I remember having an open area under the stairs in an Edwardian semi a few houses ago. We put ribbed MDF doors to enclose it and a shelving unit inside. What do you tend to store in there? I find the bending to access items annoying and as you say it just becomes a "chuck it all in" space quite quickly. Does the cupboard space ceiling follow the stair shape? Can you stand up inside it closest to the door end?

I would look into getting customised-built wooden cabinetry that matches the existing look you want to keep. Otherwise, as Isla has suggested some shelving units would work too

Something like this? What age is the house? I assume it’s not listed? It looks like you have another cupboard, could that not be a full height cupboard?

Not what you asked but i think I saw another post earlier where the beams are still unpainted wood, maybe consider painting these in a pale taupe as it would really lighten the space up but still keep it’s charm

Thank you all for your ideas! To answer the few questions:

- We would like to store coats, hats and shoes under the stairs (we have a separate cupboard for sports items).

- Current underside of the stairs has a plasterboard sheet on it so doesn't follow the stair shape currently (but could be easily removed if needed).

- We can't stand up in the current end cupboard - this is about ~5ft or less in height only.

- House isn't listed, but is circa 16th/17th century and in a conservation area (applies to frontage only).

The idea of wooden textured doors but painted taupe/light actually sounds like a nice in-between of the neutral 'invisible', while being in keeping with the old so thanks Minnie for that! And as Isla and Black and Milk have said, shelving inside might be a better way to go than the modern pullouts (and will help keep the costs lower!)

There are generally less problems with shelves and you could have coat hooks on the wall to the left of the door. Pullouts don't allow a lot of storage and drawer rails often become loose with time and repeated usage. Also much more budget friendly as I'm sure you have other areas which require spending too.

Yes definitely! I've drawn up a bit of a plan with the ideas from you guys to use shelves and paint softly as like you say, cheaper is going to be better at this stage and i think it will still achieve what we want! :)

Vertical drawers

(random examples)

Heavy duty rails don't tear that easy. I've added similar ones in a restaurant for understairs hamper storage almost two decades ago (when i still was a furniture maker). Filled with damp towels every day, it does what it's supposed to do.

I have an under stairs pantry in my kitchen with shelves around it, but it’s not easy to access well with the sloping ceiling from the stairs. I do prefer the pull out drawers as that improves access but it is more expensive. I think black beams are a bit harsh, but I’ve seen pictures where they are painted a soft grey or taupe and it looks lovely. Still had that country vibe but a bit lighter. I’ll try to find some pictures. Pannelling also looks lovely when painted but lovely natural wood too.

Thank you everyone!

We've gone with a combination of everyone's ideas by keeping the existing door and cupboard with some shelving and things inside to keep the 'feature' aspect, but as we couldnt find a way of doing pullouts that we could afford and had the old-style, we've opted to do some open shelves that will house some wicker baskets etc for some warmth and character. The shelves will be half the depth of the whole understairs section though to make it fully useful and not lose space at the back, with some of the back section then being accessible as extra shelves from the cupboard (if that makes sense!)

It means we're losing a bit of 'floorspace' ultimately, but that everything being used is maximised for the items we intend to store in each and we won't be tempted to chuck stuff to the back and forget them!

Sonia - appreciate your thoughts re the black being harsh but it works in the house as it's true to it's original design and we plan to soften it with slightly uneven plastered walls and lots of warm decorations, furniture and plants (this is what we did upstairs) :) we're not painting any of the wood sections that are still the honey oak/warm oak colours though, only the beams that are already a faded and patchy black :)

It sounds as though you have put a lot of thought into your decision after receiving some very different options. I'd love to see the end result. I'm all for keeping the features that show the age of the house otherwise we may as well all live in newbuilds. It's also one of the most incredible things about the UK. The fact that we live in old (often beautiful) historic properties with so much character.

It looks great. It really adds interest and your solution suits the room perfectly. :)) My last property had a very similar floor to yours. Is it limestone? You are making me miss that floor!

Looks fab. That floor is to die for! Well done.

Thank you! The floor is porcelain as we wanted the long-term easy maintenance so I spent a lot of time trying to find one that looked as if it was real limestone and has all the texture and colour of real! Found this one eventually!

Please do share where you found it!

Its Mandarin Stone - exact tiles : https://www.mandarinstone.com/product/trulli-sand-stone-effect-porcelain/?srsltid=AfmBOooW0vEUNeB_ZoQNtmDwfFfTcRsBpqbYPTlnowKH3QyBAVVyDBSK

Looks amazing. Thanks for sharing😍

Thank you!!

Thanks so much for including the link to Mandarin Stone. Much appreciated.:)

My friend has a similar floor in her kitchen diner but hers is ceramic tiles and it still looks fantastic. Hasn’t dated at all!