to lay out your closet space: regular drawers, clear front drawers, display case drawers, clothing bars, shelves – the options are pretty much endless, and honestly some of them are quite fancy looking. Because I was trying to do this on the cheap and not concerned with making this the prettiest thing on the block (but trust me when we do our master closer I WILL) I went with simply pull out baskets, clothing bars, and shelves that I hoped together would be able to hold all of my stuff.

It’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but y’all it worked. I got all of my clothes that were in the closet, on a clothing rack, AND in a dresser into this system and I AM THRILLED. I ended up using only a few storage draws underneath my bed for a few more random items but I don’t plan on needing to pull those out all that much. All together I think we paid around $350 for the system – much less than I was thinking we would have to, and definitely a great price for anyone looking for closet/storage solutions.

 

MY TIPS FOR SMALL SPACES

• Start with an edit – The best thing you can do before you begin assessing how much stuff you need to house is to go through and get rid of as much as you are willing to part with. Believe it or not, I got rid of around 3 trash bags of clothes in my move from the extra room to this closet system and honestly it felt amazing. Edit to things you love and will wear/use, because in a small space having extra ish around you won’t is just plain silly.
• Use good hangers – Believe it or not good hangers can make a difference in your closet space. I switched to velvet hangers a few years ago and it not only made my OCD heart happy to be all uniform, it also lessened the bulk some other hangers create. Shop some below.
• Under the bed storage – If your bed is raised and there is space below it, that space is valuable real-estate in a small space. Grab some cheap plastic bins (some even include wheels) to store shoes, out of season clothes or other things you won’t grab too much and you can easily roll these out and utilize that space.

 

Below is some additional inspiration from people who REALLY AMPED UP THE GAME in the Ikea Pax situation. Dreaming up my own version for one day……

XO,

JESS

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