Westminster · London
Alcove Units in Westminster
From one end of Westminster to the other, we can design, make and fit alcove units. We visit, measure and talk it through before we quote.
Planning alcove units in Westminster?
Alcove units in every part of Westminster
Each job starts with a design visit and a written quote. Pick your neighbourhood below to see the details for your area.
Biggest places in Westminster
How we make alcove units for Westminster
One alcove can be given over to a desk, with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard below. It is a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. Desk height and depth are agreed with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and people most often get in touch about furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove and bare alcoves beside the fireplace.
Furniture made in a workshop still has to meet the room it’s going into, and that happens on fitting day. Walls in older homes are rarely flat or square, so we scribe the edges by hand to follow the wall. How long the fitting itself takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote.
- You get in touch about alcove units and the room they’re for.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and go through the design, including the paint finish. You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted one done in your home.
- A quote in writing follows, with the finish written in alongside the design and materials.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. If you chose spray painting, that’s done in the workshop too, for a smooth, even surface.
- We fit the units in your home and scribe them to the walls; a hand-painted finish is done on site after fitting and is easy to touch up later.
- New paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat the surfaces gently at first.
How our quotes work
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We will talk through what you need inside at the design visit, and the quote follows.
What you get with us
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Every London borough and the City of London covered
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
- Saturdays by prior arrangement
Getting a quote
Getting a quote starts with some details: which room it is, rough sizes and a couple of pictures if you can take them. To send them, tell us about the room on our contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and discuss the design, then send a quote in writing.
Landmarks near City of Westminster
Our area takes in the homes around LITE Regal International School, Royal Society of Medicine Library and Devonshire Arms and the streets around them. Other local landmarks include Hyde Park (0.6 miles south-west), The St Marylebone CofE School (0.5 miles north), St Vincent's Catholic Primary School (close by, under half a mile north) and St Mark's (within half a mile south). City of Westminster has its own railway station: Bond Street station. Other landmarks nearby include Fortius Clinic (under half a mile north) and Kingly Court (0.6 miles east). Open spaces near City of Westminster include Serpentine.
Homes across Westminster and their living rooms
We make alcove units for homes across Westminster, in City of Westminster, Marylebone and Soho 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.
About 49% of the homes in Westminster went up before 1919, and about 15% between 1945 and 1972, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. About 49% of homes in Westminster were built before 1919, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. Houses of that age usually have a chimney breast with an alcove each side, and alcove units are built to those exact widths, scribed to walls that are rarely straight. Purpose-built flats are home to about 70% of households in Westminster, the 2021 Census shows. For a flat, alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, the lift and the doors. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones run by the boroughs, and depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed. It’s useful to let us know about parking during the design visit.
City of Westminster: If you live in a flat close to Bond Street station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. For an older house near St Mark's, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Boards, parts and paint
Spray-painted finish
Spraying gets an even coat into corners and onto edges and leaves no brush marks. The colour is agreed with you before we start.
Plinths and scribe strips
In older houses, we normally scribe the sides and often the top too. It’s what makes a fitted unit look fitted.
What prompts alcove units
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. We can plan an alcove unit around exactly what you have, with each shelf set to suit it.
Requests we hear often include:
- A place for a small desk
- Space for a growing book collection
- Furniture that does not fit the alcove
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
What we don’t do
Our work is the furniture itself: designing it, making it in our workshop and fitting it. That means:
- Decorating the rest of the room
- Finding and fixing the cause of damp
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
Off-the-shelf units can work in an alcove, and they typically cost less to buy. The trouble is usually the gaps: standard widths rarely match the recess, and uneven walls make every gap obvious. A bespoke alcove unit is made to your measurements and scribed to the plaster.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Can you see real work of theirs?
- Will the doors close with even gaps?
- Whether you will get a quote in writing, not just a figure
- How they’ll get the furniture into the room
How we price alcove units
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. These are the things that affect it:
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- The internal fittings
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. The price depends mainly on the size of the piece, how many doors and drawers it has and what goes inside.
Before the design visit
To help us picture the room, please include:
- Examples of the look you’re after
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- What the furniture needs to hold
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
If you already have something in mind, tell us; if not, we can work it out together at the visit. At the design visit, we measure up and talk the design through with you, and the written quote then sets it out. To start, get in touch through our contact form.
Common questions about alcove units
What happens to the chimney vent when alcove units go in?
We plan alcove units so any chimney vent stays clear. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp and we design around it.
Can I send photos ahead of the visit?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot, especially with rough measurements. You can send them when you message us from the contact page.
Which boards do you build with?
Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. MDF is stable and takes paint well, while birch plywood is strong and holds screws well, and the quote says which is used where.
What happens at the design visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too.
Do you cover areas outside London?
No. We cover London only: every London borough and the City of London.
Is it possible to have a desk built into one alcove?
Yes. A desk in one alcove, with shelves above and storage below, works well in many rooms. Height and depth are agreed with you, with a way planned for cables to reach the sockets.
Do you make the furniture yourselves?
Everything is made at our workshop for your room, then fitted in your home. We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.