Kensington and Chelsea · London
Under-Stairs Storage in South Kensington
Under-stairs storage for your home in South Kensington: pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs. We visit to measure and discuss the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Cleaning things with no proper home
- Open space under the stairs that collects clutter
- A fuse board that is hard to get to
Under-stairs storage designed for your room
Under-stairs storage in South Kensington: what you get
When the hall is tight, the space under the stairs is often the only place left for coats, shoes and bags. A hanging section, shoe drawers and a shelf for keys keep everything off the floor. With a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, it sits quietly in the hall. It is a small change that makes a busy hallway feel ordered. Most enquiries start with a fuse board that’s hard to get to and an under-stairs cupboard full of clutter, and the answer is made at our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Outside walls in houses from before 1919 are usually solid brick, which can be cold, so a gap and ventilation behind fitted storage help avoid condensation. A large share of the homes around South Kensington date from then. Any damp is dealt with before storage goes in.
The quote comes in writing, so you can read it at your own pace and talk it over at home. It records the design, the materials and the finish we discussed.
- Location
- South Kensington (SW3, SW7, SW10)
- Area
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What affects the cost of under-stairs storage
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- How square the room is
- The overall size of the piece
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. Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit.
Getting in touch
Some details help us understand the job before we visit. When you contact us, it’s useful to send:
- How you want to use the space
- Examples of the look you are after
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
- Approximate measurements of the space
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. A written quote follows the visit for you to look over. To arrange the visit, get in touch through our contact form.
When you need someone else
Damp treatment and building work are for other specialists, and there are a few other limits too:
- Gas pipework, which needs a Gas Safe engineer
- Altering or cutting into the stairs
- Any wiring or new lights, which need an electrician
Not sure whether your space suits under-stairs storage? You can get in touch through our contact form and we’ll tell you before you arrange a visit. How it works.
What goes into it
- Birch plywood
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Coat hooks and shoe shelves
- Pull-out drawers
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
Neighbourhoods near South Kensington
Other services in South Kensington
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
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. We design shelves with that in mind.
If you’re handy, a simple shelf or a standard wardrobe in a square room is a reasonable DIY job. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder.
Fitting day, step by step
With the carcasses fixed and level, we hang any doors and fit any drawers or lids. We adjust each one so the gaps line up and it closes cleanly. How long fitting takes depends on the shape of the space and the number of drawers and doors, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. In houses converted into flats, the route in may include a shared hall and stairs, so it’s useful to let neighbours know about fitting day. The sections are sized for the narrowest point on the route. Saturdays can be arranged.
- It starts when you contact us with some details about the space.
- We come to measure, note any meters or fuse boards and discuss the design, keeping the meters and fuse board easy to reach.
- You receive a written quote for the storage we have discussed, for you to read through.
- We make every part in our workshop, shaped to the angle of your stairs. We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit it in your home, scribed to the stairs and the walls. Any meters stay easy to reach.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
Starting with a design visit
Getting a quote starts with a few details: the room, rough sizes and some photos if you have them. To send them, message us from the contact page. We will then arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
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Fitted storage in South Kensington
Homes built before 1919 make up about 71% of the housing in the area around South Kensington, with about 9% built between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. That matters for under-stairs cupboards, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. The National Heritage List has 253 entries within half a mile of the centre of South Kensington. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and under-stairs cupboards can be designed to work around them. More than half of the homes in the streets around South Kensington (about 71%) were built before 1919, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). In terraced houses of that age, the space under the stairs often holds the gas meter, electricity meter or fuse board, and they must stay reachable.
If your children go to Our Lady of Victories RC Primary School or a school nearby, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up. If your home is one of the older houses near Chapel of St Luke, under-stairs cupboards are scribed to walls and stair strings that are rarely straight.
South Kensington is within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, about 1 mile north-west of Kensington. We design and make under-stairs storage for homes in South Kensington and across Kensington and Chelsea. South Kensington is one of the places in Kensington and Chelsea where we make under-stairs storage, and the borough has 13 places on our list.
In SW3, SW7 and SW10, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. If your home is on a street like King's Road, Fulham Road and Museum Lane, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for under-stairs storage. Main roads around South Kensington include the A3217. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the measuring visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. Nearby, we also make under-stairs storage in Little Chelsea (1 mile south), Chelsea (1 mile east), Brompton (1 mile north-east), World's End (1 mile south) and Earl's Court (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Kensington and Chelsea, we also cover Notting Hill (2 miles north-west), Notting Dale (2 miles north-west), Kensal Town (3 miles north-west) and North Kensington (3 miles north-west).
Around South Kensington
In South Kensington, that includes homes near Natural History Museum Library and Archives, Anglesea Arms and London School of Dramatic Art. The closest station to South Kensington is West Brompton station, roughly 0.8 miles west of the centre. Nearby you will also find Victoria and Albert Museum Spiral (less than half a mile north) and Harrods (0.8 miles north-east). Open spaces near South Kensington include Campden Hill and Serpentine.
Do you need under-stairs storage in South Kensington?
Others are looking for a small place to work. Where the space is open to a room, a built-in desk with shelves can fit there neatly. It will not replace a full home office, but it suits paperwork and a laptop.
Here are some of the needs we’re asked about most:
- A fuse board that is hard to get to
- Needing a compact spot for a laptop
- An old cupboard door that doesn’t suit the hall
- Cleaning things with no proper home
Carlyle's House, about 0.6 miles south-east, 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.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
- How they handle walls that are not straight
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- Which materials they’ll use, named in the quote
Common questions about under-stairs storage
Can you make under-stairs storage for a home in South Kensington?
Yes, we work across Kensington and Chelsea, South Kensington included, and across the rest of London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with some details.
Do you cover homes near West Brompton station?
Yes. We cover all of Kensington and Chelsea and the rest of London. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
What materials do you use for under-stairs storage?
We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. The doors and fronts are MDF, which is stable and paints well, and birch plywood is strong, so it suits drawer boxes and carcasses. Everything is finished by spray painting or hand painting.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
It is a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We also check the walls and floors and note radiators, sockets and other things in the way, then send a written quote.
My walls aren’t straight. Is that a problem?
Walls and floors that aren’t true are part of the job in older homes. The furniture is scribed to follow the walls and levelled on feet or a plinth, so there are no gaps at the sides.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Inside a house, fitted furniture does not normally need planning permission. Listed buildings may need listed building consent for works that affect their character.