Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Alcove Units in Bexley Riverside
Alcove units for your home in Bexley Riverside: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made at our workshop and fitted by us.
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Shelving for books and records
Alcove units for your home in Bexley Riverside
Alcove units for homes in Bexley Riverside
Few alcoves in older houses are truly square. Walls bow, corners wander and floors slope. Each unit is made at our workshop to our measurements and scribed to the walls when we fit it, so the sides meet the wall closely rather than showing a dark line. Adjustable feet or a plinth set it level. Most enquiries start with walls too uneven for standard furniture and everyday clutter left on show, and the answer is made at our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
With interwar houses or semis a big part of the picture around Bexley Riverside, many living rooms have been opened up to the dining room behind. That leaves a long room with a chimney breast on one side, which suits alcove units along that wall. At the design visit we plan any cable routes and ventilation the room needs, with any new sockets left to your electrician.
Everything we agree at the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If something isn’t quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Place
- Bexley Riverside (DA8, DA7, DA1)
- Borough
- Bexley
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Boards, parts and paint
Spray-painted finish
Spray painting is done in the workshop, for a smooth and even finish. It suits a crisp, modern look as well as a classic one.
Shelves
Shelf heights are planned around your things, from paperbacks to tall art books. Upper shelves can be shallower for a lighter look.
Why people ask for alcove units in Bexley Riverside
A busy family living room is another reason. Toys, games, paperwork and gadgets need somewhere to go, and closed cupboards hide them away. Open shelves above are left for the things you like to see.
Here are some of the needs we are asked about most:
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Space for a growing book collection
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
Close to Braeburn Park? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Before you hire any carpenter
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- How they handle walls that are not straight
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber
- Can you see real work of theirs?
What it costs
What it costs comes down to the materials and the time involved. The main factors are:
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- Tricky walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
- Parking near your home
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
What to send when you contact us
To help us picture the room, please include:
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
- What the furniture needs to hold
- Approximate measurements of the space
- Where you live, with the postcode
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. Afterwards, we send a written quote for you to look over. To arrange the visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Neighbourhoods near Bexley Riverside
Other services in Bexley Riverside
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
For flats on red routes or busy main roads, unloading takes some planning. TfL runs the red routes, and the stopping rules are strict, so tell us about it during the design visit.
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let, often to make the most of a small or tricky room. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
Questions from Bexley Riverside
Do you cover homes near Barnehurst station?
Yes, homes across Bexley and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
Is parking a problem for fitting in Bexley Riverside?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Electrical work isn’t something we do. If you want sockets moved or added, your electrician should do that before we fit. We can plan cut-outs and cable routes in the units around them.
Do I need planning permission for fitted furniture?
Not usually. Conservation area controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings, and furniture inside a house does not normally need it. Listed buildings are different: check with the council’s conservation officer first.
Can you fit a desk into an alcove?
Yes. You can have a desk in one alcove and cupboards in the other if you want the two sides to differ. We’ll plan the desk around how you work.
What paint finish can I have on alcove units?
We offer spray painting in the workshop and hand painting on site. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even; a hand-painted one is easy to touch up later. We talk through both at the design visit.
Alcove units for homes in Bexley Riverside
In the neighbourhood around Bexley Riverside, the largest groups of homes date from between 1919 and 1939 (about 40%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 26%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. The Ultra Low Emission Zone has covered all of London since it reached the outer boroughs on 29 August 2023. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Bexley Riverside is covered by it. We go through parking and access at the measuring visit. More than a third of the homes in the neighbourhood around Bexley Riverside (about 40%) 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, which shape where alcove units go.
Hall Place and Gardens, about 1.6 miles south, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For a family home near Normandy Primary School, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else.
Bexley Riverside is about 4 miles south-west of Sidcup, within the London Borough of Bexley. Bexley Riverside is part of the area we cover. Bexley Riverside is one of 27 places on our list for Bexley.
We work across DA8, DA7 and DA1. If your home is on a street like Mill Road, Hurst Road and Bexley Road, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. We also cover Northumberland Heath (1 mile north-west), Barnehurst (1 mile south), Erith (1 mile north), North End (1 mile east) and Slade Green (1 mile east). Other parts of Bexley we cover include Sidcup (4 miles south-west), Welling (3 miles west), Bexley (2 miles south-west), Bexleyheath (2 miles south-west), Albany Park (4 miles south-west) and Thamesmead (3 miles north-west).
Around Bexley Riverside
We fit furniture in homes around The Royal Oak pub, King Henry School and Trinity School and the streets around them. For rail, the closest station is Barnehurst station, roughly 0.6 miles south-west of the centre. Nearby you will also find Broadway Shopping Centre (1.4 miles south-west) and Erith Museum (0.9 miles north-east).
Fitting day, step by step
Fitting day follows a set order: floors are protected, the sections come in, everything is levelled, scribed to the walls, fixed and finished. Then the room is tidied and we look over the work with you. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Fitting day means carrying in the sections, joining them and fitting them to the walls. Spray-painted pieces come finished from the workshop, while hand painting can happen on site. Saturdays can be arranged.
- It starts with a short message from you about the alcoves.
- At the design visit we measure up, agree the layout and talk about colour and finish.
- The written quote then sets out the design, the materials and the finish you’ve picked.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted and scribed to the alcoves; 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.
Preparing the room
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
Getting a quote
You do not need exact measurements to get started. We measure everything properly at the measuring visit. To arrange it, fill in our short enquiry form and tell us about the room. You receive a quote in writing after the visit.