This Budget-Friendly IKEA Wardrobe Hack Doubled My Closet Space

published Mar 2, 2023
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While I know many people would probably love to have a massive walk-in closet, the reality is that, in most homes, closet space is usually (sadly) limited — especially if you’re living in an apartment. That’s definitely the case for our old house which, evidently, predated built-in closets. In fact, besides a few large wardrobes included with the home when we bought it, we practically lacked closets altogether. Naturally, closet space became a major priority when renovating our bedroom nearly two years ago.

The project involved combining two smaller bedrooms into one large primary, which meant completely gutting the space. This gave us the opportunity to really plan out the size of our closet. While we probably could’ve done a small walk-in layout if we really wanted to, we had limited square footage and didn’t want to sacrifice a lot of floor space. Ultimately, we decided to build our closet so that it spanned the entire end wall of our room, making it quite wide but a standard depth.

Credit: Cori Sears

We’d already spent more than initially planned on the renovation (isn’t that how it always goes?), so on top of wanting to maximize storage, I also wanted to skew budget-conscious with my decisions. Sure, we could’ve sprung for a custom closet system, but, frankly, it just wasn’t in the cards. Honestly, even filling the entire space with a modular system felt too expensive. Instead, we essentially DIYed our own bespoke setup, installing double clothing rails on the inside of the closet (both my boyfriend and I are pretty tall, so the height isn’t an issue), a shelf across the top, and two IKEA AURDAL storage systems on both ends of the closet. Rather than facing them outwards, though, we chose to turn them sideways — tucking them against the shorter, inner walls of the closet to fully utilize all of the space efficiently

The AURDAL system has small spaces in mind, and it’s completely customizable. You can purchase pre-designed wardrobe combinations online, or create your own setup by buying pieces individually. The collection includes shelves, clothing rails, shoe racks, drawers, and wire baskets that you can mix and match. We used a combination of drawers, shelves, and shoe racks (for me) to complete our closet. You can also choose from white or black finishes; we opted for the former since it matched our existing clothing rails and shelf, all from The Home Depot.

Credit: Cori Sears

Almost two years in, our closet is still one of my favorite parts of the bedroom. It fits so much clothing, I have a sneaking suspicion our wardrobes have grown over time because storage hasn’t been an issue. The best part is that this sideways AURDAL hack could be completed in any fairly wide closet, as long as its at least 24-inches deep. You can build the AURDAL around an existing clothing rail, if needed or as its own standalone module. Either way, this affordable IKEA product and installation tweak can help you double your closet storage, even if you can’t have the walk-in closet of your dreams.