One Room Challenge Week 5: Nursery Ikea Closet Customization

Hello Friends!

We’re already more than halfway through the Spring One Room Challenge! Our little wildflower nursery is coming together so well, and looking SO adorable.

If you’re new here, catch up on our nursery project from previous weeks: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4

This week’s project was all about storage! We have our refinished Ikea dresser/change table that will store some things, but we also wanted to upgrade the builder-grade closet to add a lot more functional storage space for all of her cute little clothes and baby gear.

Before

The closet used to have these really gross-looking aluminum/MDF sliding doors, but the opening space isn’t huge, so it was hard to access anything you put in the middle of the closet. It also had the typical simple wire rack with hanging storage, but definitely wasn’t super functional. To prep for our closet customization, we decided to take off the doors, rip down the shelf, and paint the space white to match the rest of the room.

The Initial Plan

If you’ve been following us on instagram, you probably have noticed that we’ve slowly been upgrading all of our closets to add more storage space. The other two we decided to do on a budget and source shelves off of marketplace to repurpose. For this one we knew we wanted to take off the doors, so whatever we installed, we wanted it to match the rest of the room’s aesthetic.

If you’re following my Nursery Inspo Pinterest board, you’ll notice that I have pinned quite a few nursery closets on there! I have seen so many cute ones out there, and most of them used the Ikea Pax closet system and just customized it to fit their dimensions. That was our intention too, until we realized that we definitely wouldn’t be able to find all of the pieces (drawers, drawer fronts, shelves, rods) that we needed in stock in time for the baby to arrive! We were kind of bummed when we realized this, because we hadn’t looked into any other options, but then we kind of just stumbled upon the newer Ikea Aurdal system, and thank goodness one of our local ikeas had it in stock!!

Ikea Aurdal

At first I wasn’t sure how this one measured up to the Pax, and it didn’t have a ton of reviews, so it was really hard to tell what the quality was like. But other than the way the base of the unit is set up, the Aurdal does look pretty similar to the Pax, and has similar customization options. We measured our closet space and decided to go with one of their already customized/packaged versions that seemed to work well with our space, but the option was also there to use their closet-builder to customize the unit even more.

I have heard some people complain about the Pax installation process, but the Aurdal installation was a breeze! Brian had the main unit and rods set up in an hour, and said that it was the easiest piece of Ikea furniture he has ever put together! The only somewhat time-consuming part was just me trying to decide where the rods, drawers, and shelves should go (#designfatigue)!

We decided to make sure there was enough space between the two sets of rods for adult clothes, since this is likely not our forever home, and we moved the drawers up, so that there was some space at the bottom for baskets that we can put shoes or toys in. What is really nice about it though is that it would be pretty simple if we ever wanted to change the placement of anything later on. So once she starts dressing herself, we could shift the drawers down if we wanted to, so that she could easily reach them all.

Adding our own customizations

Since all of the clothes we’ll be hanging up in the closet will be teeny tiny, we our plan is to add some shelves above the lower clothes rails for additional storage. We would have added some to the upper rails and top of the unit, but the way our closet opening was designed doesn’t allow for much space to fit things up there. There is a shelf on the very top of the unit above our closet opening, so that’s where we’ll put all of the clothes she’s grown out of, since we won’t need to easily access them.

We haven’t added the extra shelves yet, because we’re currently waiting for a curbside pick-up order (yet again!) from Lowes. We found that it was cheapest to buy a white melamine shelf from the hardware store, rather than a piece of lumber that we would have to sand and paint. We bought an 8ft long shelf from Lowes and we’ll just cut it to the dimensions we need to fit between the wall and the closet insert. Brian is planning to add some wood strapping in a U shape along the sides and back of the closet for the shelf to sit on.

Depending on how you space out the drawers, they are relatively easy to open, but we decided to add our own knobs to match the change table dresser. We just measured the middle point on each drawer, and added tape to help prevent splitting of the particle board before drilling through. The knobs we used were from Amazon. 

We still have to get some storage baskets and decide how to organize all of her clothes, but it’s looking pretty good so far! At first I wasn’t sure about having an open closet, but now I think I’m going to love it, since there are so many storage options that will keep things neat and tidy! We’ve been slowly accumulating her wardrobe, and I can’t wait to get everything washed and hung up in here!

Overall, I definitely recommend the Aurdal unit! It’s great quality for the price, easily customizable, and very simple to assemble! I also love that the drawers are soft-close drawers, which is perfect for a kid’s closet. I think it was either very similar to what we would have paid for the pax, or just slightly more. Definitely worth it!

What’s left on the list:

• Paint the room
• Marketplace Ikea Dresser Revamp
• Install a custom closet – almost done!
• Wallpaper Feature Wall
• Build and install book and Toy Storage
• Order window coverings
• Install window coverings
• Assemble furniture
• Source and install lighting
• Install Gallery Wall
• Find a mirror
• Add rugs
• Add finishing decor pieces & plants!

Don’t forget to check out the Featured Designers and other Guest Participants who are also participating in the Spring One Room Challenge!!

Cheers!

Julie