5 Steps to a Clutter-free Home: Day Five – Tackle the Under Stairs Mess
On the final day of our week-long decluttering programme, get ready to find out what lies beneath…
If you have stairs in your house, then you probably have some room beneath them. Designed well, this triangular portion of space can become an invaluable chunk of extra storage. Sadly, due to its angled proportions, the under stairs cupboard is more often a messy repository, with only the items at the very front seeing the light of day and those at the back inaccessible without a torch and a lot of rummaging. So today we’re looking at how to get your under stairs space to work harder for you. Clearing it out is the first task. It’s a quick, if slightly unpleasant job, but it will help you to see what you store below stairs, whether you need those items, and how the space could work more efficiently.
Have a radical rethink
Once you’ve pulled your clutter out, scrutinised it and discarded or relocated some of it, you are in a great position to really think about your under stairs space. Before you simply stuff everything back in, consider redesigning the whole area so it meets your needs better. A popular design strategy is to fit individual cupboard doors. This way, even the tiniest triangle of space at the foot of the stairs can be accessed and put to use.
Once you’ve pulled your clutter out, scrutinised it and discarded or relocated some of it, you are in a great position to really think about your under stairs space. Before you simply stuff everything back in, consider redesigning the whole area so it meets your needs better. A popular design strategy is to fit individual cupboard doors. This way, even the tiniest triangle of space at the foot of the stairs can be accessed and put to use.
Use vertical space
Store as much of your under stairs stuff up on the walls of the cupboard as you can. It makes better use of the space and improves access to small objects that are easily lost, such as paint brushes and tools. Hooks, pegs and magnetic strips like these are inexpensive solutions that work really well.
Store as much of your under stairs stuff up on the walls of the cupboard as you can. It makes better use of the space and improves access to small objects that are easily lost, such as paint brushes and tools. Hooks, pegs and magnetic strips like these are inexpensive solutions that work really well.
Work out what you need
As with all the other decluttering jobs in this series, you must be prepared to throw some items away. This includes anything you haven’t used in 12 months and anything out of date or damaged (paint, tools, kites with missing strings). You can make a pile for items that could be donated to charity, too, but beware of saving things for a car-boot sale. Will you really get up early on a Saturday in the future to sell these things, or is it better to pass them on or bin them now, for a tidier house today?
As with all the other decluttering jobs in this series, you must be prepared to throw some items away. This includes anything you haven’t used in 12 months and anything out of date or damaged (paint, tools, kites with missing strings). You can make a pile for items that could be donated to charity, too, but beware of saving things for a car-boot sale. Will you really get up early on a Saturday in the future to sell these things, or is it better to pass them on or bin them now, for a tidier house today?
Find alternative locations
Many of the items we store in our homes end up in one place and stay there, without us asking ourselves: is this the best location for them? So rethink what you keep in the under stairs cupboard. It may be full of paint cans and sports kit, which could be stored in the garage, leaving the under stairs space free for everyday items such as shoes, dog leads and shopping bags.
Many of the items we store in our homes end up in one place and stay there, without us asking ourselves: is this the best location for them? So rethink what you keep in the under stairs cupboard. It may be full of paint cans and sports kit, which could be stored in the garage, leaving the under stairs space free for everyday items such as shoes, dog leads and shopping bags.
Scrap it
If your decluttering has been so successful that you now have hardly anything to store under the stairs, why not scrap the cupboard altogether? You could have a cosy reading nook built in, shelves for books or even a compact cloakroom.
If your decluttering has been so successful that you now have hardly anything to store under the stairs, why not scrap the cupboard altogether? You could have a cosy reading nook built in, shelves for books or even a compact cloakroom.
First things first — clear the area! Pull every last item out from under your stairs, vacuum the space and dust off any surfaces. You may need a powerful torch for this and even a hard hat for burrowing to the back! Of course, if you have nifty drawer storage like this, which opens from the side, the task will be much easier and require less stooping.