Southwark · London
Under-Stairs Storage in Newington Butts
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. Our work on under-stairs storage in Newington Butts starts with a design visit, and everything is built in our workshop.
- Nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags
- Needing a compact spot for a laptop
- A meter or fuse board buried behind clutter
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
Could you do it yourself?
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: off-the-shelf furniture normally costs less up front. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is tricky, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
Under-stairs storage for homes in Newington Butts
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. If you’d like a socket or a light, your electrician fits it and we plan the furniture around it. We’ll look at whether it suits your stairs when we visit in Newington Butts. If you are living with nowhere to put coats, shoes and bags and storage that doesn’t match the hallway, under-stairs cupboards made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
Many homes around Newington Butts were built since 2000, and across London a lot of homes from those years are flats with compact layouts. Boilers, cylinders and consumer units often sit in a hall cupboard, and any new storage keeps their access and ventilation. Cupboards can be shallow where space is tight, so the hallway still feels open.
Where other trades are needed, for instance an electrician to move a socket, we point that out. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Where
- Newington Butts (SE1, SE17, SE11)
- Area
- Southwark
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Tips worth knowing
These points come up often when people plan under-stairs storage. They’re worth knowing whatever the room:
- Plan decorating around the fitting
- Decide whether you’d like coats on hooks or on a rail
- Mention any parking rules on your street
- Consider the colour of the hall, the stairs and the skirting
When we have finished fitting, the drawers and doors are ready to use. Paint needs time to cure fully, so treat the new finish gently at first. Avoid sticky tape, heavy knocks and harsh cleaners while it hardens.
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. Wipe up any spills, particularly near the floor, before they dry.
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
In conversions and newer blocks, many internal walls are timber or metal stud with plasterboard. Fixings are chosen to suit whatever the wall is made of, which we check at the measuring visit.
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways along with the room itself, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through without a struggle.
How fitting works for under-stairs storage
Getting everything level comes first. Floors are often out of level, so adjustable feet or a plinth take up the difference, which keeps the lines straight. Only then is it fixed to the wall, with fixings chosen to suit brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Before fixing into a stud wall, we check for pipes and cables, and heavy pieces are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor. Other trades handle any new sockets or plumbing, ideally before fitting day.
- It starts when you contact us about the space under your stairs.
- We visit to measure and talk about how you’ll use the space.
- A quote in writing follows, with the fitting days agreed.
- Your storage is built in our workshop, cut to the angle of your stairs. The materials are moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The storage is fitted and set level, ready for the first coats and shoes.
How to prepare
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
Getting a quote
The quote is built from the design visit. 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 book one, message us from the contact page.
Related advice
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Common questions about under-stairs storage
Is parking a problem for fitting in Newington Butts?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the design visit.
Can you make under-stairs storage for a home in Newington Butts?
Yes. We cover all of Southwark and the rest of London, and Newington Butts is part of that. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and talk through the design, followed by a quote.
Is it possible to fit storage around a meter under the stairs?
Yes. We plan the storage so the meter or fuse board stays easy to reach, often with a door of its own. Meter readers and engineers need access, so we never box them in.
Do pictures help?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit. It helps to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
It needs a little planning: leaving ventilation behind and inside helps stop condensation. Damp treatment is not something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, we can arrange Saturdays. Let us know when you first get in touch.
Storage in Newington Butts homes: local notes
Homes built since 2000 make up about 38% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Newington Butts, with about 20% built between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 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. The centre of Newington Butts is within about a quarter of a mile of the Eliot's Row Conservation Area. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission in a conservation area, as the controls are mainly about the outside of buildings. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. On TfL’s red routes, the rules on stopping and loading are strict. Where a home in Newington Butts is on or beside a main road, it’s useful to mention that at the design visit. We’ll plan where the van can stop.
Close to Newington Gardens? Under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things. If your home is one of the older houses near Metropolitan Tabernacle, under-stairs cupboards are scribed to walls and stair strings that are rarely straight. For families living near London College of Communication, under-stairs cupboards can give school bags, shoes and sports kit a proper home.
Newington Butts is about 2 miles south of East Dulwich, in the London Borough of Southwark. Our work covers every London borough and the City of London, Newington Butts included. We list Newington Butts among 21 places we cover in Southwark.
Design visits and fitting in SE1, SE17 and SE11 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. You will find streets here like Dante Road, Oakey Lane and Ash Avenue, and we cover homes on all of them for under-stairs storage. The A302 and A3202 run close to Newington Butts, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. Close by, we also work in Elephant and Castle (1 mile north), St George's Fields (1 mile north-west), Vauxhall (1 mile west), Lambeth (1 mile west) and Kennington (1 mile south-west). Other parts of Southwark we cover include East Dulwich (2 miles south), Herne Hill (3 miles south), Peckham (2 miles south-east), Rotherhithe (3 miles east), Surrey Quays (2 miles east) and Denmark Hill (2 miles south).
Landmarks near Newington Butts
The streets we cover here include those near Elephant and Castle pub, Notre Dame Roman Catholic Girls' School and Lambeth Palace Library. Newington Butts has its own railway station: Elephant & Castle station. Other landmarks nearby include Gabriel's Wharf (1.1 miles north) and Newport Street Gallery (0.7 miles west). Open spaces near Newington Butts include Ludgate Hill.
What it is made from
Pull-out drawers
Deep drawers on runners let you use the low end of the space without crawling in. We size each drawer for what you plan to keep in it. Many designs use a run of drawers stepping down with the stairs.
Spray-painted finish
Spray painting gives the fronts a very even surface. We apply it in our workshop, and the paint needs time to cure fully once it is fitted.