Do you have a small bedroom that you want to add more storage without scarifying style? Using IKEA hacks is an affordable way to do just that. In 2023 Fall One Room Challenge, my husband and I added this wrap around built in wardrobe to our guest bedroom / office combo space. It more than tripled the storage in this closet-less room. Let me will walk you through how to put this together without all the stress.
| Skill Level | Project Cost | Time |
| Intermediate | $1,500 (including IKEA cabinets and lumber) | 4-6 weekends |
Update: I went through all the raw footage and made this 8-minute-long YouTube video on the entire process with DIY tips and showing you all my mistakes.
Step One: Planning
The space we were working on has a 9 feet ceiling and a 12 feet wide wall. After playing around with different configurations (see the sketch here), we landed on combining 2 PAX wardrobes with 3 BESTA cabinets to form an alcove around the sleeper sofa. This gave us a few inches of wiggle room to shift things around.
Tip: Your space may be different. Draw the design to scale to visualize how different combinations look. I like to use pen and paper as a first step and upgrade to SketchUp Free if I need to see more detailed renderings.
The goal of the project was to create a seamless, elegant look that would work great for a multi-purpose room. Similar to these designs:
Via Mindy Gayer
Via Historiska Hem
Step Two: Prepping the space
I was nervous about removing our brand-new baseboards. But since it’s standard to have built-ins sit flush against the wall, I decided to ask my husband to help and give it a go.
We started by using a multi-tool to cut the baseboards, then pry off the baseboards using a trim puller.
Tip: I learned this lesson later on, but you want to decide if you want the baseboard/trim flush with the cabinet box or the cabinet door early on. This determines how much you want to cut the baseboards on both sides of the walls. For our design, I liked the trim flush with the cabinet doors. So the total length of baseboard I needed to cut off was the depth of the cabinet box (22-7/8″) plus the thickness of the 1×10 trim piece (3/4″).
Start by scoring the seam between the wall and the trim. Tap the trim puller with a mallet, and gently wiggle the trim to separate it from the wall.
It was a bit nerve-raking at first. The whole time I was telling myself to not make a big hole on the wall, because repairing drywall was my worst nightmare (don’t ask me why!). I felt safe to use a heavy-duty trim puller. It minimized the risk of scrapping the drywall during demo.
Took this 12 feet long baseboard off without any damage to the wall or the baseboard itself. I’d call that a win!
After the trim was removed, there were some finishing nails left sticking out. For stubborn nails, we used both the trim puller and a pair of locking pliers to pry them off. It worked like a charm!
Step Three: Building the base (optional)
If your ceiling height is 8 feet, there will only be a 3-inch gap to fill. You can skip this step.
Since we had a 9-foot ceiling in this room, we wanted to add a base with 2x6s to minimize the gap on the top. This way we don’t end up with a disproportionally large soffit on the top.
The depth of the base should cover the full depth of the PAX wardrobe (22-7/8″). The width of the base should be the width of the wardrobe (39-1/4 ” or 29-1/2″) plus 1-2 inches (clearance for doors to open freely).
Clamping it down with corner clamps. Countersink the screws so they don’t interfere with the baseboard.
We built two separate bases, one for each PAX wardrobe, added plastic shims to level them, then secured them to studs with construction screws. You really don’t want a wobbly foundation for the built-ins.
You can see here I messed up with the measurements and had to add blocking to the side. When designing built-ins, make sure to account for clearance between the cabinets and the walls, otherwise the hardware will hit the wall every time you open the doors.
Step Four: Assembling IKEA
We used our impact driver to assemble the IKEA closets and set the torque at the lowest level to make sure we didn’t over-tighten the screws. IKEA doesn’t recommend using power tools for assembly, but it saved so much time doing it this way (it’s okay to be a rebel once in a while).
We also learned after stripping a few screws that IKEA products often come with Pozidriv screws. They look similar to Phillips screws but have additional cross offsets at 45 degree angle. If you assemble IKEA furniture a lot, grab a Pozidriv screwdriver or Pozidriv driver bits. They’re life savers.
See the difference? Philips screw (left) vs Pozidriv screw (right)
OK, a couple other things to consider in this step:
- Is your ceiling less than 8 feet high? If so, you’d want to build the PAX wardrobe standing up. If your ceiling is too low, you may not be able to stand it straight up after assembly and will have to take it apart (like what DIY Playbook ran into here).
- Do you have outlets on the wall that you want to access? Make the cut-out before securing the wardrobe to wall, so that you won’t block the outlet.
Installing PAX wardrobe was straightforward, installing the BESTA wall-mounted cabinets though, took more effort. Having an extra pair of hands was a huge help. My tip is to triple check that the reference line on the top is level all the way through, then have one person holding a long level to support the suspension rail, keeping the rail level, and the other person doing the marking and drilling.
Our wall studs are 16″ apart. The holes in the IKEA suspension rail are 12″ apart, so not every screw can be secured to a wall stud. Try to hit as many studs as possible, and use drywall anchors for the rest.
Step Five: Making IKEA look custom
This part of the build was the most challenging of the entire project. Knowing what I know now I would have done a few things differently from the very beginning.
Filling the gaps on the top
For a small gap, crown molding works great. Add blocking on the top of the cabinets and nail crown molding to it. Young House Love has a great blog post explaining the steps here.
In our case, there was roughly a 9-inch opening from the top of the cabinets to the ceiling. A pretty large gap. We needed to build a solid frame for the cover panel to attach to.
We first located the ceiling joists with a stud finder. Then measured, cut, and screwed the 2x2s with star drive screws. These GRK ones are our favorite. They’re high quality and easy to drill. After using them in a few projects, it’s hard to go back to the other options.
