Making use of under stair space

We're currently waiting on a new build which is due to be ready around christmas. It's a 3 bed end of terrace so we're trying to think of the best way to use all the space.

A friend of my OH's recently moved into a new house and told the builders that he wanted the space under the stairs left open, i.e he didn't want the understair storage, and he now uses that space as a PC workstation.

I think it's a fantastic idea but as I've only ever seen it in his house and can't find any mention of it in any posts here I'm wondering if anyone can see any problems with it or if the builders are likely to have any problems with it.

Any thoughts?

Hi Shoppergal
This is a great idea. We created one in our own home. The P.C. station is much used and its great to have it out of the way. The only downfall is that it can get a bit cramped though, but its a small trade-off. I suggest that you have your builder install some lights, we put in recessed, on a dimmer switch and set of double powerpoints. I am against using extensions as far as possible because of the increase in resistance on these units. You need the lights to take notes and such like and it's also less strain on the eyes.
As far as the unit itself you can buy one that suits your space and requirements as in storage of hardcopy and placing of printer, scanner etc. To have one built is not cost effective and you might also wish to change your set-up in future as well. A custom built unit might prevent this if the screen, tower and acessories are of a different size to what you have now. Hope this helps you.

Back from holiday this morning so have just seen this.
I am sitting in the spare bedroom at the centre of the run of built-in wardrobes each of which is 1 metre wide.
When we had the house rewired about 20 years ago I had a double socket put into this 'robe and built in a simple desk top and shelves so that I could use it as an office. When we came home from Trinidad on my retirement in 1997 it was a simple matter to put a sliding tray under the desk top, drill a 2 inch hole in it for cables and extend the telephone socket. This then became a workstation which conceals the computer, printer, B/B modem, photoprinter and software for a minimal cost.

BillK said:

Back from holiday this morning so have just seen this.

Click to expand...

Welcome back Bill. Thought you had found a more interesting site. Hope you enjoyed the holiday.

Thanks sueellen.

Great holiday with my wife and my Kildare cousin and his wife in South Africa, where we were able to show the cousin and spouse some of the places we had visited while I was working in Swaziland for three long arduous years! (The last bit is a joke - I loved every minute of it.)

I will post some comments on the holiday board in case anyone is thinking of visiting SA in the near future.

BillK

We used our under the stairs are for the tumble dryer, very handy.

We use our under the stairs for the tumble drier too. Just drilled a big hole to the outside for ventilation and that was all that was required. We then also have the space above the drier for general storgage.

z

some cool idea's. wonder would it be hard to make the space open. my own is closed up at the moment.... mmmmmhhh angle grinder and a hammer !!