Our DIY Dressing Room Hacked IKEA PAX Wardrobe

*** cLICK HERE FOR THE FINAL REVEAL OF OUR NEW DRESSING ROOM***

We were very fortunate to have been able to move to our current house.  We love the openness of the ground floor's layout and the bedrooms are practical in size.  The dressing room came about when we were at the builder's office examining our floor plan, and a light bulb went on in the Mr.'s head.  "Can we add a door on this wall?", he asked the builder's rep, pointing at the wall between the master ensuite and an adjacent bedroom.  What was pictured in the air bubble above his head was to delete the planned walk-in closet in our master bedroom, and instead make the bedroom behind the ensuite into our dressing room.  This way, we will have a nice sitting area in our bedroom and practically the back half of the upper floor to ourselves!   

Everything went according to our plan, and it was a dream-come-true for both of us!  (Yes, for the Mr. also, just look at his shirt collection!)  It was the first room we tackled after moving in, because we really didn't want to be living out of Rubbermaid bins for who-knows-how-long.   

The Mr. hacked the IKEA PAX Wardrobe system and added trims and mouldings to make the closet frames look as if they were custom built.  Our ceiling on the second floor is 8' high, so we bought the 236cm high frames.  We had several different plans of the frames' layout, but ultimately chose this one.  We each have 2 wide hanging frames and a slim frame in the middle with drawers.  But of course, I also took up the third wall's hanging space...  and some shelves. 

Being his "particular" self, the Mr. had already amassed a collection of IKEA wooden hangers for his dress shirts.  I, on the other hand, was still using all different coloured hangers, plastic/ wooden/ drycleaner metal hangers...  you name it, I got it.  

All different hangers I have collected over the years.

Our un-glamourous side...  ok, it was mostly my stuff while I was purging.  All those bags of purged items drove the Mr. crazy...  they sat there for...  um, a long time.  Well, I just needed time to COMPLETE the purging, that's all.

I eventually got some white velvet hangers on a flash sale site at an awesome price!  They're the best for women's clothes, which usually have thin and slippery material.  Just that small investment made the dressing room more coherent and less chaotic.   

Ahhhh...  this looks so much better, and the Mr. felt relieved. 

I don't know if the Mr. noticed, but I purposely hung my lighter-coloured clothing at the frame that faces the dressing room's entrance.  I think it helps make the room lighter than if I were to hang dark-coloured clothes there.   

So there you have it, our somewhat glamourous dressing room...  though it's really still a work in progress.  We still need to: 

• get 2 seats, one each for the Mr. and myself, or a small bench in front of the island - got a bench instead

• hack 2 IKEA dressers, put them back-to-back to form an "island" in the middle of the room. 

• finish off the drawer fronts - to make them look custom 

• design window treatment 

• maybe get some wall art 

• maybe get some plants at the window 

• maybe paint the frames and moldings a taupe colour 

The blue bench was our most recent addition to the dressing room.  It's great to be able to sit while putting on socks, and not hopping around while at it.  (I'll try not to use it as my next dumping spot.)

Would you convert an extra bedroom to a dressing room?