Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Haringey · London
Alcove Units in Bowes Park
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, designed for your room in Bowes Park. After a design visit and a written quote, it is made in our workshop and fitted in your home.
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Space for a growing book collection
Alcove units for your home in Bowes Park
What it costs
What it costs comes down to the materials and the time involved. The main factors are:
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Parking near your home
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We’ll talk through what you need inside during the design visit, then set it out in the quote.
What to send when you contact us
A few details help us understand the job before we visit. It’s useful to include:
- What the furniture needs to hold
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
The design visit is where every quote starts. We measure the room properly, check how the walls and floors run and talk through the design with you. A quote in writing follows the visit. To book one, message us from the contact page.
Alcove units for homes in Bowes Park
An alcove can also take a small desk, with shelving overhead and storage underneath. It gives you a place to work without turning a room into an office. We plan the desk height and depth with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. Typical reasons to get in touch are space for a growing book collection and bare alcoves beside the fireplace; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Rooms in houses from before 1919 tend to have generous ceiling heights, and a large share of the homes around Bowes Park date from then. Full-height alcove units can run up to the picture rail or the cornice, with the top line set to match the room’s own mouldings. Where a fireplace has been blocked up, the chimney still needs ventilating, and any damp is sorted before units go in.
The quote comes in writing, so there is time to read it properly and share it with anyone else involved. It records the design, the materials and the finish we discussed.
- Location
- Bowes Park (N22, N11, N8)
- Borough
- Haringey
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
In fairness, standalone furniture comes with you when you move. Fitted alcove units stay with the house and are left behind when you go. It depends on how long you expect to stay. Ready-made units stop well short of a tall period ceiling, and that space collects dust instead of storage. Fitted furniture can go all the way up.
No two rooms cost the same to furnish, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. Spray painting and hand painting are different processes, which affects the cost. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Bowes Park
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
- Built from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
- Made for your room, not a standard size
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made and what to look for in a quote.
Flats, blocks and rented homes
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them at the design visit.
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
Questions we’re often asked
Is Bowes Park in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes, Bowes Park is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Haringey and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and go through the design, followed by a quote.
I live near Alexandra Palace station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Haringey and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with some details about the room.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in Bowes Park?
It’s easiest to tell us about the room on our contact form. We then arrange a design visit, measure up and send a written quote.
What affects the price of alcove units?
Each room is quoted on its own: size, internal fittings, the finish and how tricky the walls are all play a part. You’ll get a written quote once we’ve measured up.
How long does it take to fit alcove units?
The fitting depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. We’ll talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
Is it possible to have a desk built into one alcove?
Yes. You can have a desk in one alcove and cupboards in the other if you want the two sides to differ. We will plan the desk around how you work.
Neighbourhoods near Bowes Park
More for homes in Bowes Park
Bowes Park homes and alcove units
Homes built before 1919 make up about 56% of the housing in the area around Bowes Park, with about 13% built since 2000, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. 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 Bowes Park, 11 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. Strict stopping rules apply on red routes, which TfL runs. If your home in Bowes Park is on or near a main road, tell us at the measuring visit. We can then plan where the van will stop.
If you live in a period home close to St Mary's Greek Orthodox Church, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. For families living near Trinity Primary Academy, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Top Rank Club, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can require listed building consent.
Bowes Park is in the London Borough of Haringey, about 2 miles east of Tottenham. Whether your home in Bowes Park is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, we measure the room as it is and design around it. We list Bowes Park among 23 places we cover in Haringey.
We cover every part of N22, N11 and N8 for alcove units. We cover homes on streets such as High Road, Park Road and Edith Road, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Bounds Green (1 mile north-west), Oakthorpe Park (1 mile north), Palmers Green (1 mile north), Arnos Grove (1 mile north-west) and New Southgate (1 mile north-west). Across the rest of Haringey, our area takes in Tottenham (2 miles east), Tottenham Green (2 miles south-east), Crouch End (2 miles south), South Tottenham (2 miles south-east), Seven Sisters (2 miles south-east) and Finsbury Park (2 miles south).
Local landmarks in Bowes Park
The streets we cover here include those near St Thomas More Catholic School, Greek Secondary School of London and The Prince pub, among other places. There’s a railway station in Bowes Park itself: Alexandra Palace station. Well-known places in the area include The Mall Wood Green (0.5 miles south-east) and Greentrees Hospital (0.9 miles north-east).
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
Cost matters, and it is fair to say so: flat-pack is usually cheaper to buy. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is awkward, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. Span, depth and the weight on it decide whether a shelf sags, so a long run needs a thicker shelf, a stiffening lip or a support. That’s something we plan for in the design.
What happens on fitting day
On the morning of the fitting, we start by protecting your floors and the route from the front door to the room. Next, we carry in the sections built in our workshop, one at a time. How long the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that aren’t straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. Parking can be tight on terraced streets, so let us know about permits and bays during the design visit.
- To begin, send us a few details through our 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. Parking is worth mentioning too, since a van often needs a permit or a paid bay in London.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- In our workshop we build the units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, sized so each piece gets up the stairs and round the corners.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls. A spray-painted finish arrives done; a hand-painted one is applied once the units are in.
Before we arrive
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
Arranging a design visit
A quote begins with a few details from you: which room it is, rough measurements and a couple of pictures if you can take them. When you are ready, fill in our short enquiry form. We will then arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.