Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Lewisham · London
Alcove Units in Catford
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in Catford. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Everyday clutter left on show
Alcove units designed for your room
Alcove units in Catford: what you get
We work across London, including Catford. It starts with a design visit, where we measure the alcoves and discuss the design. Then you receive a quote; the units are then built in our workshop and fitted in your home. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand, and the usual reasons to get in touch are alcoves that are wasted space and cupboards in keeping with an older house.
Older houses tend to come with picture rails, tall skirtings and cornices, and they set the lines that alcove units have to meet. A large share of the housing around Catford went up before 1919, so mouldings are something we expect to talk about at the design visit. The top of the furniture can stop at the picture rail or carry on to the cornice, whichever suits the room.
A written quote is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It describes the alcove unit we have designed for the room, what it is made from and how it is finished, and the workshop works from it.
- Where
- Catford (SE6, BR1)
- Borough
- Lewisham
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What affects the price in Catford
There’s no set price, because there’s no set room. What affects it comes down to:
- Parking near your home
- What goes inside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers
- The width and height of the space
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. A larger piece means more material and more time, so size comes first. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
What we need to know
You don’t need exact measurements or a plan. It’s enough to send:
- Approximate measurements of the space
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Any ideas or images you have saved
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
It’s 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, especially with rough measurements. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.
FAQs: alcove units in Catford
Is Catford in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes, we work across Lewisham, Catford included, and across the rest of London. To get started, you can message us from the contact page with some details.
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Catford Bridge station?
Yes, homes across Lewisham and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can fill in our short enquiry form with a few details about the room, and let us know about parking and access at the same time.
How do I get a quote?
Just tell us about the room on our contact form. It is useful to send rough sizes and a few pictures, and then we arrange a visit to measure and talk through the design.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you do not need to stay in the room, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, by arrangement. Tell us when you get in touch if a Saturday suits you best.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that aren’t square?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully at the measuring visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, so there are no awkward gaps.
Catford homes and alcove units
The biggest shares of homes in the streets around Catford were built before 1919 (about 68%) and since 2000 (about 14%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. It is a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Part of Catford is in the Culverley Green Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. The controls in a conservation area are mostly about the outside of buildings, so furniture fitted inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. Red routes are run by TfL, with tight limits on where and when vehicles can stop. If you live on or close to a main road in Catford, let us know at the design visit. It lets us plan the stop before fitting day.
Close to Forster Memorial Park? Alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear. The wider area includes historic houses such as Eltham Palace, about 2.8 miles east. For a period home anywhere nearby, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. For a flat near Catford Bridge station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room.
Catford is about 2 miles north of New Cross, within the London Borough of Lewisham. Wherever you are in Catford, the process is the same: a design visit, a written quote, furniture built in our workshop and fitting in your home. Across Lewisham, we cover Catford and the places around it.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: SE6 and BR1. Streets in the area include Bargery Road, Penerley Road and Inchmery Road, and homes on each of them are within our area for alcove units. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Bellingham (1 mile south-west), Southend (1 mile south-west), Ladywell (1 mile north), Hither Green (1 mile north-east) and Bell Green (1 mile south-west). Elsewhere in Lewisham, we also cover New Cross (2 miles north), St Johns (2 miles north), Deptford (3 miles north), Surrey Canal (3 miles north-west), Sydenham (2 miles south-west) and Telegraph Hill (2 miles north-west). Catford is among the bigger places we cover in Lewisham.
Near you in Catford
Our area takes in the homes around The London & Rye pub, Conisborough College and Trinity Church of England School and the streets around them. The nearest railway station is Catford Bridge station, roughly 0.5 miles north-west of the centre. Well-known places in the area include Lewisham Shopping Centre (1.4 miles north) and Prefab Museum (0.7 miles south-east). Green spaces nearby include Downham Woodland Walk.
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Landlords furnishing a let use fitted furniture too. It is made from the same moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood as any of our work, finished by spray or by hand.
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf.
Flat-pack or bespoke?
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: flat-pack is typically 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.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
What happens on fitting day
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Where the floor slopes, we bring the furniture up to level on adjustable feet or a plinth, and that keeps the doors and shelves true. After that, it is fixed to the wall using fixings that suit the wall, whether that is solid brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Parking on terraced streets can be tight, especially in a controlled parking zone, so it’s useful to tell us at the measuring visit what’s outside. The van is unloaded quickly, with the sections carried straight in. Saturdays are possible by arrangement.
- You contact us with a few details about the chimney breast and alcoves.
- We visit to measure the alcoves top, middle and bottom, and check the floor for level. Then we go through the design together.
- We send the design, materials and finish in a written quote.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, leaving a scribing allowance where they meet the walls.
- On fitting day we level the units and scribe the edges so they follow the line of the plaster.
Before we arrive
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician ahead of time
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
Getting a quote
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, once the room is measured and the design talked through. For a quote, send us a few details through our contact form.
Advice
Places near Catford
What else we make in Catford
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
Some flat-pack shelves are thin and start to sag once they’re loaded. Shelves in a bespoke unit are sized for the span and the load. Still, a decent off-the-shelf unit can be the sensible choice if you’re renting or moving soon. Chimney breasts in older houses stand out by different amounts, so the recesses either side are rarely the same, and standard units bought as a pair rarely suit both. Fitted furniture is made to each one separately.
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside.
Why choose us
- Every London borough and the City of London covered
- A design visit, then a written quote
- Designed for the room you have
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
Take a look at how bespoke compares with ready-made or what a quote should include.