Under-stairs storage, made to measure

The space beneath a staircase is an irregular wedge: tall at one end, almost nothing at the other, and usually deeper than it is wide. A single door into that void creates a dark cupboard where things disappear. Dividing it into sections that come out towards you, each sized to its height, turns the same volume into storage you can actually reach.

The tallest bay nearest the front door is usually the natural place for coats, with a rail or hooks and a shoe rack below. Moving down the slope, the height drops, so the bays become full-depth drawers on heavy-duty runners: one for bags, one for boots, one for the vacuum cleaner or recycling. The lowest section can be a shallow drawer for gloves and keys, or simply a closed panel if the height is too small to be useful.

Every staircase is different, so the survey matters more here than almost anywhere. We record the pitch of the stair, the underside of the stringer, the position of any gas or electricity meters, and whether the space is open on one side or both. Meters and consumer units have to stay accessible, and we design a hinged or lift-out panel around them rather than blocking them in.

The pieces are made in our workshop with the angled tops cut to the stair line, then brought to site and fitted in place. The fronts are scribed to the stair string and the hallway wall, and the doors can be handle-free with push openers or fitted with ironmongery that suits the rest of the house. Painted finishes can be matched to the stair balustrade or the hall woodwork so the unit looks like part of the original staircase.

In homes where the stair sits in an open-plan room rather than a hallway, the same space can take a wine store, a small desk, a cloakroom cupboard, or shelving that faces the living area. We treat it as a design question first: what does this household need close to the front door, or close to the sofa, and what is currently piled up somewhere it should not be?

Weight and use drive the hardware. Pull-outs that carry boots or a vacuum need runners rated for the load and full extension, so the back of the drawer clears the stair string. Doors that are opened dozens of times a day by children need robust hinges and a finish that can be wiped. We talk through these day-to-day details at the drawing stage, since they matter far more over the years than the first impression.

Because under-stairs units are compact, they are a good introduction to how we work. The same survey, drawing and workshop process applies as on a full wardrobe project, just at a smaller scale.