Islington · London
Under-stairs storage in Highbury, Islington
Planning under-stairs storage for a home in Highbury? It starts with a design visit to measure and talk through ideas, then a quote in writing, before anything is made.
- Needing a compact spot for a laptop
- An under-stairs cupboard full of clutter
- Cleaning things with no proper home
Under-stairs storage in Highbury
Under-stairs storage in Highbury: what you get
Under-stairs cupboards often hold a gas meter, an electricity meter or the fuse board. They need to stay accessible, so readings and safety checks can still be made. Our designs keep a clear way to them, often behind their own door, so the space works hard without hiding anything that matters. At the design visit in Highbury, we note what’s there and design around it. If you are living with a tired under-stairs cupboard that stands out and stairs open to a room, with clutter on show, under-stairs cupboards made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed can solve it.
Where original shutters, doors or panelling survive, they’re worth designing around. Around Highbury, where homes from before 1919 make up a large share, fitted storage can be designed to sit alongside them. Door styles can be chosen to suit the age of the house. If your home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original joinery.
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
- Highbury (N1, N16, N5)
- Borough
- Islington
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
How fitting works for under-stairs storage
With the carcasses fixed and level, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. We adjust each one so the gaps line up and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. The time the fitting takes depends on how much storage you want under the stairs, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Parking on terraced streets can be tight, especially in a controlled parking zone, so details of permits, bays and any loading restrictions help. The van is unloaded quickly, with the sections carried straight in. Saturday fitting can be arranged.
- It starts when you contact us about the space under your stairs.
- At the design visit, we look at the stairs, the hall and what you need to store.
- Your quote sets out the design, the materials and the finish.
- We make the drawers, doors and carcasses in our workshop. The materials are moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The storage is fitted and set level, ready for the first coats and shoes, with the finish sprayed beforehand or painted by hand on site.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
Starting with a design visit
You do not need exact measurements to get started. We measure everything properly at the measuring visit. To get started, use our contact form with a few details about the room. You receive a written quote after the visit.
Related advice
Why bespoke in Highbury?
Period walls are rarely flat, and floors are often out of level. Ready-made units leave gaps that need filler pieces. We scribe each under-stairs cupboard to follow the walls and the stairs, and set it level on a plinth or adjustable feet. 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. Fitted furniture is designed with the wall in mind.
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. We will talk through what you need inside at the design visit.
What you get with us
- We visit, measure and discuss the design before we quote
- 300+ projects completed
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
Materials and finishes
Spray-painted finish
Spraying gives a smooth, even surface. We spray in the workshop, so the finish is complete before fitting. The colour is agreed with you.
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting gives a slightly softer look than spraying. It is done on site, in the colour you choose. Touch-ups are simple if the paint is ever knocked.
Your questions about under-stairs storage in Highbury
Do you make under-stairs storage for homes in Highbury?
Yes. Highbury is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Islington and London. You can get in touch through our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Canonbury station?
Yes. We cover all of Islington and the rest of London. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and discuss the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you don’t need to stay in the room, but it’s useful to be around at the end.
What if my walls and floors are out of level?
It is something we deal with all the time. We trim the edges to follow the wall and level the base, so it sits tight to the room.
Could the space under my stairs take a desk?
It depends on the height and how open the space is. At the design visit we will say whether a desk makes sense there. Where it works, it makes a neat spot for a laptop and paperwork.
Also near Highbury
More for homes in Highbury
Storage in Highbury homes: local notes
In the streets around Highbury, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 50%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 18%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Near the centre of Highbury, Historic England’s list includes Union Chapel (Grade I), about 0.6 miles south-west, and Canonbury Tower (Grade II*), about 0.5 miles south. If your own home is listed, works inside that affect its character, such as fixing into or removing original joinery, can require listed building consent. Check with the council’s conservation officer first. About 29% of households in the neighbourhood around Highbury live in flats in converted or shared houses, in the ONS Census 2021 figures. Conversions often leave rooms in unusual shapes, with partition walls, boxed-in pipes and chimney breasts in odd places, and the route in may go through a shared hall and stairs. A lease can require consent for alterations, so it is worth checking yours first.
For an older house near Christ Church, under-stairs cupboards are scribed to walls and stair strings that are rarely straight. For families living near Highbury Quadrant Primary School, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up.
Highbury is in the London Borough of Islington. Wherever you are in Highbury, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. We cover places right across Islington.
Here we cover the N1, N16 and N5 postcode area for under-stairs storage. Our area takes in homes on streets like Prah Road, Dove Road and Lough Road, for under-stairs storage and any of our other fitted furniture. Highbury is near the A1199; on busy main roads, unloading under-stairs cupboards takes a little planning. Nearby, we also make under-stairs storage in Newington Green (1 mile east), Mildmay (1 mile east), Canonbury (1 mile south-east), De Beauvoir Town (1 mile south-east) and Stoke Newington (1 mile north-east). We also make under-stairs storage in nearby places like Farringdon (2 miles south), Clerkenwell (2 miles south), Finsbury (2 miles south), St Luke's (2 miles south), Upper Holloway (2 miles north-west) and Tufnell Park (2 miles west). Highbury is among the bigger places we cover in Islington.
Local landmarks in Highbury
The streets we cover here include those near The Snooty Fox pub, City of London Academy Highbury Grove and Musical Theatre Academy and the streets around them. Highbury has its own railway station: Canonbury station. Other landmarks nearby include Arsenal Football Club Museum (0.6 miles north-west) and Hackney Walk (2 miles east). Green spaces nearby include Gillespie Park.
How we price under-stairs storage
Every room is different, so every job is quoted on its own. These are the things that affect it:
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
- Spray painting or hand painting
- How big the furniture is
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, which the quote allows for. There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space.
Helping us understand the room
Here’s what helps us most when you get in touch:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Examples of the look you’re after
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
Pictures help us understand the room before we visit. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space, along with rough measurements. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.
The problems under-stairs storage solve
The most common reason is clutter. Things get pushed to the back, piled on top of each other and forgotten. Purpose-made drawers and shelves give everything its own place, so you can find what you need without emptying the cupboard.
Requests we hear often include:
- An old cupboard door that doesn’t suit the hall
- A dark, wasted space under the stairs
- A staircase with untidy space beneath it
- Cleaning things with no proper home
Close to Highbury Fields? Under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Real projects you can actually look at
- Where they’ll park and unload
- Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?
- How the furniture will be finished, and where