Bexley · London
Alcove Units in Bexley
From one end of Bexley to the other, we can design, make and fit alcove units. Every job starts with a design visit, then a written quote.
Alcove Units in Bexley
Alcove units in every part of Bexley
Every piece is designed after a visit to your home. Every neighbourhood has its own page, listed below. To get started, use the contact form.
Largest neighbourhoods
Alcove units in Bexley: how it works
In a tall room, a full-height alcove cupboard holds a great deal. In bedrooms, this often becomes a compact wardrobe or a place for bedding, and in a dining room a home for china and glass. We ask what you want to store before we plan the inside, so shelves and rails go where they’re needed. Typical reasons to get in touch are bowed walls and sloping floors and shelving for books and records, and the answer is made at our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
When we arrive on fitting day, the first job is covering the floors and protecting the way in from the front door. Next, we carry in the sections built in our workshop. How long the fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- At the design visit we measure each alcove at several heights, because period walls are rarely flat or square. Then we go through the design together.
- You get a written quote for the units, materials and finish.
- In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall. Spray-painted units arrive finished; hand-painted ones are painted once fitted.
What affects the price in Bexley
Awkward rooms take more time: walls that lean, floors that slope and sloping ceilings all mean more scribing and cutting. The quote allows for it, which we write after seeing the room.
Why homeowners in Bexley choose us
- Designed for the room you have
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
- Saturday work by prior arrangement
- Scribed to uneven walls
Ask for a quote
The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, when we have measured up and talked through the design. To arrange a visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
Around Sidcup
We fit furniture in homes around Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Waring Park and Birkbeck Primary School. Other local landmarks include Holy Trinity Church (less than half a mile north) and The Alma pub (less than half a mile south). Sidcup has its own railway station: Sidcup station. Well-known places in the area include Queen Mary's Hospital (1 mile south) and Metropolitan Police Museum (under half a mile north-west).
Homes across Bexley and their living rooms
We make alcove units for homes across Bexley, in Sidcup, Welling and Erith and beyond. The walls behind alcove units vary with the age of the home, so fixings are checked during the design visit. Shelf spans and depths are chosen so nothing bows.
In Bexley, the largest groups of homes date from between 1919 and 1939 (about 41%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 22%), in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how alcove units are fixed and fitted. More than a third of the homes in Bexley (about 41%) date from between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. Houses from the 1920s and 1930s often have a bay window and a chimney breast in the front room, and alcove units are planned around both. Detached and semi-detached houses are home to about 52% of households in Bexley, the 2021 Census shows. In a semi or detached house, a driveway, where there is one, can make unloading easier.
The ULEZ has covered every London borough since August 2023, and TfL’s red routes have strict stopping rules.
Sidcup: If your children go to Birkbeck Primary School or a school nearby, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place. Near listed buildings like Number 33 (farm Cottage) and Number 35, less than half a mile north-west of the centre of Sidcup, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features.
Why people ask for alcove units in Bexley
A chimney breast without its fireplace can leave a wall that feels unfinished. Units on both sides frame the chimney breast and balance the room, whether or not the fireplace is used.
If you recognise any of these, it’s worth talking to us:
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Units that sit well with original features
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- A place for a small desk
What it’s made from
Plinths and scribe strips
Most alcoves need scribing on both sides and sometimes at the top. It’s the difference between a unit that sits in the alcove and one that belongs there.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish can be done on site, after the units are fitted. Small marks are easy to touch up, and it gives a softer, traditional look.
Tips worth knowing
Most of what helps is simple. What we’d suggest:
- Decide what goes behind doors and what goes on show
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
- Talk to your electrician early if you want new sockets
- Sort out damp patches before fitting
Doors can settle a little once the units are in use. Hinges can usually be adjusted to bring a door back in line, which deals with a door that starts to catch.
Avoid placing a heater hard up against the units, because constant heat isn’t kind to a painted finish.
Is bespoke worth it?
Alcoves vary in depth, and the chimney breast decides how far a unit can come out. Standard cabinets can stand proud of the breast or sit too far back. We set the depth to suit the room, flush with the chimney breast or set back from it.
Before you hire any carpenter
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- Have they measured the stairs, lift and doorways?
- Are the boards named, like MDF or plywood?
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
Could you do it yourself?
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls, because scribing and the right fixings start to matter.
Questions we are often asked
How do I get a quote?
Just fill in our short enquiry form. It helps to send rough sizes and a few pictures, and we’ll arrange a design visit.
How much will my alcove unit cost?
It depends on the size, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish. The price comes in a written quote after the design visit.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to let us in. It also helps to have someone around at the end, so we can go over the finished furniture together.
What paint finish can I have on alcove units?
There are two options: a spray-painted finish done in our workshop, or a hand-painted finish done on site. Both are in a colour agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Not normally. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. If the building is listed, works affecting its character may need listed building consent, so check with the council first.
Do pictures help?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot, particularly with rough sizes. To send them, get in touch through our contact form.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully during the design visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, so there are no tricky gaps.