Creating understairs frame

[stealthwolf]

So SWMBO would like the understairs area to be converted into storage. She likes the idea of drawers and it'll be mainly her collection of cookery book as well as her other knick-knacks.

This is the project I've stumbled upon:

I want to make three vertical drawers and will remove the carpet (wooden boards underneath) but still have some questions whilst I'm sketching out my design:

1. Do I need to remove the skirting or could I get away with notching the uprights? It'd all be affixed to the brick wall behind.

2. The chap in the video already has a frame at the front because of the pre-existing partition. I'll need to create one from scratch. How do I fix the frame to the underside of the stairs?

3. Chappy uses steel L-brackets to fix everything to everything else. Is it a good enough choice or is there a better option?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have seen an alternative design, which rests on the floor, and has wheels which run in tracks for alignment. The under-stairs near useless space is something I had been hoping to tackle for a long time. My one is longer/wider and you can stand up in it at the high end. It is all boxed in and has a too square low door into it, rather than the more sensible one where the top follows the angle of the space under the stairs. It's full of clutter, so its an ouch moment banging my head every time I need to go in there, dodging the vac plus too low door frame.