Hackney · London
Under-stairs storage in Clapton, Hackney
Under-stairs storage for your home in Clapton: pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- A dark, wasted space under the stairs
- Cleaning things with no proper home
- Stairs open to a room, with clutter on show
Need under-stairs storage in Clapton?
Under-stairs storage in Clapton
Every staircase has its own shape. The underside slopes, the side of the stairs runs at its own angle and the floor below is rarely perfectly level. Each under-stairs cupboard we make follows those lines, so the fronts sit neatly against the stairs. It’s the part of the job a boxed unit simply cannot manage. We make under-stairs cupboards from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and the things people most often want solved are nowhere to keep the vacuum and ironing board and a fuse board that’s hard to get to.
Where original shutters, doors or panelling survive, they’re worth designing around. With a large share of the homes around Clapton built before 1919, new storage can be made to sit beside them rather than replace them. Door styles can be chosen to suit the age of the house. For a listed home, fixing into original joinery can need consent, so check first.
Where other trades are needed, for instance an electrician to move a socket, we point that out, so it can be arranged before fitting day. Our quote covers the carpentry: the design, the materials and the finish.
- Where
- Clapton (E5, N16, E8)
- Borough
- Hackney
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Storage in Clapton homes: local notes
About 46% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Clapton went up before 1919, and about 16% since 2000, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). It is a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Within a mile of the centre of Clapton, 10 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Purpose-built flats are home to about 55% of households in the streets around Clapton, in the ONS Census 2021 figures. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
Near listed buildings like Pond House, less than half a mile south-east of the centre of Clapton, older homes may keep original joinery that under-stairs cupboards can be designed around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. If your home is one of the older houses near Church of St James the Great, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space.
Clapton is in the London Borough of Hackney, about 2 miles south of Shoreditch. Wherever you are in Clapton, it works the same way: a design visit, a quote in writing, furniture made at our workshop and fitting in your home. Clapton is one of the places in Hackney where we make under-stairs storage.
Every home in E5, N16 and E8 is covered for under-stairs storage, from the main roads to the quieter streets. Whether you live on a street like Muir Road, Downs Road and Tilia Road or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for under-stairs storage. Nearby, we also make under-stairs storage in Lea Bridge (1 mile north-east), West Hackney (1 mile west), Homerton (1 mile south-east), Lower Clapton (1 mile south-east) and Shacklewell (1 mile south-west). We also make under-stairs storage in nearby places such as Shoreditch (2 miles south), Hoxton (2 miles south-west), Haggerston (2 miles south-west) and Manor House (2 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Clapton
Our area takes in the homes around Newcome's School, Baden-Powell School and The Amhurst Arms Public House and the streets around them. There is a railway station in Clapton itself: Clapton station. Other landmarks nearby include Clowns Gallery-Museum (1.2 miles south-west) and Homerton University Hospital (0.8 miles south-east). For a walk, there’s Woodberry Wetlands.
What happens on fitting day
The last stage of the day is the finish. If the furniture was spray painted in the workshop, we fill the fixing holes and touch up on site; hand painting, if that is what you chose, can be done in place once everything is fitted. Either way, the finish is the one set out in your quote. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that are not straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. Floors are protected, and dust is kept down as far as possible. It is useful to tell us about parking at the design visit, as terraced streets are often busy.
- You get in touch and tell us a little about the space under your stairs.
- We visit to measure the space and discuss the design with you, keeping the meters and fuse board easy to reach.
- You receive a written quote for the storage we have discussed.
- Your storage is made in our workshop and painted to the colour you chose.
- We bring it to your home, fit it and leave it ready to use.
Before fitting day
- Take anything hanging off the wall we’re fitting to
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
Starting with a design visit
To make a start, tell us about the room on our contact form and tell us which room you have in mind and roughly what you’d like. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and a written quote follows.
Advice
Nearby places to Clapton
What else we make in Clapton
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: flat-pack is usually cheaper to buy. Bespoke earns its place where the room is awkward, space is tight or you want the furniture to look part of the house.
Off-the-shelf furniture can be a sensible choice. If the walls are straight and the space suits standard sizes, it often does the job.
Do you need under-stairs storage in Clapton?
Some people simply want somewhere for coats and shoes. A coat and shoe section under the stairs keeps the floor clear and the door easy to open, and everyone knows where things go.
Common reasons to get in touch include:
- An old cupboard door that doesn’t suit the hall
- Open space under the stairs that collects clutter
- Wanting a quiet corner for paperwork
- Cleaning things with no proper home
If your children go to BSix Sixth Form College or a school nearby, under-stairs cupboards can give school bags, shoes and sports kit a proper home.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
- How they handle walls that are not straight
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Whether the route into your home has been checked
Common questions about under-stairs storage
Is parking a problem for fitting in Clapton?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a pay-and-display bay or a suspended bay, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Can you make under-stairs storage for a home in Clapton?
Yes, we work across Hackney, Clapton included, and across the rest of London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Could the space under my stairs take a desk?
Often, yes, where the space opens onto a room and there’s enough height at one end. A built-in desk with shelves above and drawers below can work well. Any socket or light there is for your electrician, and we plan around it.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Conservation areas mostly control changes to the outside, and furniture inside a house does not normally need it. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
Should I choose drawers or cupboards under the stairs?
The answer depends on your stairs and what you’ll keep there. Pull-out drawers suit the low, deep end, as they bring the back within reach. At the tall end, a cupboard is often better for coats and the vacuum.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. We will also ask about access and parking, and afterwards we send a quote in writing.
Why bespoke in Clapton?
For a few hooks and a shelf for the vacuum, a ready-made solution can do the job. Bespoke storage makes sense when you want every part of the space working, not just the easy part. We’re happy to talk through which suits you during the design visit. Chimney breasts in older houses stand out by different amounts, so the recesses either side are rarely the same, and standard units bought as a pair rarely suit both. Each side can be made to its own size.
Getting to the room affects the job as well. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying, and that’s part of the price. We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit.
Why us?
- Built from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Work across the whole of London
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Scribed to uneven walls
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made and how to compare quotes.
Tips worth knowing
Painted fitted furniture is easy to look after with a little care. These habits help most:
- Tell us if the hall is being decorated
- Consider the colour of the hall, the stairs and the skirting
- Mention any parking rules on your street
- Clear the space before the design visit if you can
Wiping the fronts with a soft, damp cloth is typically all they need. 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.
Sharp tools and heavy boxes can chip a painted edge. Put tools in a case so they don’t knock the paint. Minor chips can be touched up with the matching colour.