Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Richmond upon Thames · London
Alcove Units in Barnes
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. We make alcove units for homes in Barnes, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
Alcove units designed for your room
How we make alcove units for Barnes
In a tall room, a full-height alcove cupboard holds a great deal. In a bedroom, it can become a small wardrobe or a linen cupboard. At the design visit we ask what you plan to keep there, so shelves and rails go where they’re needed. Most enquiries start with storage that suits a period room and everyday clutter left on show; the furniture is made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Solid brick external walls are standard in Victorian and Edwardian houses, and internal walls may be brick or lath and plaster. Since a large share of the homes around Barnes date from before 1919, we check which you have before deciding how alcove units are fixed. Lath and plaster in particular needs fixings chosen for it, especially behind loaded shelves.
Everything we agree during the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Place
- Barnes (SW13, SW15, SW14)
- Borough
- Richmond upon Thames
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Boards, parts and paint
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish suits alcove units in a period room. You choose the colour, and touch-ups are simple if the units get marked later.
Plinths and scribe strips
In older houses, we normally scribe the sides and often the top too. It is what makes a fitted unit look fitted.
Places near Barnes
Also in Barnes
Do you need alcove units in Barnes?
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. We can plan an alcove unit around exactly what you have, with shelf heights and depths to suit.
Alcove units can help with:
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Units that sit well with original features
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- Alcoves that are wasted space
If you live in a flat close to Barnes Bridge station, alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, landings and lift, so measuring the route matters as much as measuring the room.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Can you see real work of theirs?
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
- How parking will work on your street
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
Living-room carpentry in Barnes: local notes
Homes built before 1919 make up about 52% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Barnes, with about 17% built between 1919 and 1939, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. There are 27 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Barnes. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. Controlled parking zones are common across London, and Richmond upon Thames sets its own rules. If your road in Barnes falls in a zone, the van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a suspended bay, which the council arranges, often with notice. It’s useful to tell us about parking at the measuring visit.
Close to Barn Elms? A room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone. For an older house near Barnes Methodist Church, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Barnes is within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, about 4 miles south-west of Twickenham. Wherever you are in Barnes, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a quote in writing, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. We list Barnes among 19 places we cover in Richmond upon Thames.
Here we cover the SW13, SW15 and SW14 postcode area for alcove units. If your home is on a street like Church Road, Station Road and Barnes High Street, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Barnes is near the A306 and B349; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Old Chiswick (1 mile north), Turnham Green (1 mile north-west), Mortlake (1 mile south-west), East Sheen (1 mile south-west) and Putney (1 mile south-east). We also make alcove units in nearby places like Twickenham (4 miles south-west), Richmond (3 miles south-west), Richmond upon Thames (2 miles west), Teddington (5 miles south-west), Hampton (7 miles south-west) and Kew (2 miles north-west).
What’s near Barnes
Our area takes in the homes around Polish Library POSK in London, The Harrodian School and Chiswick School. There’s a railway station in Barnes itself: Barnes Bridge station. Well-known places in the area include Putney Exchange (1.4 miles south-east) and Antique Breadboard Museum (1.2 miles south-east). Open spaces near Barnes include Duke's Hollow.
Common questions about alcove units
Does a conservation area in or near Barnes affect fitted furniture?
Typically not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, works inside that affect its character may need listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Barnes?
Yes. Barnes is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Richmond upon Thames and London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with a few details.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. After that, you don’t need to stay in the room, but it is useful to be around at the end.
What happens when you come to measure?
It is a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We also check the walls and floors and note radiators, sockets and other things in the way, then send a quote in writing.
How do I get a quote?
It is easiest to message us from the contact page. After that, we arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. Ideally it is done before fitting. The units are made with cut-outs and cable gaps to suit.
What affects the cost of alcove units
Several things affect the price:
- How big the furniture is
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
Every room is priced on its own, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. Spray painting and hand painting are different processes, which affects the cost. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
What to send when you contact us
A little information at the start saves time later. If you can, send:
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Examples of the look you are after
- Approximate measurements of the space
To get a quote for alcove units in Barnes, get in touch through our contact form. Let us know which room it is and roughly what you have in mind, with sizes if you have them. Next comes a design visit, followed by a written quote.
Fitting day, step by step
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Where the floor slopes, we bring the furniture up to level on adjustable feet or a plinth, and that keeps the doors and shelves true. Only then is it fixed to the wall, with fixings chosen to suit brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Hallways in period houses are often narrow, and the stairs turn sharply, so alcove units are made in sections sized to get through. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through, and the sections are joined and scribed in the room.
- It starts with a short message from you about the alcoves.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and discuss the design, including the paint finish.
- 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 is done in the workshop too, for a smooth, even surface.
- We fit the units in your home and scribe them to the walls.
- New paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat the surfaces gently at first.
Before we arrive
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Empty the space we will be working in
How to get a quote
To get a quote, message us from the contact page and tell us which room you have in mind and roughly what you’d like. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
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Honest limits
It’s worth being clear about where our work stops:
- Electrical work, such as new sockets or switches, which is for your electrician
- Removing or altering a chimney breast, which is structural work
- Finding and fixing the cause of damp
Not sure whether your space suits alcove units? You can use our contact form and we will tell you. How a job runs, step by step.
What goes into it
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Hand-painted finish
- Spray-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Adjustable shelves
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood