Redbridge · London
Monkhams Under-Stairs Storage
In Monkhams, we design under-stairs storage around the room you actually have. We design your under-stairs cupboard at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- A low corner too deep to reach into
- No room for a small desk or a place to work
- Stairs open to a room, with clutter on show
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
Caring for painted furniture
People planning under-stairs storage often ask about these. They help whatever the room:
- Think about what you will keep in each drawer
- Tell us about parking during the design visit
- Think about handles and how the fronts will look from the hall
- Find out what sits in the space now, from meters to pipes
A hand-painted finish is easy to touch up if it gets marked. It is worth keeping a note of the colour so any touch-ups match. A spray-painted finish is smooth and even, and small marks often clean off with a damp cloth.
Closing drawers fully helps keep the runners and fronts in good order. Overfilled drawers put strain on the runners, so it pays to sort them now and then. Deal with any wet shoes or umbrellas before they mark the base.
About our under-stairs storage in Monkhams
Where the space under the stairs opens onto a room, a compact desk can fit beneath it. A built-in desk with shelving and drawers can turn the space into a quiet corner for paperwork. Any new socket or light there is for your electrician, and we leave room and a route for the cable. We will look at whether it suits your stairs when we visit in Monkhams. Typical reasons to get in touch are nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags and cleaning things with no proper home; the furniture is made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
Coats, shoes, bags and the vacuum cleaner all need somewhere to go in a family house. Around Monkhams, where interwar homes, semis and detached houses make up a big part of the housing, well-planned storage by the door or under the stairs can take a lot of it. Meters and fuse boards stay easy to reach.
We write quotes in plain English. You will see what will be made, the boards used and the finish, all taken from the design visit.
- Where
- Monkhams (IG8, IG9, E4)
- Area
- Redbridge
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Your questions about under-stairs storage in Monkhams
Do you cover homes near Highams Park station?
Yes. We cover all of Redbridge and the rest of London. You can get in touch through our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Monkhams?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you during the design visit.
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 happens at the measuring visit?
It is a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, and the written quote comes afterwards.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
Someone needs to let us in. It also helps to have someone around at the end, so we can go over the finished furniture together.
How is under-stairs storage priced?
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. It comes down to the size of the space, how many drawers and doors you want, and the finish. To get a quote, get in touch through our contact form and we will arrange a design visit.
How fitting works for under-stairs storage
At the end, we tidy up. Before we leave, we go over the finished piece together. How long the fitting takes depends on how much storage you want under the stairs, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. In a 1920s or 1930s house, the hall and stairs are usually straightforward, though we still measure the route in not just the room. Under-stairs cupboards arrive in sections and are assembled in place, with floors protected throughout.
- First we hear what’s under your stairs now and what you need.
- We measure the space, the slope and the floor, and note any meters or fuse boards.
- The design is agreed and a written quote follows.
- Every part is made in our workshop, ready for a spray-painted or hand-painted finish. We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit it in your home and check every drawer and door with you.
How to prepare
- Empty the space we will be working in
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
Arranging a design visit
To get a quote, tell us about the room on our contact form and tell us a little about the room and what you want the furniture to do. We then arrange a design visit to measure and go through the design, and a quote in writing follows.
Advice
Do you need under-stairs storage in Monkhams?
Many people struggle with the shallow, sloping end under the bottom steps. You can’t stand up in it, and you cannot reach the back without kneeling. Pull-out drawers solve that by bringing the back of the space to you.
A few of the things people ask us to solve are these:
- No room for a small desk or a place to work
- A tired under-stairs cupboard that stands out
- An under-stairs cupboard full of clutter
- The low end of the space going to waste
For an older house near All Saints' Church, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space.
Before you hire any carpenter
- A written quote that sets out the job
- Are the boards named, like MDF or plywood?
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
- Will the doors close with even gaps?
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them at the measuring visit.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through without a struggle.
Making use of tricky spaces in Monkhams
Homes built between 1945 and 1972 make up about 33% of the housing in the streets around Monkhams, with about 31% built between 1919 and 1939, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. It’s a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Monkhams include Main Quadrangle (Grade II), less than half a mile north, and Church of All Saints' (Grade II), less than half a mile south. For a listed home, works inside that affect its character can need listed building consent from the council, for instance removing or fixing into original panelling. An early word with the council’s conservation officer is the best first step. Controlled parking zones are run by the boroughs, so the rules in Redbridge are set locally. If your street in Monkhams is in a controlled parking zone, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a parking bay suspension through the council may be needed. Let us know what the parking is like during the design visit.
For a flat near Highams Park station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in. If you live near The Highams Park, under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
Monkhams is about 1 mile south of Woodford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. Design visits and fitting in Monkhams can be on a Saturday, by arrangement. We list Monkhams among 18 places we cover in Redbridge.
Here we cover the IG8, IG9 and E4 postcode area for under-stairs storage. Streets in the area include Oak Lane, Wood Lane and Mill Lane, and we cover homes on all of them for under-stairs storage. Monkhams is near the A121; on busy main roads, unloading under-stairs cupboards takes a little planning. Nearby, we also make under-stairs storage in Woodford Wells (1 mile east), Friday Hill (1 mile west), Woodford (1 mile south), Chingford Hatch (1 mile west) and Waltham Forest (1 mile north). Elsewhere in Redbridge, we also cover Ilford (4 miles south-east), Loxford (5 miles south-east), Wanstead (3 miles south), South Woodford (2 miles south), Newbury Park (4 miles south-east) and Gants Hill (3 miles south-east).
Near you in Monkhams
We fit furniture in homes around Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green Preparatory School and The Monkhams pub. The closest station to Monkhams is Highams Park station, roughly 1.2 miles south-west. A little further out are The Epping Forest Museum (1.3 miles north). For a walk, there’s Highams Park Lake.
What it’s made from
Moisture-resistant MDF
We use moisture-resistant MDF because it stays stable and gives a smooth surface for paint. It suits the doors, drawer fronts and panels of an under-stairs cupboard, where a smooth, even finish matters most.
Doors and drawer fronts
Any access door for a meter can be made to look like the other fronts. It opens fully so the meter stays easy to read. The rest of the fronts can be doors, drawers or both.