Tower Hamlets · London
Under-stairs storage in Mile End, Tower Hamlets
Under-stairs storage for your home in Mile End: pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made at our workshop and fitted by us.
- A sloping corner nobody can reach
- Wanting a quiet corner for paperwork
- Coats and shoes piling up in the hall
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
About our under-stairs storage in Mile End
We make each under-stairs cupboard in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. Birch plywood is strong and holds screws well, which suits drawer boxes that carry weight, and MDF gives the doors and fronts a smooth surface for paint. Once painted, by spray or by hand, it’s brought to your home in Mile End and fitted. If you’re living with a fuse board that’s hard to get to and a staircase with untidy space beneath it, under-stairs cupboards made from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish can solve it.
Many homes around Mile End were built since 2000, and newer houses that have had the loft converted often have sloping ceilings and eaves to use. We build storage in lofts that are already converted or boarded. Elsewhere, fitted storage is fixed to plasterboard walls with fixings that suit it.
The quote names the materials: moisture-resistant MDF, birch plywood or both, depending on the design. The finish is stated too, whether that is spray painting or hand painting.
- Place
- Mile End (E3, E1, E14)
- Borough
- Tower Hamlets
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitted storage in Mile End
Homes built since 2000 make up about 45% of the housing in the area around Mile End, with about 21% built between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. The Tower Hamlets Cemetery Conservation Area is close by, within about a quarter of a mile of the centre of Mile End. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission in a conservation area, as the controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. Strict stopping rules apply on red routes, which TfL runs. If you live on or close to a main road in Mile End, let us know during the design visit. It lets us plan the stop before fitting day.
For families living near Beatrice Tate School, under-stairs cupboards can give school bags, shoes and sports kit a proper home. Sutton House, about 1.8 miles north-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, under-stairs cupboards are scribed to walls and stair strings that are rarely straight. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Phoenix School, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can need listed building consent.
Mile End is about 2 miles west of Whitechapel, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Mile End is part of the area we cover, and the process is the same everywhere we work. We cover places right across Tower Hamlets, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
In E3, E1 and E14, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Bow Road, Bale Road and Toby Lane, whether you want under-stairs storage or another piece made for the room. Main roads around Mile End include the A1205. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the design visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. Close by, we also work in Bow (1 mile north), Bow Common (1 mile south-east), Bromley (1 mile east), Limehouse (1 mile south) and Donnybrook Quarter (1 mile north). Elsewhere in Tower Hamlets, we also cover Whitechapel (2 miles west), Spitalfields (2 miles west), Tower Hill (2 miles south-west), St George in the East (2 miles south-west), Wapping (2 miles south-west) and Isle of Dogs (3 miles south).
Landmarks near Mile End
In Mile End, that includes homes near Malmesbury Primary School and Lord Tredegar Public House, among other places. The closest station to Mile End is Limehouse station, roughly 0.9 miles south of the centre. Nearby you will also find Westfield Stratford City (1.7 miles north-east) and St Clement's Hospital (under half a mile north-east). Open spaces near Mile End include Old Ford Island.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
It’s worth being honest about cost: flat-pack is normally 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.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. Span, depth and the weight on it decide whether a shelf sags, so a long run needs a thicker shelf, a stiffening lip or a support. That’s something we plan for in the design.
From workshop to your room
With the carcasses fixed and level, we hang any doors and fit any drawers or lids. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. How long fitting takes depends on how much storage you want under the stairs, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. In a newer home, floors, walls and door frames are often freshly finished, so we protect the route before carrying anything in. Door frames and corners get covers too. The sections are assembled in the room.
- To begin, tell us about the room on 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.
- A written quote follows, setting out the design, materials and finish.
- We make it in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a door or panel left where the meters need access.
- We fit it in your home, scribed to the stairs and the walls, with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
How to prepare
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician ahead of time
How to get a quote
A quote begins with some details from you: which room it is, rough measurements and a couple of pictures if you can take them. To send them, use our contact form. We will then arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
Advice
FAQs: under-stairs storage in Mile End
Is Mile End in the area you cover for under-stairs storage?
Yes, Mile End is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Tower Hamlets 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.
Will a conservation area stop me having under-stairs storage fitted in Mile End?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character may need listed building consent from the council. If you’re unsure, the council can confirm.
Can under-stairs storage work around the fuse board?
Yes. We plan the storage so the meter or fuse board stays easy to reach, often with a door of its own. Access matters for readings and safety checks, so we design around it.
Which works best under the stairs, drawers or cupboards?
The answer depends on your stairs and what you’ll keep there. Drawers make the low end useful, because you pull the back of the space to you. Cupboards suit the tall end, for coats or a vacuum cleaner.
My walls are not straight. Is that a problem?
That is normal in older homes, and it’s what scribing is for. Edges are scribed to the wall, and adjustable feet or a plinth bring the furniture up to level.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to let us in. It is good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
Also near Mile End
Also in Mile End
Materials and finishes
Pull-out drawers
A tall pull-out drawer can hold coats on a rail or a vacuum cleaner standing up. Shorter drawers lower down suit shoes and bags. The design visit is where we agree the mix.
Doors and drawer fronts
We make the fronts from moisture-resistant MDF and finish them in the colour you choose. Their edges are cut to follow the angle of the stairs, so the gaps stay even all the way along.
Caring for painted furniture
These points come up often when people plan under-stairs storage. They help before and after fitting:
- Make a list of what you want to store before the design visit
- Find out what sits in the space now, from meters to pipes
- Make room so the whole space can be measured
- Let us know about parking near your home
Before we leave, we check every drawer and door with you. If there’s a meter or fuse board, we make sure its door opens fully and the meter is easy to see. You will know everything works as planned.
Keep sharp or very heavy items away from the painted fronts. Put tools in a case so they do not knock the paint. Minor chips can be touched up with the matching colour.
What it costs
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. What affects it comes down to:
- Parking near your home
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- How many doors and drawers there are
- How big the furniture is
How it is painted is part of the price: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. Your choice, along with the size and the fittings, is reflected in the written quote.
Helping us understand the room
These details help when you get in touch:
- Rough measurements, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- A few pictures of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- Where you live, with the postcode
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
The design visit is where every quote starts. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. Afterwards, we send a quote in writing, so you can take your time with it. To arrange the visit, message us from the contact page.