Pull out drawers under a stairs?

[rslaback]

The home I just bought has a traditional triangle shaped closet under the basement stairs. In other words, the back wall of a narrow closet that slopes down to the ground. Traditionally these are horribly under utilized spaces because of the challenge of the dropping height and increasing depth. While I could just wall the space off at about 3 or 4 feet and shrink the closet, I want to better use that space.

I'd like to best utilize this space but all the ideas I am coming across for under stair storage require accessing the stairs from the side. This isn't going to be an option for me as one wall of the existing closet is the end wall of the family room, complete with wiring and soon to have a tv hung on it. The other side is the wall to the furnace utility room and has the furnace, water heater and neutralizer all lined up along it.

Has anyone ever made pull out shelves that run various depths of the space? I'm thinking that I would need to have the drawers split in the middle so that they are only half the width of the stairs otherwise you wouldn't have the ability to stand anywhere when you pulled them out. Basically it would be like a stack of truck bed boxes of various depths.

Thoughts? I am thinking for sure that I would need to make my own drawer slide system as 6 foot full extension slides would have to be pretty pricey.

 

[EdT]

I have a similar space in the basement that I use for storing lumber. No drawers, just some cross pieces that hold stuff up. Long sticks at the bottom, short ones on top. About 3 or 4 levels. Anything that's too short goes in the ever growing box of "sticks to short to keep". I would think you could make some slides from skate board wheels. Another way I have seen and always wanted to try out is a big drawer/cart that fits the space with a bunch of drawers that go in parallel to the treads on the stairs. The whole cart rolls out from under the stairs and the you have access to the drawers. Imagining that the space is around 4' wide it might be best to have drawers on both sides since a 4' deep drawer is not too useful. I have a bunch of art class flat file cabinets that have drawers about 2' deep and, if you're storing paper that about 2' wide, that's great, but if you're storing small stuff it's hard to get to the back of the drawers. If the drawer cart was on casters, it could be rolled to other locations if that would be useful.

 

[kbs2244]

http://inhabitat.com/a-brilliant-storage-idea-staircase-drawers/

 

[38 Dodge Coupe]

That last picture is really interesting. I would be willing to go that route only if the drawer automatically retracted, because with my luck I would be coming down the stairs with the lights out and the drawer would be open.

 

[softailgarage]

I've seen it on websites, take a look at houzz.com

 

[Kevin54]

I've seen it on websites, take a look at houzz.com

^^^^This^^^^

Type in "drawers under stairs" when you go to the website. It should bring up a lot of ideas.

 

[rslaback]

You must have missed the part in the post where I mention that I do not have access to the sides. I scrolled through the first 5 pages of results and none of them had any examples of how to layout the closet underneath the stairs. They almost all use a pull out drawer from the side.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd just basically build a framework similar to a cabinet that would fit under the stairs. I built some night stands and you could easily do something similar. The drawers are just a slid and fit, no slides and they ride on the interior shelf.

You won't be using them all the time so it should be ok for no slides. just make the faces first and the drawers to fit in the faces.

 

[raceman17]

What I did when I built my house was make this space my media room. Every single piece of TV equipment is under the stairs in its own room. The TV is hung on the outside wall and all the cables are hidden in the wall. No entertainment center, cables, or TV boxes in site. Just buy a good remote and everything can be controlled through the walls. Since your family room is on the other side of the wall could this be an option for you?

 

[srmofo]

1 thing to consider before anything is if you can even take the riser board off the stringers without destroying things. A lot of this will depend on the build. When I redid my stairs last year I followed the advice of many old wise experienced men and securely screw the risers to the tread before and after it as well as the stringer and used a construction adhesive. If an experienced builder did yours theres a strong likely hood they might be the same way.

Theres another stair case under mine so I have no need to access anything under there.

Disregard if yours are unfinished basement type steps.

The drawers will have to be 2 small ones because there is a stringer in the middle on nearly every staircase.

I would go with a friction type dresser slide so they they dont creep open from people stomping up and down them.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

You'll probably have to take the treads off during your installation so you have access to install rails. This would be a good time to redo the treads off the staircase itself for a nice finish.

For that matter, maybe keep the risers in place and make each tread removable like a box top with cleats to keep it in place? It would be a bit more limited for storage, but a lot easier to do.

 

[bad_idea]

I have one step from my house to my garage, it was chip board covered w/ nasty carpet. I made a new step and made the step itself removable for a storage compartment under the step. Basically a wooden box w/ a removable top, looks like the old step. Figure when I go out of town, stash valuables in there to fool thieves.

 

[willymakeit]

That last picture is really interesting. I would be willing to go that route only if the drawer automatically retracted, because with my luck I would be coming down the stairs with the lights out and the drawer would be open.

Install the slides out of level and shim or cut the riser square to the tread. Let gravity work for you.

 

[Jawn]

Good ideas here... I think I'll put a set of drawers under my stairs. (side-access, not in the risers)