IKEA Pax Closet System Review After 1 Year

It has been one year since we built the IKEA Pax closet system and in this post I'm sharing an honest review and the things I would change. I highly recommend you also read this post where I share my experience customizing, ordering, and building the IKEA Pax closet system. You can also check out this post where I share all of my organizing tips for the IKEA pax closet. 

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Overall, I still love my IKEA Pax closet system and think it was worth the cost as well as the time and effort that went into designing and building it. It allows me, for the most part, to keep my clothes organized while also giving me extra room for storage! Plus I love the custom designer look it providers. We actually never put a door back on the closet after we did this project and I don't even feel the need to close off this space because it looks so nice!  

Now, let's get into some things I would change if I were to design the IKEA pax closet all over again. 

I used many items from the IKEA Komplement line to customize my Pax system closet such as the shoe shelves, mesh pull out baskets, jewelry organizers, and pull out pants hangers. 

There are a few different shoe shelves you can choose from but I went with the basic slanted shelves. My only complaint is that I can only seem to fit 3-4 pair of shoes on each shelf in this 29 inch wide wardrobe frame. I could probably fit more shelves if I would have spaced each one closer together. Currently I have 6 shelves each spaced 9 holes apart. A money saving tip would be to just use the regular Komplement shelves which are about $10 cheaper per shelf and space them closer together to fit more shoes. 

When I first built the pax system closet I only included 2 of these pull out mesh baskets and I ended up adding 4 more. I love them so much I just actually ordered 3 more to fill this entire cubby. The drawers on the pax system are quite small so these baskets are great for extra items such as swim suits and hats. I also use them for storage for things like exercise items, packing cubes, my heating pad, etc. 

When designing my IKEA Pax closet I opted for the pull out pants hangers which were $30 each to fit in the 29 inch wide frame. While they look nice and serve the function perfectly, I never use the pull out feature and don't find it necessary for my particular closet design. A stationary pants hanger likely would have saved money and worked just fine.

While the Komplement pull out multi use hangers are perfect for keeping necklaces tangle free, I do not recommend the pull out trays and inserts for accessories such as bracelets, earrings, etc. The tray only pulls out about half way so it's nearly impossible to reach anything towards the back. The glass shelf is pretty to keep your items on display, but if you go this route make sure you only store items below that you rarely need to reach for. 

If you'd like to hang your purses and totes to keep them organized, you absolutely need this 3 pack of hanging organizers from Amazon. This is probably my best IKEA Pax closet hack!

To store earrings and bracelets more easily, I found these hanging organizers on Amazon which are hung with small command hooks. They work perfectly and I plan to order another 2 pack for my growing jewelry collection. 

I hope this post gave you some helpful IKEA Pax closet ideas! Make sure to check out my other IKEA pax closet reviews which are linked here and here. Thanks for reading! 

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