Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
Alcove Units in Bow Common
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. We make alcove units for homes in Bow Common, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
Need alcove units in Bow Common?
How we make alcove units for Bow Common
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help keep damp out of the breast. Units are planned so any vent stays clear, with nothing covering it. If there are signs of damp on the chimney breast or in the alcoves, they’re best sorted before fitting so the new furniture starts on a dry wall. Most enquiries start with bowed walls and sloping floors and tired cupboards in the alcoves, and the answer is made in our workshop from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Newer homes often come with a TV point and sockets on one wall but nothing built around them. Many homes around Bow Common are from those years, so we design alcove units around the existing points rather than moving them. If you want an extra socket, that’s for your electrician, and we leave space and cable routes for it.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It sets out the alcove unit designed for your room, its materials and its finish, and the workshop works from it.
- Where
- Bow Common (E14, E3, E1)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it’s made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Living-room storage in Bow Common
In the neighbourhood around Bow Common, the largest groups of homes date from the years since 2000 (about 48%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 23%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Within a mile of the centre of Bow Common, 22 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. England has around 10,000 in all, and their controls are mainly about the outside of buildings. More than a third of the homes in the streets around Bow Common (about 48%) were built since 2000, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. In homes built since 2000, living rooms are often open-plan with stud walls, so alcove units are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor.
Close to Bartlett Park? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it. For a flat near Limehouse 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. For families living near Stebon Primary School, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place.
Bow Common is about 2 miles west of Whitechapel, part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. We can visit homes in Bow Common on weekdays, or on a Saturday by arrangement. Bow Common is one of the places in Tower Hamlets where we make alcove units, and the borough has 31 places on our list.
Design visits and fitting in E14, E3 and E1 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Market Way, Knapp Road and Thomas Road, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Limehouse (1 mile west), Bromley (1 mile north-east), Mile End (1 mile north-west), Poplar (1 mile south) and Canary Wharf (1 mile south). Elsewhere in Tower Hamlets, we also cover Whitechapel (2 miles west), Spitalfields (2 miles west), Tower Hill (2 miles west), Bethnal Green (2 miles north-west), Cambridge Heath (2 miles north-west) and St George in the East (2 miles west).
What’s near Bow Common
In Bow Common, that includes homes near The Widow's Son pub and Langdon Park Secondary School. For rail, the closest station is Limehouse station, about 0.8 miles south-west. Well-known places in the area include Museum of the Book (0.5 miles south-west) and St Clement's Hospital (0.6 miles north-west). For a walk, there’s Lavender Pond.
Questions we’re often asked
Is Bow Common in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. We cover all of Tower Hamlets and the rest of London, and Bow Common is part of that. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, followed by a quote.
Is parking a problem for fitting in Bow Common?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. 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. It helps to tell us about parking during the design visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by arrangement. Let us know when you first get in touch.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. Units can stop just under the picture rail or run up to the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. The height is settled during the design visit.
What happens during the design visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. We will also ask about access and parking.
Is an outside wall a problem for fitted furniture?
It needs a little planning: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. Damp treatment isn’t something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
What it is made from
Plinths and scribe strips
A plinth lifts the cupboard off the floor and hides any slope. It can be set to line up with the skirting.
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.
Why bespoke in Bow Common?
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, with birch plywood where it is needed. Still, a decent off-the-shelf unit can be the sensible choice if you’re renting or moving soon. Large off-the-shelf pieces can make a small room feel smaller, whereas fitted pieces painted to suit the walls sit back into the space.
We don’t publish set prices, because every piece is designed for one room. We measure up, discuss the design and send a written quote, with the materials and finish set out. To arrange a design visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
Why us?
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Made for your room, not a standard size
See bespoke vs off-the-shelf or what a quote should include.
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
If you are handy, a simple shelf or a standard wardrobe in a square room is a reasonable DIY job. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls.
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.
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
If the property is let, we will need access agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf, and the written quote can go to whoever needs it.
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. Lifts sometimes need to be booked, and the lift size helps decide how big each section can be. Mention it when you get in touch.
Places near Bow Common
Other services in Bow Common
How fitting works for alcove units
Finishing comes last. If the furniture was spray painted in the workshop, we fill the fixing holes and touch up on site; if you chose hand painting, that can be done in the room once the furniture is fitted. Either way, the finish is the one set out in your quote. Newer blocks often have concierge desks, entry systems and rules on lift booking, so check them with the managing agent before fitting day. Alcove units are made in sections sized for the lift and doors.
- To begin, drop us a line using the contact form; a brief note on the room and the alcoves is enough, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- At the design visit we measure the alcoves and also the way in: the front door, the hall and any stair turns.
- We then send a written quote for the units.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed to the walls.
How to prepare
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
Getting a quote
It helps to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line tell us a lot about the space, along with rough measurements. To send them over, use our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.