When Jo from Woman’s Weekly approached us and needed help with transforming the space under her stairs, we sent her Liam Hamblin from Scadbury Building Services to solve the problem. Jo had recently moved to a new Victorian terraced house and she was keen to have a neat storage area for her ironing board, laundry basket and drying rack. You know, those things that take up so much space that you really want to throw them in a closet and never open the door.
Jo had done plenty of research beforehand and had invested in some really smart storage solutions. When Liam opened these packs however, he realised that the some of the fittings weren’t up to the job. Often when you buy these hooks and hangers, the fittings they come with aren’t as good as the product itself. Other times they’re just not right for the job in hand, they might be designed for fitting into a solid wall and you want to fit into a wooden surface, and sometimes you might need to customise the product to fit your requirements. Liam’s suggestion was to go to a trade specialist and buy quality screws, nails and plugs. Although, this of course makes the project a bit more expensive.
It also turned out that fitting the boards to the wall wasn’t an easy task for a normal DIY-er, as everything had to be custom-made. The wall was wonky and Liam had to measure, saw or drill, use the spirit level and measure again to get it right. The shelves were fitted about 40cm from the floor, so items could be stowed under them and also placed on top. When everything was in place, it looked really good, not to mention practical.
So what was needed to complete this project?
- Batons
- MDF (medium density fibreboard)
- Storage solutions such as brush and tool organiser, utility hook, a Wall Store system etc.
- Tools (electric jigsaw, drill, crosscut saw, hammer, screwdriver etc.)
