Westminster · London
Under-Stairs Storage in St James's
Pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs, for homes in St James's. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home.
- Space under the stairs that is hard to use
- Open space under the stairs that collects clutter
- A fuse board that’s hard to get to
Ask about under-stairs storage in St James's
Under-stairs storage in St James's: what you get
In a narrow hallway, the stairs may offer the only spare room for coats and shoes. We can make a coat section with a rail or hooks, shoe drawers and a small shelf for keys and post. Painted in a colour you choose, it reads as part of the house rather than a piece of furniture. For a home in St James's, it can make the front door feel far calmer. If you’re living with stairs open to a room, with clutter on show and needing a compact spot for a laptop, under-stairs cupboards made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed can solve it.
A solid brick outside wall in an older house can be cold and sometimes damp, so a gap and ventilation behind fitted storage help avoid condensation. That matters around St James's, where a large share of the homes are that old. Any damp is dealt with before storage goes in.
You get the quote in writing, so you can read it at your own pace and talk it over at home. It covers the design, materials and finish agreed at the visit.
- Location
- St James's (W1F, W1D, W1J)
- Borough
- Westminster
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
FAQs: under-stairs storage in St James's
How do you fit under-stairs storage in a flat in St James's?
At the design visit, we measure the way in not just the room. The furniture is made in sections that fit the stairs and lift, and put together in the room. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it is worth checking those early.
Can you fit furniture in a home close to London Charing Cross station?
Yes, homes across Westminster and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can get in touch through our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, we can arrange Saturdays. Just mention it when you get in touch, and we will see what we can do.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
External walls can be colder and damper than internal ones, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture, which helps avoid condensation and mould. If there’s damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
How do I get started?
Simply tell us about the room on our contact form. Rough sizes and a few pictures help, and we will arrange a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
What happens during the design 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, then send a written quote.
Fitting day, step by step
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the shape of the space and the number of drawers and doors, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Scribing is done on site, which means some cutting in the room or close by, so we ask for a clear space to work near the room. Dust is kept down and cleared up as we go. Hand painting, if that is your finish, can follow the fitting.
- You let us know about the stairs and what you’d like to store.
- At the design visit, the space is measured and any meters are noted, because they must stay accessible.
- We talk through drawers, cupboards and coat storage, and send a quote in writing.
- The storage is built in our workshop and painted in your colour. We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit it in your home and check every drawer and door with you. The way to any meters is left clear.
Preparing the room
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
Arranging a design visit
We quote once we have seen the room. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, and the written quote comes after. Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. To arrange a visit, use our contact form.
Related advice
Flats, leases and landlords
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
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.
St James's homes and under-stairs storage
The biggest shares of homes in the area around St James's were built before 1919 (about 54%) and since 2000 (about 24%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how under-stairs cupboards are fixed and fitted. The National Heritage List has 934 entries within half a mile of the centre of St James's. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and under-stairs cupboards can be designed to work around them. Purpose-built flats are home to about 77% of households in the neighbourhood around St James's, the 2021 Census shows. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Many blocks have rules on lift booking and working hours, so check with the managing agent before fitting day.
Marlborough House, about 0.3 miles south-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, the space under the stairs may hold the meters or the fuse board, and the cupboards are planned around them. For an older house near St James’s Church, the cupboard door under a period staircase can be kept or replaced to match the new storage.
St James's is within the City of Westminster, about 1 mile north-west of City of Westminster. Our work covers every London borough and the City of London, St James's included. We list St James's among 29 places we cover in Westminster.
Postcode districts we cover here for under-stairs storage: W1F, W1D and W1J. You will find streets here like Duck Lane, Bruton Lane and Bridle Lane, and homes on each of them are within our area for under-stairs storage. The A4 and A400 runs close to St James's, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. If you are just outside St James's, we also cover Chinatown (1 mile north), Charing Cross (1 mile east), Soho (1 mile north), West End (1 mile north-east) and Burlington Estate (1 mile west). Across the rest of Westminster, our area takes in Paddington Green (2 miles north-west), Paddington (2 miles west), Lisson Grove (2 miles north-west), Westbourne (3 miles west), Little Venice (2 miles west) and Westbourne Green (3 miles west). Being one of the larger places in Westminster, St James's is covered for all of our fitted furniture.
Around St James's
We fit furniture in homes around London Library, Tom Cribb pub and Harris Westminster Sixth Form. There is a railway station in St James's itself: London Charing Cross station. Well-known places in the area include Montfichet's Tower (1.4 miles east) and Kingly Court (within half a mile north-west). Not far away are Ludgate Hill and St. James's Park Lake.
Why bespoke in St James's?
With ready-made units, the choice of colour is the maker’s. Bespoke storage can be painted in the colour you choose, by spray or by hand, so it can sit with the walls, the banisters or the skirting. Alcoves and recesses in period houses are rarely a standard width or depth, so off-the-shelf pieces either do not fit or leave a gap either side. Furniture made for the space fills it.
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size is the starting point. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
Why choose us
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
Take a look at bespoke vs off-the-shelf or what to look for in a quote.
Materials and finishes
Pull-out drawers
Deep drawers on runners let you use the low end of the space without crawling in. Each one is sized for what it will hold. A set of drawers can step down to follow the line of the stairs.
Birch plywood
We use birch plywood where strength matters, as it is strong and holds screws firmly. Drawer boxes and carcasses that take a load are often made from it. The layered edge can be left on show or painted.
Why people ask for under-stairs storage in St James's
Most people get in touch because the space has become a dumping ground. Things get pushed to the back, piled on top of each other and forgotten. Well-planned drawers and shelves give each thing a home, so you can find what you need without emptying the cupboard.
Typical reasons people contact us include:
- The low end of the space going to waste
- Wanting a quiet corner for paperwork
- Space under the stairs that’s hard to use
- Nowhere to keep the vacuum and ironing board
If you live near St Anne's Churchyard, under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
Before you choose who makes it
- Is it spray painted or hand painted?
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
- Have they thought about parking near you?
- Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?