Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Camden · London
Chalk Farm Alcove Units
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, designed for your room in Chalk Farm. We measure, design and quote first, then make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
Alcove units in Chalk Farm
Questions we’re often asked
How do you fit alcove units in a flat in Chalk Farm?
At the design visit, we measure the way in not just the room. Alcove units are made at our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. It’s useful to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Do you make alcove units for homes in Chalk Farm?
Yes. Chalk Farm is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Camden and London. To get started, you can drop us a line using the contact form with a few details.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, and furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need it. Listed buildings are different: check with the council’s conservation officer first.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement. Let us know when you first get in touch, and we will see what we can do.
Do both alcove units have to match?
That’s your choice. A matching pair balances 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.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
That’s a job for your electrician. Ideally it’s done before fitting. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
How we make alcove units for Chalk Farm
Many people choose cupboards at low level and shelves above them. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, while the shelves hold books and the things you want on show. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. Heights are agreed with you to suit the room and your things. Most enquiries start with worn or badly fitted alcove units and shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess, and the answer is made at our workshop from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Getting long pieces into a flat often takes the most planning. With purpose-built flats home to most households around Chalk Farm, the sections for alcove units are planned during the design visit. The joins are placed where they won’t show once the furniture is fitted.
Once you’ve read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is built in our workshop. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Location
- Chalk Farm (NW5, NW1, NW3)
- Borough
- Camden
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What we don’t do
We do not treat damp or carry out building work, so these points are worth knowing:
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Moving sockets or switches, which needs an electrician
- Replastering, which is a plasterer’s job
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can drop us a line using the contact form and we will give you a straight answer. How it works.
What it’s made from
- Adjustable shelves
- Spray-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Hand-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Birch plywood
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
A bespoke unit takes longer to arrive than something from a shop: it needs a design visit, a quote and time in the workshop. In return, the unit is planned for your alcove alone, rather than the nearest standard size. In a flat, walls are often broken up by radiators, doors and sockets, so off-the-shelf widths rarely fill the gaps. Built-in pieces are sized for each stretch of wall.
Access to the room makes a difference too. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying, and that’s part of the price. Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured.
Why us?
- Made in moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
See bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
Flats, conversions and lettings
Many London terraces have been converted into flats, which often brings a shared hall and tight turns on the stairs. We plan the size of each section around it, after measuring the route during the design visit.
If the property is let, we will need access agreed with the tenants. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf, and the written quote can go to whoever needs it.
Also near Chalk Farm
What else we make in Chalk Farm
Do you need alcove units in Chalk Farm?
Often the alcoves are simply the biggest unused space in the room. Standard furniture seldom fits an alcove, so there are gaps at the sides and the top. Built-in units use the whole recess from wall to wall.
If you recognise any of these, it’s worth talking to us:
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- Room to work in an alcove
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
The wider area includes historic houses like Winfield House, about 1.1 miles south-west. For a period home anywhere nearby, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
- Have they measured the stairs, lift and doorways?
How fitting works for alcove units
Finishing comes last. If the furniture was spray painted in the workshop, we fill the fixing holes and touch up on site; if you chose hand painting, that can be done in the room once the furniture is fitted. The finish is always the one agreed in your quote. Some buildings have a concierge, a lift booking system or set working hours, so check them with the managing agent before fitting day. Communal areas and floors are protected on the way in.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units.
- A design visit follows, where we measure up and agree the layout with you.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing, ready for you to check.
- We build the units in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that is what you chose.
- We bring them to your home and fit them in place. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
How to prepare
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
How to get a quote
Rough measurements are fine at the start. We measure everything properly during the design visit, including how level the floor and ceiling are. To arrange it, get in touch through our contact form with some details about the room. You receive a quote in writing after the visit.
Related advice
Built-in living-room furniture in Chalk Farm
In the streets around Chalk Farm, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 41%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 24%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. 21 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of central Chalk Farm. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings. Red routes, run by TfL, have strict rules on stopping and loading. If your street in Chalk Farm joins a main road, it’s worth telling us during the design visit. It lets us plan the stop before fitting day.
If you live in a flat close to Kentish Town West station, the route in is measured not just the room, and the sections are sized to fit it. If you live near Primrose Hill, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
Chalk Farm is about 2 miles south-east of St Pancras, within the London Borough of Camden. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and Chalk Farm is part of that. We list Chalk Farm among 28 places we cover in Camden.
We work across the NW5, NW1 and NW3 postcode area. Our area takes in homes on streets like Eton Road, Oval Road and Regal Lane, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. Main roads around Chalk Farm include the A5205. We also cover the places around Chalk Farm: Kentish Town (1 mile east), Primrose Hill (1 mile south-west), Haverstock (1 mile west), Belsize Park (1 mile west) and Camden Town (1 mile south-east). Elsewhere in Camden, we also cover St Pancras (2 miles south-east), West End (2 miles south-east), St Giles (2 miles south-east), Seven Dials (2 miles south-east), West Hampstead (2 miles north-west) and Holborn (2 miles south-east).
Local landmarks in Chalk Farm
We fit furniture in homes around Cecil Sharp House, North Bridge House School and The Fiddlers Elbow Public House, among other places. There’s a railway station in Chalk Farm itself: Kentish Town West station. Well-known places in the area include O2 Centre (1.3 miles west) and Isokon Gallery (0.7 miles north-west). Not far away are Adelaide Nature Reserve.