This IKEA PAX Hack Is One of the Prettiest Closet Makeovers I’ve Ever Seen (It Looks So Vintage!)
Every IKEA section is packed with tons of modern, modular, must-see pieces, but I’d argue that the brand’s closet solutions reign supreme as one of their best shopping categories. You can instantly maximize storage in a small bedroom with the simple BRIMNES wardrobe, for one, or even customize your own high-end-looking system with one of IKEA’s many PAX configurations. And speaking of the latter, one TikTok hack shows how to further personalize this popular closet system — to the point where you’d have no idea it’s an IKEA product.
Content creator Mallory Fletchall, who runs the social media account Reserve Home, recently shared an ongoing project in her Brooklyn apartment via TikTok: converting a small bedroom that her husband previously used as a painting studio into a walk-in closet. She first color drenched the room, painting the walls and ceiling in Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue, then added ceiling medallions, crown molding, and a window pediment.
As for the closet part of the equation, Fletchall built out one of IKEA’s wall-mounted PAX wardrobes with doors. Rather than leaving the piece as is, she painted it to match the room’s walls and added faux molding and brass knobs for a completely unrecognizable, vintage-inspired finished product.
To start, Fletchall tested a few different paint samples on the PAX but ultimately chose to continue the all-over blue drench. She and her husband also removed the door from the middle unit for an open shelving look and filled the pre-drilled holes that were visible from the inside.
Next, the pair sanded the PAX exteriors then used double-sided tape and a nail gun to apply molding details along the border and center of each door, as well as a trim piece along the bottom of the closets. They installed leftover molding from a previous project to the front of the open shelves, too.
From there, Flethcall primed the closet doors (molding and all) and the shelves before applying Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue to match the rest of the room. “It’s a chameleon color that changes with the light, but I knew the usual moody tone would feel right,” she explained in the video voiceover. For the finishing touches, Fletchall drilled holes to accommodate vintage-looking round brass knobs that fit each of the doors.
Fletchall’s simple IKEA hack looks like a completely custom piece that was designed just for the space. The five-piece PAX that she seems to have used here does run on the pricier side at $1,145, but you can recreate this look on a single or double unit starting at $230 if you have limited space. IKEA also sells a PAX version that comes with paneled doors, if you’d rather skip the molding step altogether. Ultimately, this is an easy renter-friendly method of adding more color to your home and experimenting with new paint shades — especially if you can’t paint your walls!