Southwark · London
Under-Stairs Storage in Herne Hill
We make under-stairs storage for homes in Herne Hill, designed around the room you have. We design your under-stairs cupboard at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Cleaning things with no proper home
- Storage that doesn’t match the hallway
- Struggling to reach the gas or electricity meter
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
Under-stairs storage in Herne Hill
In a narrow hallway, the stairs may offer the only spare room for coats and shoes. A hanging section, shoe drawers and a shelf for keys keep everything off the floor. With a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, it sits quietly in the hall. It is a small change that makes a busy hallway feel ordered. Most enquiries start with a hallway crowded with coats and shoes and stairs open to a room, with clutter on show, and the answer is built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Hallways in period terraces are often long and narrow, with the stairs rising along one wall. Around Herne Hill, a large share of homes date from before 1919, so every bit of depth is weighed up when storage is planned. Even shallow storage can hold a lot without narrowing the way through.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It sets out the under-stairs cupboard designed for your room, what it’s made from and how it’s finished, and it’s what the workshop builds to.
- Place
- Herne Hill (SE22, SW2, SE24)
- Borough
- Southwark
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Flat-pack or bespoke?
The real difference is in the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. Off-the-shelf furniture can’t usually do that in an older room.
Cost matters, and it is fair to say so: flat-pack is usually cheaper to buy. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is tricky, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Also near Herne Hill
More for homes in Herne Hill
What happens on fitting day
In older rooms, the furniture typically has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. On fitting day, we cut and scribe the furniture around these details. How long the fitting takes depends on how much storage you want under the stairs, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. If your hall still has its original tiles or boards, they’re covered before any carrying starts. Fixings into older walls are made carefully, as lath and plaster can crack if treated roughly. Decorating around the furniture afterwards is for your decorator.
- To begin, get in touch through our contact form; a brief note on the space and what it holds now is plenty.
- At the design visit we measure the space and plan the storage around the meters, so readers and engineers can still reach them.
- You receive a written quote for the storage.
- We make it in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a door or panel left where the meters need access.
- The storage is fitted and set level, and the meter access is checked with you.
Preparing the room
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
How to get a quote
If you already have something in mind, tell us; if you do not, that is fine, and we can work it out together. The design is talked through at the visit, once we’ve measured, and the written quote that follows sets it out. To arrange a visit, get in touch through our contact form.
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Fitted storage in Herne Hill
Homes built before 1919 make up about 59% of the housing in the area around Herne Hill, with about 16% built between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. There are 39 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Herne Hill. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and under-stairs cupboards can be designed to work around them. Around Herne Hill, about 59% of homes date from before 1919, well above the figure for Southwark as a whole, about 26%, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. So older-house details are more likely to come into the design of under-stairs cupboards.
The wider area includes historic houses like Kingswood House, about 1.7 miles south. For a period home anywhere nearby, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space. If your home is one of the older houses near Saint Faith's, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space. If you live near Belair Park, under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
Herne Hill is about 1 mile north-east of East Dulwich, within the London Borough of Southwark. From period terraces to newer flats in Herne Hill, we measure the room as it is and design around it. In Southwark, Herne Hill is one of the places we cover, and the borough has 21 places on our list.
We cover every part of SE22, SW2 and SE24 for under-stairs storage. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Jelf Road, Dewey Lane and Talma Road, along with the roads around them, for under-stairs storage and any of our other fitted furniture. Herne Hill sits close to the A204 and A2214, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. We also cover Dulwich Village (1 mile south-east), East Dulwich (1 mile north-east), Dulwich (1 mile south-east), Denmark Hill (1 mile north) and Camberwell (1 mile north). Elsewhere in Southwark, we also cover Bermondsey (3 miles north), Elephant and Castle (3 miles north), Bankside (4 miles north), Southwark (3 miles north), St George's Fields (3 miles north) and Newington Butts (3 miles north). Herne Hill is among the bigger places we cover in Southwark.
Near you in Herne Hill
Our area takes in the homes around The Charter School, Half Moon pub and The Charter School and the streets around them. There’s a railway station in Herne Hill itself: North Dulwich station. Nearby you’ll also find Dulwich Community Hospital (0.6 miles north-east) and House of Dreams Museum (0.7 miles north-east). For a walk, there is Centre for Wildlife Gardening and Knight's Hill.
Materials and finishes
Doors and drawer fronts
What you see of the storage is mostly the doors and drawer fronts. They can be plain or panelled, with handles chosen to suit the hall. Each one follows the line of the stairs above.
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF can be cut and shaped cleanly, which suits the angled panels under a staircase. The moisture-resistant grade we use is stable and paints well. It is the main material for the parts you see.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Standard drawer units are made in fixed sizes that rarely match the depth under the stairs. Drawers made for the space can run the full depth, so nothing is lost at the back. We size each drawer for what it will carry. Tall standalone furniture needs fixing back to the wall so it can’t tip, and older walls of brick or lath and plaster make that harder than it looks. With fitted pieces, the fixings are planned for the wall from the start.
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside, and the quote follows.
Why work with us in Herne Hill
- We visit, measure and discuss the design before we quote
- Scribed to uneven walls
- More than 300 projects completed
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
See our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf or what a quote should include.
How we price under-stairs storage
The price for your room depends on:
- The number of doors and drawers
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
- How square the room is
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
How it’s painted is part of the price: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
What to send when you get in touch
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. It’s useful to include:
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- Approximate measurements of the space
For a quote for under-stairs storage in Herne Hill, message us from the contact page. Let us know the room and the rough idea. Next comes a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
FAQs: under-stairs storage in Herne Hill
Is Herne Hill in the area you cover for under-stairs storage?
Yes. Herne Hill is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Southwark and London. You can use our contact form to arrange a design visit.
My house in Herne Hill 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.
How much does under-stairs storage cost?
Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. The mix of drawers, doors and shelves, and the finish you choose, all play a part. Everything is set out in a written quote after the visit.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Normally not. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings may need listed building consent for works that affect their character, so check with the council first.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by arrangement. Just mention it when you contact us, and we will see what we can do.
Are drawers or cupboards better under the stairs?
Many designs use both. Deep pull-out drawers suit the shallow end under the bottom steps, while a cupboard at the tall end takes coats, the vacuum or an ironing board. We talk it through during the design visit.