Islington · London
Barnsbury Under-Stairs Storage
Pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs, for homes in Barnsbury. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags
- A tired under-stairs cupboard that stands out
- Needing a compact spot for a laptop
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
Under-stairs storage in Barnsbury
In some homes the stairs rise from the living room or kitchen, so the storage beneath them is on show. Here the doors, drawer fronts and finish matter as much as the storage behind them. Fronts can be plain or panelled, with handles chosen to suit the room. In Barnsbury or anywhere else, the aim is storage that looks considered, not added on. We make under-stairs cupboards from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand, and people most often get in touch about no room for a small desk or a place to work and a staircase with untidy space beneath it.
With most households around Barnsbury in purpose-built flats, mansion blocks and modern developments are both possible. Older mansion block flats can have bays, long corridors and tall ceilings with space to use, while modern flats often have short halls and service boxing to work around. If you have a maisonette or duplex, the stairs can take storage too.
You get the quote in writing, so there’s time to read it properly. It covers the design, materials and finish agreed at the visit.
- Place
- Barnsbury (N1, N1P, N7)
- Borough
- Islington
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Pricing under-stairs storage in Barnsbury
What it costs comes down to the materials and the time involved. The main factors are:
- Parking and unloading on your street
- The number of doors and drawers
- How big the furniture is
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
Getting to the room affects the job as well. Narrow halls, tight stairs or a small lift may mean the furniture is made in more sections, which the quote allows for. There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space.
Before the design visit
Ahead of the design visit, we will normally ask about:
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Approximate measurements of the space
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it. For a quote, send us a few details through our contact form.
Is it time for under-stairs storage?
When a home is short on storage, the space under the stairs is too useful to waste. A well-designed under-stairs cupboard can take the coats, shoes, cleaning things and bags that would otherwise crowd the hall. It also takes pressure off the other cupboards in the house.
A few of the things people ask us to solve include:
- Coats and shoes piling up in the hall
- Nowhere to keep the vacuum and ironing board
- The low end of the space going to waste
- A meter or fuse board buried behind clutter
Dr Johnson's House, about 2.1 miles south, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Have they measured the stairs, lift and doorways?
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
- Will other trades be needed, and who arranges them?
Fitted storage in Barnsbury
Homes built before 1919 make up about 39% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Barnsbury, with about 25% built since 2000, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. The National Heritage List has 157 entries within half a mile of the centre of Barnsbury. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and under-stairs cupboards can be designed to work around them. About 60% of households in the streets around Barnsbury live in purpose-built flats, in the ONS Census 2021 figures. For a flat, under-stairs cupboards are made in sections sized for the stairs, the lift and the doors. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
If you live in a flat close to Caledonian Road & Barnsbury station, the route in is measured as well as the room, and the sections are sized to fit it. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as The Clock Tower, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features may need listed building consent.
Barnsbury is part of the London Borough of Islington, about 1 mile north-east of Highbury. Our work covers every London borough and the City of London, Barnsbury included. Across Islington, we cover Barnsbury.
Every address in N1, N1P and N7 is covered for under-stairs storage, from the main roads to the quieter streets. If your home is on a street like Cliff Road, Lough Road and North Road, or close by, we can visit to measure up for under-stairs storage. Barnsbury is near the A5200 and A5203; on busy main roads, unloading under-stairs cupboards takes a little planning. Neighbouring places we cover for under-stairs storage include Lower Holloway (1 mile north), Islington (1 mile south-east), Agar Town (1 mile south-west), Pentonville (1 mile south-east) and Holloway (1 mile north). Elsewhere in Islington, we also cover Farringdon (2 miles south), Finsbury (2 miles south-east), St Luke's (2 miles south-east) and Upper Holloway (2 miles north-west).
Local landmarks in Barnsbury
Our area takes in the homes around Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, St Mary Magdalene Academy and The White Horse Public House and the streets around them. Barnsbury has its own railway station: Caledonian Road & Barnsbury station. Well-known places in the area include Queer Britain (0.7 miles south-west) and Brunswick Centre (1.4 miles south). Green spaces nearby include Barnsbury Wood.
Looking after your furniture
Looking after painted furniture is simple. These habits help most:
- Empty the cupboard so we can measure every corner
- Plan decorating around the fitting
- Bring paint colours you like to the design visit
- Let us know about anything bulky that needs to fit
A soft, damp cloth is the best way to keep the fronts clean. Dry them afterwards, and avoid abrasive pads and strong solvents. Handles and the edges of drawers are touched most, so give them a wipe now and then.
Keep the doors and drawers closed when the space isn’t in use. A quick sort every so often stops drawers getting too heavy. Wipe up any spills, particularly near the floor, before they dry.
Questions we are often asked
My home in Barnsbury is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
We measure the route in as well as the room: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Under-stairs cupboards are made in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it’s worth checking those early.
Can you make under-stairs storage for a home in Barnsbury?
Yes, Barnsbury is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Islington and the rest of London. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, and then we send a quote.
Is the furniture spray painted or hand painted?
There are two options: a spray finish from the workshop, which is smooth and even, or hand painting, which can be done in your home. Your quote sets out which you’ve chosen.
Can you fit furniture to uneven walls?
Uneven walls are normal in older London homes, and the furniture is made to deal with them. Edges are scribed to the wall, and adjustable feet or a plinth bring the furniture up to level.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture to avoid condensation. If there is damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. You don’t need to watch us work, but it is useful to be around at the end.
Flats, conversions and lettings
Landlords furnishing a let use fitted furniture too. It’s made from the same moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood as any of our work.
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them during the design visit, and we will plan the fitting around them.
Neighbourhoods near Barnsbury
What else we make in Barnsbury
What happens on fitting day
The last stage of the day is the finish. With a spray finish from the workshop, there is typically only filling and touching up to do in the room; if you chose hand painting, that can be done in the room once the furniture is fitted. The finish is always the one agreed in your quote. Sections come into the flat in the order they’re fitted, so the flat doesn’t fill up. Floors are covered and dust is kept down. The fixings suit each wall, whether solid or stud.
- You tell us about the stairs and what you’d like to store, like coats, shoes or the vacuum cleaner.
- At the design visit, the space is measured and any meters are noted, because they must stay accessible.
- The design is agreed and a quote in writing follows, with the finish set out.
- Every part is made at our workshop, ready for a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
- We fit it in your home and check every drawer and door with you. The way to any meters is left clear.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
How to get a quote
You do not need exact measurements to get started. Everything is measured properly when we visit, along with the walls, floor and ceiling. To get started, use our contact form with a few details about the room. You receive a written quote after the visit.