Under Stairs Pull Out Storage

Once upon a time there was this space under the stairs, and most often then not, it's Always stuffed with things! Especially when we had sudden guests and needed to quickly clean up the clutter of toys and what not! Still if your eye happens to go near the stairs it's obvious what has been done :-P.

The space is not big. Just about 4ft deep, 33" wide and angled to about 30" high. Still it's a fantastic storage space. Especially if the storage space is sort a of pull out so that you don't have to crawl in under to find that something your little one must have!

Enter My Under Stair Pull out solution! Yay! A nice hidy place for all the toys and what nots !

Step 1: Wood and Basic Supplies

Wood and Basic Supplies

Saw

Combination ruler

nails and screws

drill

Wood planks for- Floor area, front panel, back panel and one side panel. Size will of course differ for each stair case.

Castor wheels- 4

1x2 wood planks for suppport

NOTE: I used some scavenged pallets and chipboard for this project to keep cost at minimum

Step 2: Measure and Cut

First you need to measure the inside floor area. The height and Width. It wouldn't always be proper and square. If your width differs, go with the width that is smaller as only then can you push the floor panel in. Luckily for me my front width was just 2" smaller than the back. So not much of a difference. The length was the same throughout.

Basically you need the floor area and side panel measurements.

Side panel= height- 2" (easier cutting this at once as you need to keep space at bottom and top to avoid friction.

Take into account the thickness of the wood for the drawer slider and also the side panel thickness. My whole width was 33", So I my drawer width was about 32". This was determined by trial and error as I will show in next step.

Step 3: Main Frame.

Measure and screw in castor wheels.

Place a spacer under the side panel and screw it in at a right angle in a T- joint to the floor panel.

You would need help here to hold the panel while you screw it in.

Now push this under the stairs. It is fine if the panels are flush to the wall or less In front. Sides it's best if its less else it would have lots of friction. There by damaging the panel. Make sure there is at least 1" gap. Step 6 will explain why :-).

The panels should never jut out. If it juts out, measure and cut excess.

Step 4: Support for Panels

Place your 1x2 ( I used pallets) across the panels. Make sure it's below the stairs and not touching. Mark angles to cut.

Tape another identical pallet to it and cut. This is for the back support.

Screw cross support to both front and back.

Now place another slat from the floor panel to the bottom of cross bar. Again mark angle cuts, tape another slat and cut. Screw this in too, from the sides and bottom.

Repeat this same process for the bottom slat too. Screw it in place from under the floor panel.

Note: those with kreg jig can build a right angle support and fix it to the side and bottom panel.

Step 5: The Door and Back Panel.

It is not nesssasary to cover the back panel. Covering it is of course optional. As the wood panel I had for the Door was large. It was more than enough to cut the back panel too. Therefore I traced the shape into the plank and cut it. Then I replaced the back right angle slat support with the plank right angle.

For the door, measure about 2" excess from the opening space on the 3 sides. Transfer the measument to board and cut. Sand and kkeep aside till end

Step 6: The Slider.

Now that basically everything is almost done we need to add the pull out guide else the storage might move aroud quite a bit when pulling out the storage. .

Cut a 1x2 slat about the legth of storage. Mark the width plus about 1/4" across the side panel. Remove side panel and cut the mark off. Now reassemble the side panel to the angle supports and floor panel.

Position the guide slat in proper place under the stairs and hammer it in. How to do this? Well I slid onto the storage. Got someone to push me in. Placed the slat in between the opening on the wall and hammered it in. Btw. The door wasn't fixed yet.; just in case you were wondering ;-).

NOTE: In the comments below 'aheibi' commented about using a long telescopic drawer slide. This would be great idea if you have a level floor.

When I pulled out my storage I found out the floor area under the stairs was not level too. The storage guide slat was rubbing and getting stuck on certain areas in the upper side panel. So I removed the upper side panel and sanded it down so it didn't get stuck while pulling.

Now as a guide and lock for the slider I fixed a small 1/4" thick slat on to the slide. I screwed it in the center so that when you turn it, it would be within the guide slat width. To remove the storage totally out; you need to turn the guide lock parallel and push the storage to the side. Thereby providing the space to pull rhe storage over the lock. I hope you can understand what I mean! It sounds confusing, but the pictures should clarify it.

Step 7: Fix Door and Shelf Support

Now take the front door panel, placea spacer at the bottom and fix the door to the front right angle support. Make sure to fix all 3 slats of the angle support to the door. Now the angle support and the door would become one piece. When dismantling to paint, just unscrew from side panels and bottom panels.

As there was enough space I wanted to add a shelf. So I fixed 2 slats as shelf support on the front and back panels at equal height. Measure length and width and cut shelf to size.

I did not add a handle for the door as I felt the gap at the bottom was more than enough for me to slide my hand under and pull. Adding handle is of course up to you :-)

Step 8: Dismantle and Beautify!

Now that all is done it's time to dismantle and beautify :-) .

Paint all the sections.

In my case my floor panel and shelf were chipboard. So as painting wouldn't achieve a smooth finish I used a vinyl sticker sheet. Very easy maintenance! .

Once all parts are painted, dried and fixed, place shelf on supports and secure by drilling and screwing to side panel.

Step 9: Enjoy! the Options Are Endless ;)

I was really surprised at the amount of space. My kids were using it as a play area while I was doing up the shelf!

In emergencies it could also be a toddler bed! Lol.

I reall liked how it turned out! I hope you find it useful to improve your house space too :-)

Please if you like this instructable don't foeget to vote for it! Thanks!