The top frame was secured to the ceiling joists. The bottom frame was glued and nailed in from inside the cabinets. After it was all done, we had a framing structure that ran along the entire perimeter of the cabinets.
Then we ripped down some 1/2″ plywood and cut the ends at 45-degree angle to miter the corners. This way, the rough edges are hidden.
I was so excited to install that last piece of plywood to close the gap. Selfie time.
Wait a minute. Something looks off here.
Our initial plan was to have the soffit flush with the cabinet box, like most kitchens. After adding the PAX FORSAND doors, we realized we didn’t like the recessed look (insert facepalm).
Time to pivot. we decided to add 1x10s on top of the plywood, then nailed and super glued them with 3x strength construction adhesive. This stuff works on most surfaces without prepping. Since the one by materials are ¾” thick, same as the PAX doors and only 1/8” thicker than BESTA doors, it worked out perfectly.
Filling the gaps on the sides
Another thing we learned in this project that really surprised us was that houses don’t have perfectly straight or square walls. The inside corners of a room are slightly larger than 90 degrees, which makes fitting filler pieces tricky.
Scribing is a carpentry technique that transfers the shape of the wall onto the workpiece. I learned to scribe using a trick I saw on YouTube. It wasn’t perfect, but after caulking, the seams mostly disappeared.
Then I cut along the pencil mark line with a jig saw and used my orbital sander to smooth out the edge.
Tip: Tilt the sander slightly to remove more wood from the inside that is not visible. This creates a tighter fit. If you have a table saw, you can also rip along the edge at 45 degrees.
To secure the filler piece, I first nailed a long strip of 1×3 from inside the closets, then nailed the filler piece (also 1×3) on top of it.
If I could go back, I’d cut a few pieces of scrap wood, same width of the gap, and screw them from inside the closets as support blocks (reference Installing pantry and base filler panels | kaboodle kitchen). This is stronger and is easier to do than fitting double layers of wood strips.
Covering the bottom
PAX doors don’t cover the full length of the closet. To make the whole design more seamless, we needed to find a way to cover the exposed legs as well as the 2×6 base.
There was roughly an 8-inch gap at the bottom (2×6 base height at 5-1/2″ plus 2-3/4″). We ripped down a 1×10, then glued and nailed it to the front of the base. It looked pretty sleek with the top and bottom both covered up and flush with the doors, so we didn’t add any baseboards. You can see the before and after in the pictures below. So much better, isn’t it?
If you want the trim piece to tied in with the rest of the room, you can install the same baseboard along the bottom. Watch this video to learn how to cope baseboards. I tried this technique with an orbital sander to shave off the underneath MDF. It made a much more professional and seamless joint.
You may have noticed the trim was off-white and didn’t match the color of the IKEA FORSAND doors. It was a lot more noticeable on the top vs. at the bottom. Proves that white paints can look very different in different lighting conditions. After looking through lots of paint samples, I finally found:
Sherwin William Pure White (7005)! This is the closest paint match for IKEA FORSAND and LAPPVIKEN. It’s a cool white without much undertone.
Step Six: Finishing touches
After everything was installed, I spent a couple of days filling nail holes, caulking, and touching up paint. All the tedious but necessary tasks.
To spruce things up a little bit, I also did a few enhancements.
Faux Wood Shiplap
In the center, I installed 2 shiplap panels. They were painted in a faux white oak finish with Retique It furniture paint (Smooth Finish in Barn Wood color). This finish was so perfect that it’s by far my favorite DIY faux wood look.
Tip: Paint and stain the shiplap before installing. It’s a lot easier to achieve realistic wood grains.
I also recommend taping the spot you will nail in first, before nailing the shiplap in place. After patching the nail hole, you can just peel off the tape without sanding off the wood finish. The patched nail hole will blend right in.
Elevating PAX with trim
Next, we added decorative molding to the PAX doors. This step completely elevated the look of the built-ins. We went with 13/32 wide chair rail moulding from Lowe’s. They had a slim profile and gave a subtle touch of elegance without being too chunky or overpowering.
We cut the moulding to size with miter shears and nailed them to the door 2 inches from the edge, with the help of a laser level. This ensured all the trim pieces were level and straight.
To finish it off, we added brass knobs. These were the most affordable I had seen online and so high-quality. They added warmth and a bit of bling to the space.
Final Reveal
6 weeks after I started removing the baseboards, these floor-to-ceiling built-ins are finally DONE! You can complete this project in a couple of weekends yourself, if you have help and can spend big trunks of time on it without going back and forth with miscalculations (I know, I’ve made so many mistakes).
This room actually feels a lot more spacious after the project. The built in wardrobe not only added a ton of storage, but also beautiful details that took the aesthetics to the next level. We can’t be happier with the result!
Detail Cost Breakdown
Here is the detail cost breakdown to help you decide how much to budget for a project like this.
- Lumber $150
- 2x6x8 pine board $5.35 (Quantity = 4)
- 2x2x8 pine board $2.98 (Quantity = 4)
- 1x2x8 pre-primed pine board $7.72
- 1x3x8 pre-primed pine board $6.92
- 1x10x8 pre-primed pine board $25.62 (Quantity = 4)
- IKEA $1,058
- PAX wardrobes
- BESTA wall-mounted cabinets (LAPPVIKEN doors)
- FORSAND doors
- Materials appx. $200
- 4×8 shiplap panel $36 (Quantity =2)
- 13/32″ decorative molding $5 (Quantity = 10)
- Retique It furniture paint $60
- Sherwin William trim paint $34.17
- Brass cabinet knobs $37.29
- Others (wood filler, caulk, adhesive, tack cloth, etc.)
- Total project cost: $1,500
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