Ikea Corner Closet Hack: Two Solutions You’ll Want to Try for a Custom Walk-in Closet

In this post, we’re sharing two corner solutions to easily create an Ikea PAX hack for a custom walk-in closet design.

When building our built-in DIY closet with PAX wardrobes, we figured out how to customize PAX corner units to fit our specific closet configuration.

Continue reading to see the two ways we tried and the final results!

PAX Corner Unit Hack #1

The first Ikea PAX corner wardrobe we needed to figure out comprised of two different PAX unit depths.

For our DIY closet, we chose to trim out and paint the PAX wardrobe for a completely custom look but still had to pick out which PAX units to purchase.

When designing our closet on the online PAX planner, I couldn’t find the corner PAX wardrobe as an option to add.

For some reason, it seems to be discontinued or I just can’t find it as an option on the USA Ikea website or on the PAX planner at all.

So we had to improvise a little bit to make sure we maximized our walk-in closet space and tested out a few different configurations!

Ikea PAX Corner Closet Solution — *PAX Corner Solution: 22″ depth unit on the left + 13″ depth unit on the right*

This was the best Ikea closet corner solution that worked well for our space: 22” deep unit on one side and a 13” deep unit on the other.

This is how the PAX corner hack turned out once trimmed out for a built-in closet look!

The final result after painting the PAX wardrobes and trim a light greige color:

Check out our detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to trim out and paint a custom Ikea PAX wardrobe!

This corner PAX hack works for us since we were already planning on mixing up the depths of the units for our closet to maximize space.

If you have enough space in your walk-in closet, you can possibly opt for the SAME depth units but for us, our closet wasn’t deep enough to fit the 22″ along the back wall so we chose 13″ depth units.

Our PAX units slightly overlap but the amount of overlap will depend on how deep your closet is.

Custom PAX Corner Unit Hack #2

On the other corner of our walk-in closet, we had a floor vent where a PAX unit would normally go.

Because of the floor vent placement, we had to figure out how to custom-fit another hanging space without covering the floor vent.

We ordered an extra 13″ depth frame to use (just the side frame pieces) for this custom built-in corner area.

We also designed an area with closed storage for linens and other random items that would look messy so we opted for another unit with PAX doors for the right side.

Ikea PAX Design on PAX planner — *Our Ikea PAX planner walk-in closet design*

How to DIY a Custom Corner Frame (PAX Hack)

We needed to DIY a custom frame to fit in one of the corners of the closet. To save time, we purchased an additional PAX frame for the side panels.

The 13 3/4” depth of the frame was a perfect fit. The only customization needed was the width.

Ikea Pax Corner Closet — *Removing the backing that came with the 13″ deep PAX frame*

After gathering measurements, I cut the 3 shelves from a 4’x4’ sheet of plywood.

*Buying the 4’x4′ plywood sheet from Home Depot*

I first marked out the cuts with a straight edge and used a track saw to quickly and accurately make the cuts. A 4×8’ foam insulation board was used for support underneath while cutting.

These cuts also could have been done with a circular saw and a straight edge.

You should also sand the plywood shelves at this point (which I forgot to do). It would have been much easier to sand the edges of the shelves before installing them in place!

Next, I attached the shelves to the side PAX panels. I put the side with the holes on the outside of the frame so that there would be fewer holes to fill.

After test-fitting this, I attached another DIY plywood backer board cut to size (I primed this earlier with the rest of the primed plywood backs).

Support Pieces

I needed to create additional supports for the custom frame to sit at the same height as the other frames.

For one side, I used one of the panels from the extra PAX frame. It was cut down to match the height of the 2×6 bases.

For the other side, I created another base out of 2x6s. I also secured a 2×4 vertically to support the left side of the custom frame.

After the frame was in place, I built another L-shaped bracket out of 2x6s to mount the frame to the wall studs.

This is how it looked after trimming out the bottom baseboards and crown trim to the ceiling.

This is the final result of this DIY custom PAX closet corner after painting:

We hope you found this Ikea corner closet hack useful when planning your DIY walk-in closet design!

Check out our full detailed blog post with a step-by-step tutorial on how to DIY a Custom Ikea Built-in Closet!

The complete guide includes our total project cost, the exact PAX products we bought, how to trim out the PAX for a custom built-in look, how to paint the PAX wardrobe, and more!