Bexley · London
Under-stairs storage in North Cray, Bexley
We make under-stairs storage for homes in North Cray, 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
- An old cupboard door that does not suit the hall
- Needing a compact spot for a laptop
Ask about under-stairs storage in North Cray
Caring for painted furniture
A little care keeps the finish looking good, whether it was spray painted or hand painted. Here are our suggestions:
- Note the size of anything tall you want to store
- Look for meters, a fuse board or pipes before we visit
- Count the coats and pairs of shoes in daily use
- Note the things that need a home under the stairs
When you load the drawers, put the heaviest things low and towards the front. It helps the runners and keeps the storage working well. Shelves are made for the things you told us about at the design visit, so it’s worth keeping to that plan.
Damp coats and shoes put moisture into a closed space. It is best to let them dry before closing the door on them, and leave the door open for a while after a wet day if the cupboard feels damp.
Under-stairs storage in North Cray
Where the space under the stairs opens onto a room, a compact desk can fit beneath it. We can build a desk with shelves above and a drawer or two below. Any new socket or light there is for your electrician, and we leave room and a route for the cable. We’ll look at whether it suits your stairs when we visit in North Cray. We make under-stairs cupboards from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and the usual reasons to get in touch are storage that doesn’t match the hallway and needing a compact spot for a laptop.
A good part of the housing around North Cray is interwar, semi-detached or detached. If yours is a 1920s or 1930s house, the bay window at the front, the space under the stairs and the box room are the usual places to gain storage. Any meters or fuse boards that need to stay reachable are designed around.
A written quote follows the design visit. It describes the design we discussed, the materials and the finish.
- Location
- North Cray (DA14)
- Area
- Bexley
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
FAQs: under-stairs storage in North Cray
Does a conservation area in or near North Cray affect fitted furniture?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, changes inside that alter its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Is parking a problem for fitting in North Cray?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. 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. It helps to tell us about parking at the design visit.
Are drawers or cupboards better under the stairs?
It depends on the shape of the space and what you want to store. Pull-out drawers suit the low, deep end, as they bring the back within reach. Cupboards suit the tall end, for coats or a vacuum cleaner.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. You don’t need to watch us work.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture. Any damp needs sorting by the right specialist before fitting.
Do you do the electrics?
No. Sockets, switches and lighting are for your electrician, and some electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. We will design around them.
Could you do it yourself?
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. That is something we plan for in the design.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls.
What affects the price in North Cray
Not every room costs the same, and it comes down to:
- How many doors and drawers there are
- The width and height of the space
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Parking and unloading on your street
Getting to the room affects the job as well. Narrow halls, tight stairs or a small lift may mean the furniture is made in more sections, and that’s part of the price. There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space.
Helping us understand the room
These details help when you get in touch:
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- Rough measurements: width, height and depth
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
To get a quote, tell us about the room on our contact form and let us know which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
How fitting works for under-stairs storage
Finishing comes last. With a spray finish from the workshop, there is usually only filling and touching up to do in the room; if you chose hand painting, that can be done in the room once the furniture is fitted. Either way, the finish is the one set out in your quote. Some interwar and suburban streets have driveways, which can make unloading easier, so it is worth mentioning at the design visit. Otherwise, a visitor permit or a nearby bay helps. Doorways, stairs and floors are covered on the way in.
- 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.
- A written quote follows, setting out the design, materials and finish.
- The storage is built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with access to the meters planned in.
- The storage is fitted and set level, and the meter access is checked with you.
Before we arrive
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
How to get a quote
For a quote for under-stairs storage in North Cray, drop us a line using the contact form. Let us know the room and the rough idea. Next comes a design visit, followed by a written quote.
Related advice
What it’s made from
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting on site lets the storage be finished alongside the woodwork around it. It’s easy to touch up later. Paint needs time to cure fully, so it is best treated gently at first.
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is made in layers, which makes it strong and stable. We use it for carcasses, shelves and drawer boxes, with the edge either shown or painted.
Other services in North Cray
Making use of awkward spaces in North Cray
About 44% of the homes in the neighbourhood around North Cray went up between 1945 and 1972, and about 22% between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of North Cray include Bath House to Rear of Number 112 (Grade II*), about 0.5 miles north-east, and Loring Hall (Grade II), under half a mile south. For a listed home, internal works that affect its character can require listed building consent from the council, for example removing or fixing into original panelling. Ask the council’s conservation officer before anything is fixed. Red routes are run by TfL, with tight limits on where and when vehicles can stop. Where a home in North Cray is on or beside a main road, it is useful to mention that at the measuring visit. That way we can plan where to load and unload.
If you live in a period home close to Parish Church of St James, the space under the stairs may hold the meters or the fuse board, and the cupboards are planned around them. The wider area includes historic houses such as Hall Place and Gardens, about 1.4 miles north-east. For a period home anywhere nearby, under-stairs cupboards are scribed to walls and stair strings that are rarely straight. For families living near Royal Park Primary Academy, deep drawers suit the bulky things families collect, from scooters to swimming kit.
North Cray is in the London Borough of Bexley, about 2 miles west of Sidcup. Design visits and fitting in North Cray can be on a Saturday, by prior arrangement. North Cray is one of 27 places on our list for Bexley.
Postcode districts we cover here for under-stairs storage: DA14. You will find streets here like Water Lane, North Cray Road and Leafield Lane, and homes on each of them are within our area for under-stairs storage. If you’re just outside North Cray, we also cover Bexley (1 mile north), Coldblow (1 mile north-east), Ruxley (1 mile south), Blendon (1 mile north-west) and Upper Ruxley (1 mile south). Across the rest of Bexley, our area takes in Sidcup (2 miles west), Welling (2 miles north-west), Erith (4 miles north), Belvedere (4 miles north), Northumberland Heath (3 miles north-east) and Lessness Heath (4 miles north).
Near you in North Cray
Our area takes in the homes around The White Cross pub and Cleeve Park School. The closest station to North Cray is Albany Park station, about 0.6 miles north-west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Bexley Hospital (1.8 miles north) and Bexley Museum (1.5 miles north-east).