Lothair Road
A full-height hallway cupboard in birch plywood, built mainly for shoes, with a cupboard above that hides the electric meter
- Client
- Raphael
- Scope
- Full-height shoe cupboard with movable shelving, and a cupboard above hiding the electric meter
- Design
- Universal Joinery
- Material
- Birch plywood
- Finish
- Hard, clear varnish
- Location
- Lothair Road
- Completed
- March 2026
The piece
The hallway is narrow, so the cupboard runs floor to ceiling rather than out into the room. It is mainly a shoe cupboard, with room for odds and ends too, and the cupboard at the top is doing a job of its own: hiding the electric meter, rather than sitting there as plain storage.
Angled, movable shelves
Each shelf tips forward slightly, so a shoe or boot set on it sits with its toe up and its profile visible, rather than disappearing heel-first into a dark cupboard. The shelves are also movable, so the spacing can change as what is stored changes, rather than being fixed to one shoe height.
Finish and doors
Everything is sealed in a hard, clear varnish, since shoes go in wet as often as not. The doors are push-to-open, with no handles, so the plywood is left flush and the cupboard reads as part of the hallway wall rather than a piece of furniture fitted into it.