Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Greenwich · London
Charlton Alcove Units
Alcove units for your home in Charlton: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Storage that suits a period room
Alcove units designed for your room
When is bespoke worth it?
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. 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.
Alcove units in Charlton
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp. We keep any vent clear when we design alcove units, with nothing covering it. If there are signs of damp on the chimney breast or in the alcoves, they’re best sorted before fitting, as cupboards fitted over damp walls can suffer. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are walls too uneven for standard furniture and storage that suits a period room.
You might live in a Victorian terrace, a 1930s semi, a mansion block or a recent flat, and a home in Charlton could be any of these. Because walls and floors change with the age of a house, the design of alcove units starts at the measuring visit. A period house may need scribing to bowed walls, while a newer flat may need fixings for plasterboard.
If the job needs another trade, such as an electrician or a plumber, we’ll tell you, so it can be arranged before fitting day. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Place
- Charlton (SE7, SE18)
- Area
- Greenwich
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Places near Charlton
Other services in Charlton
Living-room storage in Charlton
About 34% of the homes in the area around Charlton went up before 1919, and about 29% between 1945 and 1972, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. It’s a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Charlton include Charlton House (Grade I), about 0.5 miles south, and Stable Buildings to South West of Charlton House (Grade I), about 0.5 miles south. If your own home is listed, works inside that affect its character, like fixing into or removing original joinery, may need listed building consent. Ask the council’s conservation officer before anything is fixed. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Greenwich included. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Charlton is covered by it. We go through parking and access during the design visit.
The wider area includes historic houses like Queen's House, about 1.9 miles west. If your own home is a period one, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For families living near Thorntree Primary School, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place.
Charlton is about 2 miles east of Plumstead, part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. We can visit homes in Charlton on weekdays, or on a Saturday by arrangement. Charlton is one of the places in Greenwich where we make alcove units.
We make alcove units across SE7 and SE18 for alcove units. Our area takes in homes on streets like Floyd Road, Guild Road and Priolo Road, along with the roads around them, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. Close by, we also work in New Charlton (1 mile north-west), Westcombe Park (1 mile west), Woolwich (1 mile east), Vanbrugh Park Estate (1 mile south-west) and Kidbrooke (2 miles south). Across the rest of Greenwich, our area takes in Plumstead (2 miles east), Greenwich (2 miles west), Eltham (3 miles south), Well Hall (2 miles south), Coldharbour (4 miles south) and New Eltham (4 miles south).
Local landmarks in Charlton
The streets we cover here include those near The Victoria pub and Wildwood Montessori School. There’s a railway station in Charlton itself: Charlton station. Nearby you will also find Greenwich Castle (1.9 miles west) and Charlton Athletic Museum (close by, under half a mile south-west). For a walk, there’s Gilbert's Pit.
Questions from Charlton
Do you make alcove units for homes in Charlton?
Yes, we work across Greenwich, Charlton included, and across the rest of London. You can use our contact form to arrange a design visit.
I live in a flat in Charlton. How will the furniture get up the stairs?
At the design visit, we measure the way in along with the room itself. Alcove units are built in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it is worth checking those early.
How do I get a quote?
The first step is to drop us a line using the contact form and let us know about the room. After that, we arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
Can you fit a desk into an alcove?
Yes. You can have a desk in one alcove and cupboards in the other, or matching desks in both. We will plan the desk around how you work.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, by prior arrangement. Tell us when you get in touch if a Saturday suits you best.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
It can be done with some care: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. We don’t treat damp, so any damp should be sorted before fitting day.
How fitting day works
In older rooms, the furniture usually has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it sits neatly against the room. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. We measure the hall, stairs, doors and any lift as well as the room, so alcove units arrive in sections that fit through. We cover floors and doorways on the way in.
- You send us some details about the alcoves and what you’d like in them, and we arrange a design visit at a time that suits you.
- At the design visit, we measure each alcove and go through the layout with you.
- You receive a quote in writing setting out the units, materials and finish, so you can look it over in your own time.
- The units are built in our workshop, ready for a spray-painted finish or for hand painting on site.
- We fit them in your home, scribing them to the walls, so they sit tight to the chimney breast.
Preparing the room
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Tell us about parking near your home
Arranging a design visit
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. Because every room is different, the quote comes after the design visit, when we have measured up and talked through the design. For a quote, use our contact form.
Read more
Before and after fitting day
Looking after painted furniture is simple with a little care. A few things help it stay looking good:
- Make a rough list of what the cupboards need to hold
- Think about how the units meet the picture rail and cornice
- Make the alcoves easy to reach for measuring
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
Keep any chimney vent clear once the units are in. Ventilation helps keep the chimney breast dry.
Keep heaters and very hot lamps from standing right against the paintwork, because constant heat is not kind to a painted finish.
Why bespoke in Charlton?
Shop-bought shelving and cabinets can go in an alcove, and they’re usually cheaper. The catch is the fit: standard widths rarely match the recess, and uneven walls make every gap obvious. A bespoke alcove unit is made to your measurements and scribed to the plaster. Standalone furniture leaves gaps behind and above it that gather dust, and fitted furniture closes them, which makes cleaning simpler.
The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. A larger piece means more material and more time. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
What you get with us
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- Scribed to uneven walls
- A design visit, then a written quote
Take a look at our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
The problems alcove units solve
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor.
Common reasons to get in touch include:
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
If you live in a period home close to St Catherine Labouré, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Choosing a carpenter
- Will the quote be in writing?
- How they handle walls that aren’t straight
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber