Richmond upon Thames · London
Under-Stairs Storage in Richmond upon Thames
Wherever you are in Richmond upon Thames, we design and make under-stairs storage for your room. We visit, measure and talk it through before we quote.
Planning under-stairs storage in Richmond upon Thames?
Under-stairs storage across Richmond upon Thames
We make pull-out drawers, cupboards and coat storage under the stairs. Find your neighbourhood in the lists below for local details, or get in touch to arrange a design visit.
Main places
What else we make in Richmond upon Thames
- Loft storage
- Wall beds
- Bespoke kitchens
- Fitted cupboards
- Alcove units
- Built-in bookshelves
- Window seats
- Fitted home offices
- TV and media units
- Walk-in wardrobes
- Fitted wardrobes
Postcode areas we cover
How we make under-stairs storage for Richmond upon Thames
Some under-stairs spaces are open enough for a small desk. 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 will look at whether it suits your stairs when we visit in Richmond upon Thames. 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 a hallway crowded with coats and shoes and nowhere to keep the vacuum and ironing board.
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Where the floor slopes, we bring the furniture up to level on adjustable feet or a plinth, which keeps the lines straight. Only then is it fixed to the wall, with fixings chosen to suit brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard.
- You get in touch with some details and, if you like, a sketch.
- At the design visit, we look at the stairs, the hall and what you need to store, and check where the meters and fuse board sit.
- Your quote sets out the design, the materials and the finish.
- We make the drawers, doors and carcasses in our workshop. The materials are moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The storage is fitted and set level, ready for the first coats and shoes.
How our quotes work
Access to the room makes a difference too. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying. Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Saturday visits and fitting by arrangement
- More than 300 projects completed
Ask for a quote
If you know what you want, say so; if not, we can work it out together at the visit. The design is talked through at the visit, once we’ve measured, and the written quote that follows sets it out. To start, get in touch through our contact form.
What’s near Twickenham
Our area takes in the homes around The Cabbage Patch pub, St Richard Reynolds Catholic Primary School and Marble Hill Park and the streets around them. Also close by are Richmond upon Thames School (within half a mile north) and St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School (less than half a mile east). For rail, the closest station is Twickenham station, about 0.5 miles north-east of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find South Middlesex Hospital (0.6 miles north) and Treaty Centre (1.8 miles north-west). Green spaces nearby include Ham Lands.
Fitted storage across Richmond upon Thames
Richmond upon Thames has homes of every age, Twickenham, Richmond and Teddington included, and each brings its own spaces to work with. Every piece is scribed to the wall and set level, so everything looks straight even where the room is not.
The biggest shares of homes in Richmond upon Thames were built before 1919 (about 38%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 24%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. 9 of the 19 places in Richmond upon Thames with their own pages here have their centre inside a conservation area, according to Historic England’s data. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission.
In London, the route into a home matters as much as the room, so the way in is measured along with the room.
Twickenham: If you live near Marble Hill Park, under-stairs cupboards can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things. The wider area includes historic houses like Richmond House, about 0.5 miles east. For a period home anywhere nearby, pull-out drawers can reach right to the back of a deep under-stairs space.
Tips worth knowing
Getting the most from under-stairs storage starts with the planning and carries on after fitting day. These are worth keeping in mind:
- Bring paint colours you like to the design visit
- Check whether your meters or fuse board are under the stairs
- Tell us about parking at the design visit
- Empty the cupboard so we can measure every corner
Wiping the fronts with a soft, damp cloth is normally all they need. Avoid scourers and harsh chemicals, and dry the surface after wiping. Handles and the edges of drawers are touched most, so give them a wipe now and then.
Wet coats and shoes can mark paint and leave damp in a closed cupboard. It’s best to let them dry before closing the door on them, and air the cupboard if it feels damp.
Could you do it yourself?
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder.
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there is 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.
Flats, leases and landlords
Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Let us know about them during the design visit.
In conversions and newer blocks, many internal walls are timber or metal stud with plasterboard. We choose fixings to suit the wall, after checking the walls at the measuring visit.
Do you need under-stairs storage?
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. Purpose-made drawers and shelves give everything its own place, so you can find what you need without emptying the cupboard.
Here’s what under-stairs storage can help with:
- A fuse board that’s hard to get to
- Wanting a quiet corner for paperwork
- Coats and shoes piling up in the hall
- A sloping corner nobody can reach
Boards, parts and paint
Doors and drawer fronts
A door for the meter or fuse board can match the rest of the fronts. It opens fully so the meter stays easy to read. Around it, the other fronts can be drawers, doors or a mix.
Pull-out drawers
A tall pull-out drawer can hold coats on a rail or a vacuum cleaner standing up. Lower drawers suit shoes, bags and boxes. The design visit is where we agree the mix.
Questions from Richmond upon Thames
How long is the fitting for under-stairs storage?
The time the fitting takes depends on the shape of the space and the number of drawers and doors, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Because everything is built in our workshop, the work in your home is the fitting itself. We keep the hallway as clear as we can while we work.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Typically not. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character, so ask the council’s conservation officer.
Do you cover Richmond upon Thames?
Yes. Richmond upon Thames is part of the area we cover, as part of our work across all London boroughs. To get a quote, drop us a line using the contact form.
Is it possible to match the colour of my hallway?
Yes. We paint the storage in the colour you choose, by spray or by hand. You can match it to the walls, the banisters or the skirting, so it looks like part of the house.
Is it possible to have a desk built under the stairs?
That depends on the shape of your stairs and the room beside them. At the design visit we will say whether a desk makes sense there. Where it works, it makes a neat spot for a laptop and paperwork.
My walls aren’t straight. Is that a problem?
It is something we deal with all the time. The furniture is scribed to follow the walls and levelled on feet or a plinth, so there are no gaps at the sides.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
We need someone to let us in at the start of the day. It is good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.