Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Barnet · London
Brunswick Park Alcove Units
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. Our work on alcove units in Brunswick Park starts with a design visit, and everything is made at our workshop.
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Storage that suits a period room
Ask about alcove units in Brunswick Park
Fitting day, step by step
You’re welcome to ask questions while we work. The design, materials and finish were settled before anything was made, so fitting day is about putting it in place carefully. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Semis and detached houses often have a front path or a side gate, which can make carrying in easier. We measure the path, any steps and the front door as part of the route. Floors are covered from the door to the room.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that’s what you chose.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill.
Preparing the room
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
How to get a quote
It is useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them give us a good feel for the space, along with rough sizes. To send them over, drop us a line using the contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Related advice
Alcove units in Brunswick Park: what you get
One alcove can be given over to a desk, with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard below. It is a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. We plan the desk height and depth with you, and leave a route for cables to reach the sockets. If you’re living with space for a growing book collection and tired cupboards in the alcoves, that is what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Around Brunswick Park, interwar houses or semi-detached and detached homes make up a good part of the housing. In a typical 1930s house, the front room has a bay at one end and a chimney breast with an alcove to either side, which decides where alcove units sit. Walls in houses of that age are typically straighter than in Victorian ones, though they’re still checked and scribed where needed.
Once you have read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is made at our workshop. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so every detail can be checked first.
- Where
- Brunswick Park (N11, N20, N14)
- Area
- Barnet
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Also near Brunswick Park
What else we make in Brunswick Park
Do you need alcove units in Brunswick Park?
Often the alcoves are simply the biggest unused space in the room. Off-the-shelf furniture rarely fits them, leaving gaps at the sides and above. A fitted unit fills the recess up to the ceiling if you want.
Most of the enquiries we get are about things like these:
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- Shelving for books and records
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
If you live near Friary Park, alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear.
Choosing a carpenter
- Where they’ll park and unload
- Will the quote be in writing?
- How they’ll get the furniture into the room
- Are the boards named, like MDF or plywood?
Flat-pack or bespoke?
If you’re handy, a simple shelf or a standard wardrobe in a square room is a reasonable DIY job. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly 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.
Questions from Brunswick Park
Do you cover homes near New Southgate station?
Yes. We cover all of Barnet and the rest of London. You can message us from the contact page to arrange a design visit.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Brunswick Park?
Yes. Brunswick Park is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Barnet and London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with some details.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
We do not do electrical work. New or moved sockets are a job for your electrician, ideally before fitting. We plan the units around the sockets, with cut-outs where needed.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Not normally. Inside a house, fitted furniture does not normally need planning permission. If the building is listed, works affecting its character can require listed building consent, so ask the council’s conservation officer.
Can the two alcove units be different?
It is up to you. Matching units give a balanced, formal look around the chimney breast, but many people put a desk or a TV in one alcove and cupboards in the other. We can keep the details the same so they still look like a pair.
What affects the price of alcove units?
Every job is priced for its room: the size, what goes inside, the finish and how square the room is all count. You will get a quote in writing once we have measured up.
What it’s made from
Birch plywood
We often use birch plywood for drawer boxes too, where strength matters. The edge can be painted or shown as a detail.
Shelves
Alcove shelves can be fixed or adjustable. Fixed shelves add stiffness to the unit, while adjustable ones give you room to change things.
Flats, conversions and lettings
Conversions and newer flats often have stud walls rather than solid brick. We choose fixings to suit the wall, after checking the walls at the design visit.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways as well as the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through without a struggle.
Living-room carpentry in Brunswick Park: local notes
About 60% of the homes in the streets around Brunswick Park went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 13% between 1945 and 1972, 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. Many London boroughs run controlled parking zones, and Barnet sets its own rules. Depending on your street in Brunswick Park, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a council bay suspension may be needed. Parking near your home is worth mentioning at the measuring visit. About 60% of homes in the area around Brunswick Park date from between 1919 and 1939, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Interwar front rooms typically have a bay at the front and a chimney breast on the side wall, and alcove units are planned around both.
If your home is one of the older houses near Oakleigh Community Church, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If your children go to St Andrew the Apostle Greek Orthodox School or a school nearby, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else.
Brunswick Park is part of the London Borough of Barnet, about 2 miles south-west of Finchley. From period terraces to newer flats in Brunswick Park, we measure the room as it is and design around it. Across Barnet, we cover Brunswick Park and the places around it.
We work across N11, N20 and N14. We cover homes on streets like Dene Road, Link Road and Pine Road, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. We also cover the places around Brunswick Park: Osidge (1 mile north-east), Southgate (1 mile east), East Barnet (1 mile north-west), New Southgate (1 mile south) and Friern Barnet (1 mile south). Other parts of Barnet we cover include Finchley (2 miles south-west), Barnet (2 miles north-west), Burnt Oak (5 miles west), East Finchley (3 miles south-west), Hendon (4 miles south-west) and Edgware (5 miles west).
What’s near Brunswick Park
Around Brunswick Park, we cover homes near Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum, The Osidge Arms and Salcombe School. For rail, the closest station is New Southgate station, roughly 0.9 miles south of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Coppetts Wood Hospital (1.7 miles south) and Grand Arcade (1.5 miles south-west). Not far away are Barfield Allotments Nature Park.