Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Greenwich · London
Alcove units in Abbey Wood, Greenwich
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in Abbey Wood. We measure, design and quote first, then make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Units that sit well with original features
- Space for a growing book collection
Alcove units in Abbey Wood
Alcove units in Abbey Wood: what you get
Alcove units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, chosen part by part. MDF gives smooth doors and panels that take paint well, while birch plywood is strong and holds screws well. The finish is spray painted in the workshop or hand painted on site, in a colour agreed with you. People normally come to us about everyday clutter left on show and alcoves that are wasted space, and the answer is built in our workshop from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Post-war housing makes up a good share of the homes around Abbey Wood, and in London that can mean houses or flats in blocks. Post-war walls tend to be truer than older ones, but ceilings and floors still get measured, as nothing is assumed. For TV and media walls, cable routes are planned before the walls are drilled.
After the design visit, we send you a written quote. It describes the design we discussed, the materials and the finish, so it is clear what’s included.
- Place
- Abbey Wood (SE2, SE18, DA16)
- Area
- Greenwich
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it is made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
When is bespoke worth it?
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. 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.
Pricing alcove units in Abbey Wood
To work out the quote, we look at:
- Where a van can park, such as a permit bay or a bay suspension
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- The width and height of the space
- How many doors and drawers there are
How it’s painted is part of the price: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. Your choice, along with the size and the fittings, is reflected in the written quote.
Helping us understand the room
Before the design visit, it helps us to know about:
- Rough sizes: width, height and depth
- A few photos of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Any ideas or images you have saved
For a quote for alcove units in Abbey Wood, get in touch through our contact form. Let us know which room it is and roughly what you have in mind. Next comes a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Bought units stop at standard heights, so there is often wasted space overhead. We can take a bespoke unit to the ceiling or stop it at the picture rail, whichever looks right in your room. Several standalone pieces of different sizes can make a plain room look busy, whereas a single fitted run gives one clean line. It can be painted to suit the room.
Rooms that aren’t square take more work: uneven walls, sloping floors and angled ceilings all add scribing and cutting on site. That’s reflected in the quote.
What you get with us
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Saturday work by arrangement
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Over 300 projects completed
Take a look at our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what a quote should include.
Living-room storage in Abbey Wood
About 37% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Abbey Wood went up before 1919, and about 35% between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Part of Abbey Wood is in a conservation area, going by Historic England’s data. Being in a conservation area mainly affects changes to the outside of a building, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. The council can confirm if you are not sure. Around Abbey Wood, about 37% of homes date from before 1919, well above the figure for Greenwich as a whole, about 22%, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. So older-house details are more likely to come into the design of alcove units.
For an older house near Saint Michael and All Angels, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. Close to Abbey Wood Park? A room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone. The wider area includes historic houses like Danson House, about 2.1 miles south. If your own home is a period one, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Abbey Wood is about 1 mile west of Plumstead, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and Abbey Wood is part of that. In Greenwich, Abbey Wood is one of the places we cover.
Every address in SE2, SE18 and DA16 is within our area for alcove units. If your home is on a street like Bevan Road, Mcleod Road and Manton Road, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. Abbey Wood sits close to the A206. If you are just outside Abbey Wood, we also cover West Heath (1 mile south-east), Lessness Heath (2 miles east), Belvedere (2 miles east), Welling (2 miles south) and Crook Log (2 miles south). Other parts of Greenwich we cover include Greenwich (5 miles west), Eltham (4 miles south-west), Woolwich (2 miles west), Westcombe Park (4 miles west), Well Hall (3 miles south-west) and Maze Hill (5 miles west).
Near you in Abbey Wood
Around Abbey Wood, we cover homes near St Paul's Academy and The Plume Of Feathers Public House and the streets around them. The nearest railway station is Abbey Wood station, about 0.5 miles north-east of the centre. A little further out are Greenwich Borough Museum (under half a mile west).
Caring for painted furniture
People planning alcove units often ask about these. They’re worth knowing whatever the room:
- Decide whether the units stop at the picture rail or run to the ceiling
- Deal with any damp on the chimney breast first
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
- Decide what goes behind doors and what goes on show
Keep any chimney vent clear once the units are in, even when the cupboards fill up. Air moving through the chimney helps keep damp away, which protects the units too.
Put the heaviest books and objects low down and spread the weight. Overloaded shelves are the main cause of sagging.
Fitting day, step by step
Furniture made in a workshop still has to meet the room it is going into, and fitting day is where that happens. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so we scribe the edges by hand to follow the wall, until the line is tight. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Stairwells in post-war blocks can have tight turns, so sections are sized for both the stairs and any lift. Where the building has a caretaker or managing agent, it’s useful to tell them before fitting day. We cover the floors in shared areas on the way in.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill, with a note of the room they’re in.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing, ready for you to check.
- The units are made at our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that’s what you chose.
- We bring them to your home and fit them in place.
Before fitting day
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
Starting with a design visit
The quote is built from the design visit. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. A quote in writing follows the visit for you to look over. To book one, use our contact form.
Related advice
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More for homes in Abbey Wood
Common questions about alcove units
Is Abbey Wood in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. We cover all of Greenwich and the rest of London, and Abbey Wood is part of that. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and go through the design, and then we send a quote.
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Abbey Wood?
It can be: much of inner London is covered by controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a pay-and-display bay or a suspended bay, which the council arranges, often with notice. It is useful to let us know about parking during the design visit, so the day can be planned around it.
Will alcove units block the chimney vent?
Any vent is kept clear in the design. Ventilation helps keep a capped chimney dry. Any existing damp should be dealt with before the units go in.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps to avoid condensation. Any damp needs sorting by the right specialist before fitting.
Should I send pictures?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit, along with rough measurements. It helps to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
Can alcove units be fitted to uneven walls?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully at the design visit, then the units are built in our workshop and scribed to the walls when we fit them, so there are no tricky gaps.