Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bromley · London
Alcove units in Bromley
In Bromley, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. We design your alcove unit at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
Alcove units for your home in Bromley
About our alcove units in Bromley
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help keep damp out of the breast. We keep any vent clear when we design alcove units. Any damp in the alcoves should be dealt with by the right trade before the units go in. If your home has walls too uneven for standard furniture and shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess, alcove units made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed can solve it.
Wherever your home in Bromley sits in London’s mix of housing, the furniture is designed around your room rather than a standard size. Period rooms bring sloping floors and mouldings; newer rooms bring stud walls and service boxing. We measure for whichever you have, and the pieces are made to suit.
Everything we agree at the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Where
- Bromley (BR2, BR1, BR6, BR5)
- Borough
- Bromley
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
FAQs: alcove units in Bromley
Is parking a problem for fitting in Bromley?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. 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 at the design visit.
My home in Bromley is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
At the design visit, we measure the way in along with the room itself. The furniture is made in sections that fit the stairs and lift, and put together in the room. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it’s worth checking those early.
Do I need planning permission for fitted furniture?
Not typically. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, and furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need it. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in Bromley?
Simply fill in our short enquiry form. Rough measurements and a few pictures help, and then we arrange a visit to measure and go through the design, followed by a quote in writing.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
External walls can be colder and damper than internal ones, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps, which helps avoid condensation and mould. If there’s damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
Do alcove units need to reach the ceiling?
It depends on the room and the look you want. Units can stop just under the picture rail or run up to the cornice. We agree the height at the design visit.
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. If there’s a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Let us know about it when you contact us.
If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before fixing furniture to the walls. Some leases need the building owner’s consent for alterations. We cannot advise on your lease, so check it yourself or ask your managing agent.
Flat-pack or bespoke?
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls.
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 is something we plan for in the design.
Other services in Bromley
How fitting works for alcove units
With the carcasses fixed and level, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. We adjust each one so the gaps line up and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. The time the fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Fitting day means joining the sections, fitting them to the walls and setting them level. The fixings suit whatever the walls are made of. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- We visit to measure the alcoves top, middle and bottom, and check the floor for level, then discuss the design with you.
- We send the design, materials and finish in a written quote.
- In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall.
Before we arrive
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Keep pets in another room while we work
Getting a quote
If you know what you want, say so; if you do not, that’s fine, and we can work it out together. The design is talked through at the visit, once we have measured, and the written quote that follows sets it out. To arrange a visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Read more
When you need someone else
Before you plan the job, it helps to know what we do not do:
- Painting the walls, ceiling and woodwork around the units
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Electrical work, like new sockets or switches, which is for your electrician
If in doubt, you can drop us a line using the contact form and describe the room. How it works.
What goes into it
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Adjustable shelves
- Spray-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood
- Hand-painted finish
Bromley homes and alcove units
Homes built before 1919 make up about 37% of the housing in the area around Bromley, with about 23% built between 1945 and 1972, 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. The Bromley Town Centre Conservation Area is close by, within about a quarter of a mile of the centre of Bromley. The controls in a conservation area are mostly about the outside of buildings, so furniture fitted inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If in doubt, the council’s planning team can confirm. The ULEZ, run by TfL, takes in all of London, so the rest of London is inside it. Vans bringing furniture to Bromley fall under it, just as they do across the rest of London. We plan parking and access with you at the design visit.
Bromley Palace, about 0.3 miles east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If you live in a flat close to Bromley South station, the route in is measured as well as the room, and the sections are sized to fit it. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, like Church of St Peter and St Paul, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features.
Bromley is about 4 miles east of Orpington, within the London Borough of Bromley. Anywhere in Bromley, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a quote in writing, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. Our work takes in places right across the rest of London.
Every home in BR2, BR1, BR6 and BR5 is covered for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. If your home is on a street such as High Street, Church Road and St Paul's Square, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Main roads around Bromley include the A222 and A223. We also cover the places around Bromley: Sundridge (1 mile north-east), Plaistow (1 mile north), Bickley (1 mile east), Widmore (1 mile east) and Downham (2 miles north). Other parts of the rest of London we cover include Orpington (4 miles east), Beckenham (2 miles west), St Mary Cray (4 miles east), Chislehurst (2 miles north-east), Penge (3 miles west) and Anerley (4 miles west).
Around Bromley
Around Bromley, we cover homes near Holy Trinity College Bromley, The Richmal Crompton pub and Bullers Wood School for Boys and the streets around them. Bromley has its own railway station: Bromley South station. A little further out are Bethlem Museum of the Mind (1.6 miles south-east) and Bromley Hospital (under half a mile south-east).
Boards, parts and paint
Moisture-resistant MDF
In an alcove unit, MDF gives smooth doors and tidy edges, ready for a spray-painted or hand-painted finish. The moisture-resistant grade is a sensible choice next to a chimney breast.
Spray-painted finish
A sprayed coat covers edges and corners evenly. The colour is agreed with you before we start.