Ikea Boaxel Closet System Review

Are you looking for a closet system to add to your home, but aren’t sure which one will work best? If you want an affordable option with many configurations, read through this Ikea Boaxel closet system review to see if it’s a good fit.

Deciding to rework a closet usually means that your current closet system isn’t working for you. A non-functioning closet system can cause you to have a disorganized mess or tons of wasted space or both. I recently took on a project to customize a teen closet to make it more functional. After a ton of research, my client and I chose the Ikea Boaxel closet system.

I have assembled tons of Ikea products, but this is the first time I have installed a closet system of any type. I admit I ran into some problems more than a few times, but I got it installed – and I did it alone. So, if you’re new to this, deep breaths, you can do it!

This post is all about a review of the Ikea Boaxel closet system, the materials needed, and some tips and tricks that you can use to successfully install your own system.

The Ikea Boaxel Closet System Tips and Review From a First-Time User Perspective.

Start With A Full Declutter Of The Space

Before you settle on which type of system to buy, you need to do a full declutter of your space. This step is most likely the most important one! (Seriously, do not skip this step.) In order to decide how your closet will best function, you need to take everything out. Yes, everything! Clearing the space allows you to see how much space you have, gives you the chance to measure, forces you to purge, and gives you a chance to deep clean. I promise you will find things in that closet that don’t belong there at all. Get it down to the bare essentials and you might discover that you only need to add bins or baskets.

Figure Out Your Problems And Come Up With Solutions

What do I mean by that? Basically, you need to look at your space and look at your stuff and decide what you need. In the case of the closet I reworked, the problem was that the school uniform clothes were often mixed in with casual clothes and coats. As a result, it took too long to find what was needed to get ready in the mornings.

Most closets come standard with a clothing bar mounted across the back wall and maybe a shelf on top – if you’re lucky. This usually means that clothes are hung, stuff is stuffed on the shelf and access items and shoes are piled on the floor. If this sounds like your closet, you will benefit from checking out the Boaxel system. But, it begins with a purge, an inventory of your things, and a plan. Just adding a system won’t necessarily make you organized, you have to take all the steps.

The Cost of the Boaxel System

Originally, the diagram above shows the plan for this closet project. The new installation consists of 4 clothing bars, 4 shelves, and 2 shoe shelves. The total cost of this system and new hangers was less than $200! Seriously, the shelves for this system are only $12. Really? Actually, not a single component in this system is priced more than $12. Even if you’re on a super tight budget, you can add to your system slowly and have a full-functioning closet in no time at all. So, when it comes to cost… the Boaxel is extremely reasonable.

The Supplies Needed To Install The Ikea Boaxel System

Before you start a project like this, you need to gather all of your supplies and set them up in a way that you can easily grab them while working. Looking back, a tool belt would be a huge help- I didn’t have one but wished for one many times. Definitely watch a few “How To” videos before starting this installation to gain some confidence. Here is my favorite video that you might want to view before starting. (Maybe one day I’ll be the expert and make videos of my own, but for now, I will give credit to my teacher on YouTube.)

A big thank you to The Organization Station for helping me with my project!

On with the supplies! You will need:

(If you don’t own these items, you can click to check out what I own and use)

Drill (Click Here for the link to my Exact Drill)
Screws and anchors – (I used this #8 drywall screw kit)
Level (This small magnetic one was THE BEST)
Stud Finder (Franklin Professional Stud Finder)
Tape Measure (This One With The Laser Light Is The Best)
Screwdriver (This Craftsman Screwdriver Set)

My Overall Ikea Boaxel Closet System Tips…

As a first-timer, I found the hanging and assembly to be pretty straightforward. I am SO happy I watched the YouTube instructional video because the tips I learned really saved me.

Here are the tips that saved me:

Measure, then measure again. Honestly, don’t just start rushing to get it all up and in place. Take your time and see how high you want it, if you want it to be centered, and make sure it’s level!
Get the horizontal pieces up and in place but only add the center screw. Only adding a center screw to start allows you to make sure it is level before you start drilling your screws. Again, it’s about slowing down and making sure you have it just right.
DO NOT MOUNT THE VERTICAL BARS UNTIL YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO! Ok, this advice saved me from so much frustration. Allowing the vertical bars to move gives you the ability to move things around with ease. Once you set screws in the vertical bars of the system, it makes it much hard to move the shelves and bars around. Believe me when I tell you, mount the vertical bars last. Not only will it save you so much time, but it will also save you so much frustration.
Beware, not mounting the vertical bars means they can unlatch! Waiting to mount the vertical bars means you can move things around, but it also means those bars can unlatch from the horizontal bar and crash down. It happened to me twice… ok three times. And, it’s a little scary to have pieces start to unlatch and fall. I am sure that if I put one up again – which I will- this won’t happen to me again. Next time, I will loosely attach the vertical bar to the horizontally mounted strip with blue painter’s tape. Just adding a little tape should keep it from unlatching.

Final Thoughts On The IKea Boaxel System

It’s affordable.
The Ikea Planner makes planning your space extremely easy.
The new order online- pick up at store option is seamless. Do it!
One person can install the system alone.

Overall, I highly recommend this system. Any issues I faced were from my own errors. For example, I didn’t notice that the original shelf was mounted to the wall where I was mounting the new system. Because we weren’t ripping out the entire closet, I needed to double-check the mounting of the old closet system.

This post is all about my review of the Ikea Boxel Closet System.

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Organization begins with awareness of what doesn’t work for us.”