Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
Alcove Units in Bow
Thinking about alcove units in Bow? It starts with a design visit to measure and talk through ideas, then a written quote.
- Storage that suits a period room
- Everyday clutter left on show
- A place for a small desk
Alcove units for your home in Bow
Alcove units in Bow: what you get
One alcove can be given over to a desk, with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard below. It’s a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. Desk height and depth are agreed with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. People usually come to us about tired cupboards in the alcoves and furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove, and the answer is made at our workshop from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Many homes around Bow have been built since 2000, and newer homes tend to have open-plan living rooms with no chimney breast. So alcove units often give the room its shape, along a full wall or around the TV. Plasterboard stud walls are common in newer homes, so heavy pieces are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor.
The quote names the materials: moisture-resistant MDF, birch plywood or both, depending on the design. It also says how the furniture will be finished: spray painted or hand painted.
- Location
- Bow (E3)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Walls in older homes are rarely flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it, until the line is tight. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Parking at newer developments can be restricted, with private bays or loading areas, so it is useful to let us know at the measuring visit. The furniture comes in sections and is fixed in place. Saturdays can be arranged.
- You get in touch with a short description of the alcoves and your ideas, even if the design is only a rough idea so far.
- At the design visit, we measure both alcoves, check the walls and look at the skirting and picture rail.
- You receive a quote with the design, the materials and the paint finish.
- Once you’re happy, the units are built in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit the units, scribe them to the walls and set them level.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
How to get a quote
If you already have something in mind, tell us; 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 start, get in touch through our contact form.
Related advice
Living-room carpentry in Bow: local notes
About 44% of the homes in the streets around Bow went up since 2000, and about 20% between 1945 and 1972, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. The National Heritage List has 95 entries within half a mile of the centre of Bow. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Tower Hamlets included. That includes the vans that bring and fit furniture in Bow. Access and parking are talked through at the measuring visit.
For a flat near Hackney Wick station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. For families living near Old Ford Primary - A Paradigm Academy, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design.
Bow is about 2 miles south-west of Whitechapel, part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Bow is part of the area we cover, and the process is the same everywhere we work. Our work takes in places right across Tower Hamlets, large and small.
Here we cover the E3 postcode area for alcove units. You’ll find streets here such as Trellis Square, Sheffield Square and Bromley High Street, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. Bow is near the B142, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. We also cover the places around Bow: Donnybrook Quarter (1 mile north), Old Ford (1 mile north-east), Mile End (1 mile south), Fish Island (1 mile north) and Bromley (1 mile south-east). Across the rest of Tower Hamlets, our area takes in Whitechapel (2 miles south-west), Spitalfields (2 miles south-west), Tower Hill (3 miles south-west), Shadwell (2 miles south-west), St George in the East (2 miles south-west) and Wapping (2 miles south-west).
What’s near Bow
We fit furniture in homes around Mulberry UTC, Mulberry UTC and Lord Tredegar Public House, among other places. The nearest railway station is Hackney Wick station, roughly 0.9 miles north. Well-known places in the area include St Clement's Hospital (close by, under half a mile south) and Westfield Stratford City (1.3 miles north-east). For a walk, there is Old Ford Island.
Do you need alcove units in Bow?
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. An alcove unit can be shaped around what you own, with shelf heights and depths to suit.
Alcove units can help with:
- A place for a small desk
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Storage that suits a period room
The wider area includes historic houses such as Sutton House, about 1.6 miles north-west. For a period home anywhere nearby, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Choosing a carpenter
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
- Whether you’ll get a written quote, not just a figure
- Whether the quote says what the furniture is made from
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber
Practical tips
Fresh paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat it gently at first. Beyond that, these tips help:
- Have any damp looked at before the units are made
- Think about how the units meet the picture rail and cornice
- Note the sizes of large things you want to store
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
A soft, slightly damp cloth is all painted units normally need. Avoid abrasive pads and strong cleaning sprays, which can dull or mark the paint. Dry the surface afterwards.
If a damp patch appears near a unit, look into it early. Damp needs its cause fixing by the right trade.
Your questions about alcove units in Bow
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character may need listed building consent from the council. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Bow?
Yes. We cover all of Tower Hamlets and the rest of London, and Bow is part of that. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, and then we send a quote.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, we can arrange Saturdays. Let us know when you first get in touch, and we will see what we can do.
What paint finish can I have on alcove units?
Either a spray-painted or a hand-painted finish. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even. We’ll help you choose at the design visit.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
It depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. We’ll talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
How do I get started?
The first step is to tell us about the room on our contact form with a few details about the room. We then arrange a design visit, measure up and send a written quote.
How we price alcove units
Every room is different, so every job is quoted on its own. This is what makes the difference:
- The overall size of the piece
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
- Spray painting or hand painting
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. A larger piece means more material and more time, so size is the starting point. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
What to send when you get in touch
A little information at the start saves time later. If you can, send:
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
To get a quote for alcove units in Bow, use 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.
Is bespoke worth it?
Off-the-shelf units come in the colours the maker chose. Ours are painted in a colour agreed with you, either spray painted in the workshop or hand painted. They can match the walls, the woodwork or neither. Standalone furniture fixed to plasterboard needs the right fixings, and often doesn’t get them. Built-in pieces are designed with the right fixings from the start, and heavy pieces can stand on the floor.
There’s no price list, because each job is designed for a single room. Instead, we measure, go through the design and then quote in writing, naming the materials and finish. To arrange a design visit, get in touch through our contact form.
Why us?
- Designed for the room you have
- More than 300 projects completed
- Made in moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Every London borough and the City of London covered
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made or how to compare quotes.