Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Alcove units in Blackfen, Bexley
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. We make alcove units for homes in Blackfen, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Alcoves that are not square
Ask about alcove units in Blackfen
Alcove units in Blackfen: what you get
Many people choose cupboards at low level and shelves above them. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, while the shelves hold books and the things you want on show. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. We set the heights to suit the room and what you’ll store. Typical reasons to get in touch are walls too uneven for standard furniture and furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
In a semi from the 1920s or 1930s, the front room typically has a bay at one end and a chimney breast on the side wall. Interwar, semi-detached and detached houses make up a big part of the housing around Blackfen, so it is a layout worth planning for. We tend to plan alcove units along the chimney breast wall so the bay keeps its light.
Everything we agree at the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout, what goes inside, the materials used and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.
- Location
- Blackfen (DA15, DA16, SE9)
- Borough
- Bexley
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Could you do it yourself?
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that aren’t square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths, which leaves standard units with gaps at the sides and top.
Off-the-shelf furniture can be a sensible choice. In a room with square walls and standard sizes, it can work well, and it’s quick to buy.
Where other trades come in
It is worth being clear about where our work stops:
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Removing or altering a chimney breast, which is structural work
- Electrical work, such as new sockets or switches, which is for your electrician
If in doubt, you can message us from the contact page and describe the room. How a job runs, step by step.
What goes into it
- Adjustable shelves
- Spray-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Hand-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
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. After that, it is fixed to the wall using fixings that suit the wall, whether that is solid brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. In a 1920s or 1930s house, the hall and stairs are usually straightforward, though we still measure the route in not just the room. The furniture comes in sections and is put together where it is going, with floors protected throughout.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units, 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.
- The units are made at our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that is what you chose.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
How to prepare
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
Ask for a quote
Photos help us understand the room before we visit. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them give us a good feel for the space, along with rough sizes. To share them, tell us about the room on our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.
Advice
Nearby places to Blackfen
Also in Blackfen
Alcove units in Blackfen: local notes
In the streets around Blackfen, the largest groups of homes date from between 1919 and 1939 (about 70%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 15%), 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. Within a mile of the centre of Blackfen, 4 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. England has around 10,000 in all, and their controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. The ULEZ, run by TfL, takes in all of London, so Bexley is inside it. It applies to the vans that deliver and fit furniture in Blackfen, as it does anywhere else in London. We plan parking and access with you at the design visit.
Danson House, about 1.2 miles east, 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. Close to Shoulder of Mutton Green? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it. For families living near Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place.
Blackfen is about 1 mile south of Sidcup, in the London Borough of Bexley. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and Blackfen is part of that. We cover places right across Bexley, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
We cover every part of the DA15, DA16 and SE9 postcode area for alcove units. Streets in the area include Days Lane, Gordon Road and Kent Avenue, and homes on each of them are within our area for alcove units. Nearby, we also make alcove units in Falconwood (1 mile north), Avery Hill (1 mile west), East Wickham (1 mile north), New Eltham (1 mile south-west) and Longlands (1 mile south). Across the rest of Bexley, our area takes in Erith (4 miles north-east), Bexley (2 miles east), Belvedere (4 miles north-east), Northumberland Heath (4 miles north-east), Lessness Heath (4 miles north-east) and Bexleyheath (2 miles east).
Landmarks near Blackfen
We fit furniture in homes around Harris Academy Falconwood and The George Staples pub. For rail, the closest station is Falconwood station, roughly 0.8 miles north-west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Metropolitan Police Museum (1.3 miles south) and Eltham Community Hospital (1.7 miles west).
Is bespoke worth it?
Some flat-pack shelves are thin and start to sag once they’re loaded. We size our shelves for their span and what they’ll carry. Still, a decent off-the-shelf unit can be the sensible choice if you’re renting or moving soon. In an extended or opened-up house, old and new walls often meet slightly out of line, which shows up against standard furniture. Built-in pieces are scribed to take up the difference.
Access to the room makes a difference too. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying, which the quote allows for. Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit.
What you get with us
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Saturdays by arrangement
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
Take a look at bespoke vs off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
FAQs: alcove units in Blackfen
Can you make alcove units for a home in Blackfen?
Yes, we work across Bexley, Blackfen included, and across the rest of London. You can fill in our short enquiry form to arrange a design visit.
Do you cover homes near Falconwood station?
Yes. We cover all of Bexley and the rest of London. To get started, you can message us from the contact page with some details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Will alcove units fit if my walls aren’t straight?
Yes. Most period alcoves are out of square in some way, so we scribe each unit to follow the wall. A plinth or adjustable feet set it level on a sloping floor.
Can an alcove unit include a desk?
Yes. One alcove can take a desk with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard beneath. We plan the height and depth with you, with a route left for cables.
How long does it take to fit alcove units?
The fitting depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. We will talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
Should both alcoves have the same units?
That depends on how you use the room. The two alcoves are often slightly different sizes, so each unit is made for its own recess. They can share a style while doing different things.
What affects the cost of alcove units
Prices vary from room to room, and it comes down to:
- The overall size of the piece
- The internal fittings
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- How many doors and drawers there are
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. The price depends mainly on the size of the piece, how many doors and drawers it has and what goes inside.
What we need to know
You don’t need exact measurements or a plan. Just send what you can:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
If you know what you want, say so; if not, we can work it out together at the visit. The design is talked through at the visit, once we’ve measured, and the written quote then sets it out. To arrange a visit, send us a few details through our contact form.