Lewisham · London
Telegraph Hill Under-Stairs Storage
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. Our work on under-stairs storage in Telegraph Hill starts with a design visit, and everything is built in our workshop.
- A fuse board that’s hard to get to
- A sloping corner nobody can reach
- An old cupboard door that doesn’t suit the hall
Under-stairs storage for your home in Telegraph Hill
How we make under-stairs storage for Telegraph Hill
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’ll look at whether it suits your stairs when we visit in Telegraph Hill. We make under-stairs cupboards from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and the usual reasons to get in touch are cleaning things with no proper home and stairs open to a room, with clutter on show.
In streets where many homes were built before 1919, as they were around Telegraph Hill, under-stairs cupboards in older terraces often house the meters or the fuse board. Meter readers and engineers need to get to them, so the design keeps them accessible. Bays and sash windows in period houses are natural spots for a window seat.
Everything we agree during the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.
- Where
- Telegraph Hill (SE4, SE15, SE14)
- Area
- Lewisham
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it’s made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
How we price under-stairs storage
What it costs comes down to the materials and the time involved. That depends on:
- What goes inside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers
- Parking near your home
- The overall size of the piece
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
No two rooms cost the same to furnish, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. Spray painting and hand painting are different processes, which affects the cost. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
Getting in touch
A little information at the start saves time later. Where you can, include:
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Where you live, with the postcode
Photos help us understand the room before we visit. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them give us a good feel for the space. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we’ll arrange a design visit.
What we do not do
We design, make and fit the furniture. That means:
- Reshaping or rebuilding the staircase
- Relocating meters, which your energy supplier deals with
- Plastering and decorating around the new storage
Not sure whether your space suits under-stairs storage? You can send us a few details through our contact form and we’ll tell you before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Birch plywood
- Coat hooks and shoe shelves
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Pull-out drawers
- Hand-painted finish
Making use of tricky spaces in Telegraph Hill
Homes built before 1919 make up about 49% of the housing in the area around Telegraph Hill, with about 16% built since 2000, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. It is a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. 6 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of central Telegraph Hill. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. Strict stopping rules apply on red routes, which TfL runs. If you live on or close to a main road in Telegraph Hill, let us know at the measuring visit. That way we can plan where to load and unload.
If your home is one of the older houses near St Catherine's Hatcham, the cupboard door under a period staircase can be kept or replaced to match the new storage. If you live near Fordham Park, living near green space often means muddy boots, bikes and outdoor kit, and under-stairs cupboards can give those things a place. The wider area includes historic houses like Queen's House, about 2 miles north-east. For a period home anywhere nearby, the cupboard door under a period staircase can be kept or replaced to match the new storage.
Telegraph Hill is about 1 mile north-east of New Cross, part of the London Borough of Lewisham. Whether your home in Telegraph Hill is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, the furniture is designed around the room as we find it. We cover places right across Lewisham, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
In SE4, SE15 and SE14, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. We cover homes on streets like Mona Road, Pepys Road and Kitto Road, along with the roads around them, for under-stairs storage and any of our other fitted furniture. We also cover the places around Telegraph Hill: Nunhead (1 mile south-west), New Cross (1 mile north-east), Peckham (1 mile north-west), St Johns (1 mile east) and Brockley (1 mile south-east). Elsewhere in Lewisham, we also cover Catford (2 miles south-east), Sydenham (3 miles south), Hither Green (2 miles south-east), Perry Vale (2 miles south), Bell Green (2 miles south) and Lee (2 miles south-east).
Local landmarks in Telegraph Hill
Around Telegraph Hill, we cover homes near The Brockley Barge pub and the streets around them. There is a railway station in Telegraph Hill itself: Brockley station. Other landmarks nearby include Southwark Adult Education Institute (0.6 miles north-west) and Lewisham Shopping Centre (1.4 miles east). Not far away are New Cross Gate Cutting.
Your questions about under-stairs storage in Telegraph Hill
How do you fit under-stairs storage in a flat in Telegraph Hill?
We measure the route in along with the room itself: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Under-stairs cupboards are built in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it’s worth checking those early.
My house in Telegraph Hill is Victorian. Can you deal with uneven walls?
Yes, that is normal in older houses: each piece is scribed to the wall and levelled at the base. We also work around skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. Fixings are chosen for the wall, whether solid brick or lath and plaster.
Do I need planning permission for fitted furniture?
Not typically. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
Do I choose the paint colour?
You choose it. The paint colour is agreed with you.
Can I send pictures before the visit?
Yes. They give us a feel for the space before we visit. Show anything the furniture has to work around, like radiators or sockets.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and a written quote follows.
Also in Telegraph Hill
Practical tips
These points come up often when people plan under-stairs storage. They help whatever the room:
- Mention any decorating plans so the work can be timed well
- Let us know about parking near your home
- Check whether your meters or fuse board are under the stairs
- Consider the colour of the hall, the stairs and the skirting
When you load the drawers, put the heaviest things low and towards the front. That keeps the drawers running smoothly and the load where the carcass is strongest. We size the shelves for what you said you’d store, so stick to that and they’ll stay straight.
Wet coats and shoes can mark paint and leave damp in a closed cupboard. Let them dry before they go away, and air the cupboard if it feels damp.
From workshop to your room
At the end, we tidy up and lift the floor protection. Before we go, we look over the finished furniture with you. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the space and the design, and your quote sets out the fitting days. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that aren’t straight, so there’s some trimming and adjusting on site. Floors are protected, and dust is kept down as far as possible. It’s useful to tell us about parking during the design visit, as terraced streets are often busy.
- You get in touch and describe the stairs and the hall.
- We visit to measure the space at several points along the slope, as stairs and walls are rarely square in older houses.
- Your written quote sets out the design, materials and finish.
- The drawers, doors and carcasses are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, cut to the angle of the stairs.
- On fitting day the units are set level and scribed to follow the stairs and walls.
How to prepare
- Keep pets in another room while we work
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
Ask for a quote
Getting a quote starts with some details: which room it is, rough measurements and a couple of photos if you can take them. To send them, get in touch through our contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and go through the design, then send a written quote.
Related advice
Flat-pack or bespoke?
Flat-pack and off-the-shelf furniture has its place. In a room with square walls and standard sizes, it can work well, and it’s easy to buy.
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s usually a gap left over at the top or at one end. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can use the full height and width.