Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Blendon Alcove Units
Alcove units in Blendon: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove
- Shelving for books and records
- Everyday clutter left on show
Alcove units for your home in Blendon
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before fixing furniture to the walls. Some leases need the building owner’s consent for alterations, which is worth sorting early. We can’t advise on your lease.
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. If there is a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Tell us about it when you get in touch.
Alcove units for homes in Blendon
Some alcoves suit a full-height unit, with doors from floor to ceiling. In bedrooms, this often becomes a compact wardrobe or a place for bedding. At the design visit we ask what you plan to keep there, and set out the shelves and rails around it. If your home has bowed walls and sloping floors and a desk that tucks into an alcove, that is what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Many houses from between the wars, and many semis, have been extended or opened up inside, and around Blendon, interwar houses, semis and detached homes make up a large share 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. New plasterboard in an extension and older brick or block in the original house take different fixings.
Our quotes are written in plain words, without jargon. You’ll see what will be made, the boards used and the finish.
- Place
- Blendon (DA5, DA15, DA6)
- Area
- Bexley
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Your questions about alcove units in Blendon
Is Blendon in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. Blendon is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Bexley and London. To get started, you can fill in our short enquiry form with some details.
I live near Albany Park station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Bexley and the rest of London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Conservation areas mostly control changes to the outside, and furniture inside a house does not normally need it. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
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.
Should both alcoves have the same units?
That depends on how you use the room. Alcoves are often different widths anyway. They can share a style while doing different things.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that aren’t square?
Yes. Few alcoves in older houses are truly square, so each unit is scribed to the wall on site. A plinth or adjustable feet set it level on a sloping floor.
What we do not do
Electrics, plumbing, gas, plastering and structural work aren’t part of what we do. Please bear these in mind too:
- Replastering, which is a plasterer’s job
- Treating damp in the chimney breast or walls
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can message us from the contact page and we’ll give you a straight answer before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Panelled or flat doors
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Birch plywood
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Adjustable shelves
Fitting day, step by step
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Floors are often out of level, so adjustable feet or a plinth take up the difference, which keeps the lines straight. Only then is it fixed to the wall, with fixings chosen to suit brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. 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. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- 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, checking how far the walls are out of square.
- You receive a written quote setting out the units, materials and finish, so you can look it over in your own time.
- Each unit is built in our workshop to the measurements we took, ready for a spray-painted finish or for hand painting on site.
- The units are fitted in your home and scribed to follow the walls, so they sit tight to the chimney breast.
Preparing the room
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Keep pets in another room while we work
How to get a quote
To get a quote, send us a few details through our contact form and tell us a little about the room and what you want the furniture to do. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Advice
Do you need alcove units in Blendon?
Some homes already have alcove cupboards, but they’ve seen better days. Starting again lets you rethink the layout, from the doors to what goes inside.
Requests we hear often include:
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess
- A place for a small desk
- Alcoves that are wasted space
For an older house near St James the Great, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Before you choose who makes it
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- Have they thought about parking near you?
- How they’ll get the furniture into the room
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
A bespoke unit takes longer to arrive than something from a shop: it needs a design visit, a quote and time in the workshop. What you get is a unit planned for your alcove, not the nearest catalogue size. Ready-made units come in standard depths that rarely suit every space, so they can stick out too far or waste space behind. Fitted furniture is made to the depth the space can take.
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size comes first. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Why us?
- Built in our workshop and fitted in your home
- A spray or hand-painted finish
- 300+ projects completed
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf or what to look for in a quote.
Alcove units in Blendon: local notes
About 63% of the homes in the area around Blendon went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 22% between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Blendon include Jays Cottages (Grade II), under half a mile north, and Chapel House (Grade II), under half a mile north-west. If you live in a listed building, fixing into or taking out original features like panelling can require listed building consent. Check with the council’s conservation officer first. Since the zone was extended to the outer boroughs in August 2023, the whole of London has been inside the ULEZ. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Blendon is covered by it. We plan parking and access with you during the design visit.
Living in a block of flats near Albany Park station? Then each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. If you live near Danson Park, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
Blendon is about 1 mile south-west of Sidcup, within the London Borough of Bexley. Whether your home in Blendon is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, the furniture is designed around the room as we find it. We cover places right across Bexley.
We work across DA5, DA15 and DA6. You will find streets here such as Penn Lane, Hurst Road and Brook Lane, and homes on each of them are within our area for alcove units. Blendon is near the A221, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. Other places close to Blendon include Bexley (1 mile south-east), Crook Log (1 mile north), Welling (1 mile north-west), Upton (1 mile north-east) and Bexleyheath (1 mile north-east). Elsewhere in Bexley, we also cover Erith (3 miles north-east), Belvedere (3 miles north-east), Northumberland Heath (3 miles north-east), Lessness Heath (3 miles north-east), Albany Park (2 miles south-west) and Bexley Riverside (3 miles north-east).
Near you in Blendon
In Blendon, that includes homes near St Columba's Catholic Boys' School, The Royal Oak Public House and Hurst Primary School, among other places. The nearest railway station is Albany Park station, about 0.8 miles south. A little further out are Bexley Hospital (0.8 miles north-east) and Metropolitan Police Museum (1.3 miles south-west).