Has anyone opened up space under their stairs?

[FreezerBird]

All internal walls our house are studwork rather than block. Under the top end of the stairs (if that makes sense - where there's more headroom) is a small utility room but the bottom half is completely closed in. No understairs cupboard.

I'm assuming it's just a void under there and we* could open it up and make it either a cupboard or just an open area for storage/shelves. Has anyone done this? How big a job was it and most importantly was it horrendously messy?

Thanks!

*When I say 'we', I mean a builder/carpenter...

It's more accessible if you open it "sideways" so you can have roll-out boxes or drawers, rather than trying to worm you way inwards from the end. Two to three feet wide is enough, or they will be unmanageable. There are purpose-made pull-out kitchen larder units, but they cost hundreds of pounds and don't pull out very far. Beware of very large things like bikes as they will end up tangling into an obstacle.

If you want to have "drawer fronts" that form a neat wall, it needs more care and skill, and probably rails or drawer runners, so that they travel straight and return to the same position. Otherwise, rubber-tyred industrial wheels are fine. Hinged doors IMO get in the way.

You need a floor that is flat and level with the hall, or roll-outs will get stuck.

A cheap starter is the roll-away plastic storage crates.

Oh yes, I wasn't clear - I mean opening up from the hall into it, not from the back of the utility.

I see adverts for those purpose-built understairs cupboard/drawer things which pull out. Look amazing but I assume v expensive and I don't know if there's anyone local-ish who could do it for us (we live in the back of beyond).

If space allowed I might just stick one of those IKEA trofast units in.

Are we going to be limited in the size of opening by the position of uprights in the studwork? It still has to support the wall above I assume.

easy DIY or carpenter job

www.screwfix.com/c/security-ironmongery/wheels-castors/cat840226#category=cat840226&sort_by=price

Thanks PigletJohn that's given me some ideas too

I did in a previous house, a bit like Hague’s example, you may need to add some board to the back of the stairs as my treads were quite unsightly once exposed.

It makes for a great wine storage area. If you like wine; purpose built wine racks and a glass front all along the side of the stairs.

the undersides of the stairs can be covered with plasterboard, that improves fire resistance. I'm not up to date with regulations in ordinary houses, but if you get a builder or carpenter in to do the other work, they may well be familiar with it (if not a plasterer can, but it's a very small job). Any loose or squeaky boards should be fixed first.

Under my stairs I have plumbing and power for a washer and drier "just in case" but never used it. Maybe I'll do roll-outs one day....

Our first house was a Victorian terrace.
We used all of the understairs space for three large doors.
Biggest one had two coat rails and hooks, middle one had our condensing tumble dryer plus some wooden racks for clothes and smallest had 3 wooden drawers for shoes.
It was fab. A carpenter made it and it wasn‘t cheap but it was a big plus when we sold the house, the space was excellently used, nothing cluttered the hallway and the carpenter made it look like it had always been there.
I want something like that in our current house, but there are more urgent matters, like the 1950s downstairs loo.

We had ours done. Two doors put in and a roller drawer. Local joiner did the work and cost £400 for the lot. Looks great and has made the space far more workable now.

Fab, thankyou all.

Hague yours looks amazing! Sadly we don't have that much space as it's really just the bottom half of the staircase so more of a small cupboard/nook. I think I'm moving away from putting doors on though.