In Latin, pax means peace. In Swedish, I'm pretty sure it means: totally brilliant, extremely versatile and wonderfully affordable cabinet. Yes, the Ikea Pax is a great solution to many a storage woe, and the one I turn to when a client's budget doesn't allow for custom built wardrobes.

The Pax comes in a multitude of finishes, heights, and depths, making it a great choice for nearly any space. The doors can swing out or--my favorite--slide, which is ideal when space is tight. And it can be easily customized inside too, with a heady variety of shelves, drawers, and baskets to fit anything you can throw at it. I've used it in office spaces to store printers, shredders, and other unsightly gadgets. And it works equally well in a home, if your room is lacking in closet space, or if you just want to keep stuff out of sight. For as you know, storing items behind closed doors is a quick route to visual serenity.

A few tricks to utilize when trotting out this wonder:

1. Deploy them in multiples. Five Pax wardrobes in a row look infinitely more expensive than a solitary one. There's something about the visual repetition that seems purposeful and custom, and therefore luxe.

2. Choose your door fronts carefully. The glossy white Fardal option is pricier than some, but really looks much more costly than the matte ones. It's worth the extra cash.

3. Trick them out. By all means, don't limit yourself to the hardware sold at Ikea. Source some beautiful door pulls, like these ones below, in campaign style with a brass finish.

Cover the front panels with some fantastic wallpaper, like this pattern below: Herbarium by Stig Lindberg.

Or make yourself a striped toe kick, like Emily Henderson did for the wardrobes at the top of this post and below.

The prize for the most radical Pax transformation, however, no doubt belongs to Jenny Komenda of Little Green Notebook. She used them to create a huge amount of built in storage--including a hidden vanity--for a fraction of what it would have cost to do custom. By painting the wardrobes the same color as her walls, adding crown moulding at the top, and adhering mirrored panels to the doors, she made the Pax totally beautiful--and almost unrecognizable.

Incredible, no? As you see, you can create some truly phenomenal storage at a very reasonable price. So just Pax it up, and enjoy.