Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Havering · London
Alcove Units in Ardleigh Green
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in Ardleigh Green. After a design visit and a quote in writing, it is built in our workshop and fitted in your home.
- Alcoves that are not square
- Shelving for books and records
- Shop-bought shelving that does not fill the recess
Need alcove units in Ardleigh Green?
What affects the cost of alcove units
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. These are the things that affect it:
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
- The width and height of the space
Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size is the starting point. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
Before the design visit
What helps most when you first contact us:
- Where you live, with the postcode
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
The quote is built from the design visit. We measure the room properly, check how the walls and floors run and discuss the design with you. Afterwards, we send a quote in writing. To book one, fill in our short enquiry form.
Alcove units in Ardleigh Green
Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. We can cut units around these details, stop beneath them or run up to meet them, depending on the look you want. A plinth can be set to line up with the skirting. We agree these details at the measuring visit, before anything is made. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are walls too uneven for standard furniture and worn or badly fitted alcove units.
Lots of semis and interwar houses have been extended at the back or had the back rooms knocked through, which matters around Ardleigh Green, where homes like these are a big part of the housing. In a long knocked-through room, alcove units can run the full length of one wall, or mark out the sitting end from the dining end. An extension’s plasterboard walls need different fixings from the original brick or block.
The written quote is your record of the job. It describes the alcove unit we’ve designed for the room, what it is made from and how it’s finished.
- Location
- Ardleigh Green (RM2, RM11, RM3)
- Area
- Havering
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
What happens on fitting day
There isn’t much for you to do on fitting day. Someone needs to let us in, and the room should already be cleared. After that, it’s over to us: the floors are covered, the sections come in and the fitting begins. How long fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. On fitting day, the sections are carried in, assembled, scribed to the wall and levelled. Spray-painted pieces come finished from the workshop, while hand painting can happen on site. Saturdays can be arranged.
- You send us some details about the alcoves and what you’d like in them.
- We come to measure the alcoves, look at the walls and agree the design with you, noting the skirting, picture rail and any chimney vent.
- Your quote follows, with the design, materials and finish set out, for you to read through at your own pace.
- We make the cupboards and shelves in our workshop.
- We fit them in your home, scribing them to the walls, so they sit tight to the chimney breast.
Preparing the room
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician beforehand
How to get a quote
Getting a quote starts with a few details: which room it is, rough measurements and a couple of pictures if you can take them. When you’re ready, drop us a line using the contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and go through the design, then send a quote in writing.
Advice
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
The depth of an alcove is set by the chimney breast. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. Bespoke units are made to the depth you want. Even in a 1930s house, walls and floors are not perfectly true, and standalone units can lean or gap. Built-in pieces are adjusted to the room on site.
Every room is priced on its own, because size, layout and finish change from job to job. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. You’ll see the figure in your written quote, after the design visit.
What you get with us
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Built around your room
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- More than 300 projects completed
See our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
Your questions about alcove units in Ardleigh Green
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Gidea Park station?
Yes, homes across Havering and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can use our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Ardleigh Green?
Yes. We cover all of Havering and the rest of London, and Ardleigh Green is part of that. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and talk through the design, followed by a quote.
What paint finish can I have on alcove units?
You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted finish in your home. Either way, the colour is agreed with you. Spraying gives a smooth, even surface, and hand painting is easy to touch up.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
The fitting depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. We will explain what to expect before we arrive.
Can an alcove unit include a desk?
Yes. A desk in one alcove, with shelves above and storage below, works well in many rooms. We plan the height and depth with you, with a route left for cables.
Should alcove units go up to the ceiling?
It depends on the room and the look you want. In a tall period room, units can stop under the picture rail or the cornice. We agree the height at the design visit.
Neighbourhoods near Ardleigh Green
More for homes in Ardleigh Green
Flat-pack or bespoke?
The real difference is in the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. Span, depth and the weight on it decide whether a shelf sags, so a long run needs a thicker shelf, a stiffening lip or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
Ardleigh Green homes and alcove units
About 46% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Ardleigh Green went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 29% between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). It’s a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Near the centre of Ardleigh Green, Historic England’s list includes The Royal Liberty School (Grade II*), less than half a mile north-west. If you live in a listed building, fixing into or taking out original features like panelling can need listed building consent. Ask the council’s conservation officer before anything is fixed. Many London boroughs run controlled parking zones, and Havering sets its own rules. If parking near you is controlled, a visitor permit or a bay suspension may be needed, and the council arranges suspensions, often with notice. We ask about parking during the design visit, so the day can be planned around it.
If you live in a flat close to Gidea Park station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. If you live near Haynes Park, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
Ardleigh Green is in the London Borough of Havering, about 2 miles west of Romford. Anywhere in Ardleigh Green, the process is the same: a design visit, a written quote, furniture made in our workshop and fitting in your home. Ardleigh Green is one of 22 places on our list for Havering.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: RM2, RM11 and RM3. We cover homes on streets like Ewan Road, Helen Road and Haynes Road, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. We also cover the places around Ardleigh Green: Gallows Corner (1 mile north), Emerson Park (1 mile south-east), Heath Park (1 mile south-west), Gidea Park (1 mile north-west) and Hornchurch (2 miles south). Other parts of Havering we cover include Romford (2 miles west), Elm Park (3 miles south), Collier Row (2 miles west), Rainham (5 miles south), Upminster (2 miles south-east) and South Hornchurch (4 miles south).
Around Ardleigh Green
The streets we cover here include those near Havering College of Further and Higher Education, The Ship Public House and The Royal Liberty School. The closest station to Ardleigh Green is Gidea Park station, about 0.5 miles west. Well-known places in the area include The Mercury Mall (1.3 miles west) and Harold Wood Hospital (0.8 miles north-east). Not far away are Hornchurch Cutting.
What prompts alcove units in Ardleigh Green
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor, which matters in a smaller room.
A few of the things people ask us to solve include:
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Somewhere to keep books and records
Hare Hall, about 0.3 miles north-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
- Whether you will get a written quote, not just a figure
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- How they deal with uneven walls and floors