This isn’t a long or detailed post but rather a few images that have really inspired me the last few weeks and spurred me on to take the leap and make a big outlay on buying wardrobes for our bedroom. I will write in a lot more detail about the process of choosing and fitting the IKEA PAX wardrobe system, which is what we’ve gone for, as so many of you sent me messages when I showed what we were up to on Instagram stories the other day. The messages made it very clear that a lot of you are desperate for a lot of PAX chat and I’m pretty sure that’s because there actually isn’t a huge amount of detail about the system online, especially the hack process we want to attempt. That will all come, I promise!
In the meantime, these wardrobes really stood out to me and made me think I could make a large bank of wardrobes work in our small bedroom. I’ve been very hesitant until now to commit to wardrobes because our room is so small (3.1 x 2.9 metres). I was worried about filling the alcoves as any feeling of space and airiness we have is because those spaces are quite empty. I was also hesitant about buying free standing wardrobes as I would want antique ones and generally speaking they just don’t make the most of the space and we are desperate for storage. Therefore, I have been leaning towards floor to ceiling bespoke wardrobes, which we can’t afford (the average quote was £2800), and trying to make them tie in with the decor in our bedroom as much as possible so that they enhance the room rather than swamping it. These are two brilliant examples of that…
I absolutely LOVE the bedroom above. Every single bit of it. The chair, the kilim, the muted colours, the texture of the baskets on display. In terms of the wardrobes they are so simple but very stylish and they enhance the room without detracting from it. The fact that they continue the wall colour helps to make them less dominant. I also love the handles (I’m on the hunt for some lovely ones).
Suzy’s bedroom above is gorgeous! I love the soft colour palette and cosy textures. Similar to the other bedroom, the wardrobes are also painted in the same wall colour with grooved door panels. I would love to recreate this look BUT we have to work with a PAX door panel as there’s no way we have the capacity to buy and make 2.5m high wardrobe doors ourselves! The PAX doors are laminate and it remains to be seen what I will do with them to customise them to fit with my bedroom.
The only definite in terms of our wardrobe doors is that I will paint them. Our bedroom walls are School House White and even though I love the wardrobes that are painted in the same colour as the walls I’m drawn to using a slightly darker shade. I have used Shaded White in our spare room so I have the paint and I think I’m going to use that for the wardrobes as well as the skirting and bedroom door as I’ve been meaning to do that since last year when I painted the walls!
Kerry has used the same colour combination in her bedroom of School House White and Shaded White on the woodwork and I think that will work really well in my room. I’ve been saying that I need to change my bedroom door from Brilliant White to Shaded White for a year so hopefully fitting the wardrobes will push me to get the job done.
Lots more PAX chat to come soon!
Katy x
We have one freestanding wardrobe which doesn’t really cut the mustard size-wise, so the room is never tidy! I’m so interested in how you make yours work and might be taking notes 😊
Hi Katy. I’m a big Pax fan as it’s so customisable. We have a mix of the 201cm height carcasses in our hallway/bootroom. They are currently door-less as I couldn’t decide on a style of door. I am considering having doors made by this company: https://www.shakerdoors.co.uk/ikea-upgrades/
Definitely worth checking out. They are a bit more expensive than the Ikeas doors but will still be significantly cheaper than bespoke fitted. Good luck and can’t wait to see what you choose.
Can’t wait to see how you do this. So excited for you.