Newham · London
East Ham Under-Stairs Storage
Thinking about under-stairs storage in East Ham? It starts with a design visit to measure and talk through ideas, then a written quote.
- Open space under the stairs that collects clutter
- A dark, wasted space under the stairs
- A vacuum cleaner that has nowhere to go
Under-stairs storage for your home in East Ham
FAQs: under-stairs storage in East Ham
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Barking station?
Yes, homes across Newham and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
My house in East Ham is Victorian. Can you deal with uneven walls?
Yes. Walls in older houses are rarely flat or square, and floors are often out of level, so each piece is scribed to follow the wall and set level on a plinth or adjustable feet. Skirting, picture rails and cornices are met neatly or cut around. Fixings are chosen for the wall, whether solid brick or lath and plaster.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
External walls can be colder and damper than internal ones, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture to avoid condensation. Any damp needs sorting by the right specialist before fitting.
How is under-stairs storage priced?
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. The mix of drawers, doors and shelves, and the finish you choose, all play a part. Everything is set out in a quote in writing after the visit.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Normally not. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character.
Can under-stairs storage work around the fuse board?
Yes. The design keeps a clear way to the meter or fuse board, often with a door of its own. Meter readers and engineers need access, so we never box them in.
Under-stairs storage in East Ham
Pull-out drawers make the most of the low, deep end of the space. Instead of crawling in to find something, you slide the drawer out and everything is in view. At the tall end, a cupboard works well for coats, an ironing board or the vacuum. Many designs for homes in East Ham combine the two. Typical reasons to get in touch are a dark, wasted space under the stairs and a tired under-stairs cupboard that stands out, and the answer is made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
A large share of the homes around East Ham were built before 1919, and older houses have lots of odd corners: the space under the stairs, the bay at the front, the alcoves, the hallway recesses and, where the loft has been converted, the eaves. That’s where fitted storage comes in.
The written quote puts the design visit in writing: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.
- Place
- East Ham (E6, IG11, E13, E12)
- Area
- Newham
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
There isn’t much for you to do on fitting day. Someone needs to let us in, and it helps to have the room cleared beforehand, as agreed during the design visit. After that, it’s over to us: the floors are covered, the sections come in and the fitting begins. How long fitting takes depends on the shape of the space and the number of drawers and doors, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Parking on terraced streets can be tight, especially in a controlled parking zone, so it helps to tell us at the design visit what’s outside. Unloading is kept short, with sections taken straight inside. Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement.
- It starts with a few details from you about the space.
- We come to measure and discuss the design.
- We send a written quote covering the design, materials and finish.
- We make the drawers and cupboards in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit it in your home with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and run through each drawer and door with you.
- New paint needs time to cure fully, so open and close things gently at first.
Preparing the room
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
Starting with a design visit
We quote once we have seen the room. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, then send a written quote. Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. To arrange a visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
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DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s typically a gap left over at the top or at one end. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can use the full height and width.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.
Flats, conversions and lettings
Conversions and newer flats often have stud walls rather than solid brick. We choose fixings to suit the wall.
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways not just the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through without a struggle.
Where other trades come in
Not everything around under-stairs storage is carpentry, from an electrician to a plumber or a Gas Safe engineer. Here’s what to know:
- Any work on gas pipes or appliances
- Making good the walls and ceiling, which is for a plasterer or decorator
- New sockets, lights or wiring, which are for your electrician
Not sure whether your space suits under-stairs storage? You can message us from the contact page and we will tell you. Our process from visit to fitting.
Materials and parts
- Hand-painted finish
- Pull-out drawers
- Coat hooks and shoe shelves
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Birch plywood
Also in East Ham
Practical tips
A little care keeps the finish looking good. Here are our suggestions:
- Think about handles and how the fronts will look from the hall
- Measure your vacuum cleaner and ironing board
- Plan decorating around the fitting
- Look for meters, a fuse board or pipes before we visit
Decorating around the storage is for your decorator, and it is best to protect the new paintwork while they work. Tape on fresh paint can pull it off, so keep it away from the doors and drawers. If anything is not right, get in touch through our contact form and we will talk it through.
Check now and then that handles and hinges are tight. A loose handle is easy to tighten before it works its way out. If a door drops or a drawer starts to catch, tell us about the room on our contact form and tell us what’s happening.
Storage in East Ham homes: local notes
About 55% of the homes in the streets around East Ham went up before 1919, and about 16% between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. There are 11 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of East Ham. You can check whether a particular building is listed on Historic England’s list. TfL’s Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every part of London, Newham included. Vans bringing furniture to East Ham fall under it, just as they do across the rest of London. Parking and access are planned at the design visit.
The wider area includes historic houses like Eastbury Manor House, about 1.9 miles east. If your own home is a period one, the space under the stairs may hold the meters or the fuse board, and the cupboards are planned around them. If your children go to St Michael's Catholic Primary School or a school nearby, under-stairs cupboards can be planned around what a family needs to keep, from coats and bags to sports kit. Close to Beckton District Park? Under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
East Ham is about 1 mile west of Plaistow, in the London Borough of Newham. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and East Ham is part of that. Our Newham coverage includes East Ham, along with the rest of the borough.
Every address in E6, IG11, E13 and E12 is within our area for under-stairs storage. Whether you live on a street such as High Street South, Market Street and High Street North or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for under-stairs storage. The A13 and A117 runs close to East Ham; on busy main roads, unloading under-stairs cupboards takes a little planning. We also cover the places around East Ham: Wallend (1 mile north-east), Upton Park (1 mile west), Plashet (1 mile north), Beckton (1 mile south-east) and Greengate (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Newham, we also cover Stratford (3 miles west), Canning Town (2 miles south-west), Forest Gate (2 miles north-west), Maryland (3 miles west), East Village (3 miles north-west) and Three Mills (3 miles west). East Ham is among the bigger places we cover in Newham.
What’s near East Ham
We fit furniture in homes around The Miller's Well pub, The Service for Deaf and Partially Hearing Children and Langdon School. East Ham’s nearest station is Barking station, about 1.3 miles north-east. A little further out are Newham University Hospital (1 mile south-west) and The Who Shop Museum (a few minutes’ walk north).