ᐅ Is IKEA IVAR Suitable for a Walk-in Closet? Alternatives?

kati1337 schrieb:

But that would still leave open how to realize the corner.

If you don’t use a corner Ivar, I would probably place regular Ivars on both sides of the corner and fit the corner with a proper door. Then you can put whatever you want behind the door—either a vacuum cleaner and other tall or bulky items, or custom-made shelves tailored to size. The advantage is that the “corner cabinet” can be as big or as small as you want. The further the Ivars on the right and left are from the corner, the larger the cabinet becomes. Although, corners—no matter how they’re designed—are never really very practical. They just look like they are. It’s all an illusion. 😀

@Bertram100 could you share some photos of your solution? The idea with the banana boxes sounds interesting.

And @kbt09, you can’t really use pants extenders as drawers, can you?

I also like IVAR a lot and had many shelves as a teenager, but eventually, they all got removed... later I had a metal shelving system, which was incredibly durable and flexible... but that was removed too. Now I would have to buy it all again at a high cost. I don’t know why I never thought ahead about this.

What always bothered me about IVAR was that you couldn’t clean it properly by wiping, and things often stuck to the shelves, causing threads to pull or splinters to come loose. So, using it as a wardrobe... well... maybe it would get annoying after a while?

@Tamstar, yes, it extends far enough so you can easily hang pants over it. One could argue that you can also fold pants, but I definitely wanted everything hanging because the clothes stay smoother that way. Only laundry, socks, sweaters, and scarves are kept in the drawers.

For long hanging items, I have an old 60 cm (24 inch) tall cabinet next to the Paxes. Opposite that is an old 60 cm (24 inch) deep shelf for bedding, etc.

This was planned down to the millimeter. In that part of the room, an old chimney shaft was covered, and while my landlord was doing that, I checked the measurements daily to make sure the planned Paxes would still fit. I was just able to squeeze in the two 75 cm (30 inch) units. They definitely won’t tip over 😉.

After 11 years, my conclusion is that given the room and the circumstances, I would do it the same way again.

Although I am also an old Ivar fan. My oldest shelf is from 1981 😉. I even had custom boards made for the storage room. There, Ivar spans 132 cm (52 inch) from wall to wall and simply can’t fall over. My office was planned with IVAR in mind. Then the rest of the IVAR ended up in the basement.

@kati1337, I also find those Ivar corner units rather impractical. I used to have a small one (30 cm (12 inch) deep) and a large one. I would always try to create a custom corner solution. You just have to do some sort of storage planning beforehand, like you do for a kitchen layout 😉, you know what I mean.

I have been using the deep Ivar shelves as storage solutions in utility rooms, attics, and laundry rooms for almost 20 years. They are definitely not cheap, but in my opinion, they are ideal for this purpose.

However, I wouldn’t consider using them as a replacement for a wardrobe without any additional treatment. The wood is too roughly finished for that, with things like splinters and resin.

And if you later want a detailed solution from a closet system, it won’t work because, for example, there are no fixed side panels or back panels.

@Tamstar
Here are some photos. The still life is called "Banana Boxes in Ivar." 😀 I know Marie Konto would be shocked, so no need to mention it again. Hopefully, she’s not reading here. 😀

My Ivar is still temporary but unfortunately quite functional. So the “tidying up” is taking a bit of time, stretching over the years. 😱 😀

This is the curtain. A sturdy cotton fabric, something like fine rib knit. The back part of the cabinet will be removed again once the boxes are unpacked. 😉

I simply trimmed the banana crate lids with a sharp kitchen knife. This way, I have great space-saving “drawers.” Very sturdy, don’t squeak, cost nothing, and are easy to decorate. I can definitely recommend it.

Also, the banana crate drawers proved incredibly practical during the move. I was able to take them with me without unpacking. 😎

I find these life hacks pretty cool. My wife wouldn’t go for something like this. She already dislikes the fabric storage boxes I got during my bachelor days. I always have to rescue one from the trash bags...