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Westminster · London
Alcove units in City of Westminster, Westminster
In City of Westminster, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and built in our workshop.
- Space for a growing book collection
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
Alcove units for your home in City of Westminster
How we make alcove units for City of Westminster
Skirting boards, picture rails and coving are common in older rooms. Units can be cut around them, stop just below them or run neatly up to them, depending on the look you want. The plinth height can match the skirting so the units feel part of the room. We agree these details at the measuring visit, before anything is made. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and the things people most often want solved are shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess and bare alcoves beside the fireplace.
With a large share of homes around City of Westminster built before 1919, plenty of living rooms are two reception rooms knocked into one, each with its own chimney breast. One pair of alcoves might take shelves and the other cupboards, a TV or a desk. Older internal walls can be lath and plaster rather than brick, which changes how shelving is fixed, and long shelves are sized so they don’t sag under books.
Where other trades are needed, for example an electrician to move a socket, we point that out. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Location
- City of Westminster (W2, NW8, W9, SW1V)
- Borough
- Westminster
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Contact
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
It’s worth being honest about cost: off-the-shelf furniture typically costs less up front. Bespoke earns its place where the room is tricky, space is tight or you want the furniture to look part of the house.
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
Shelves in some flat-pack furniture are thin and can bow under books. Shelves in a bespoke unit are sized for the span and the load. That said, if you’re renting or moving soon, a good off-the-shelf unit may make more sense. Ready-made units stop well short of a tall period ceiling, and that space collects dust instead of storage. Built-in pieces can run to the cornice or the picture rail.
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. A larger piece means more material and more time, so size is the starting point. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Why choose us
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
- Built around your room
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
- 300+ projects completed
Take a look at how bespoke compares with ready-made or what a quote should include.
FAQs: alcove units in City of Westminster
My home in City of Westminster is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
We measure the route in as well as the room: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. The furniture is made in sections that fit the stairs and lift, and put together in the room. It helps to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Do you cover homes near Bond Street station?
Yes. We cover all of Westminster and the rest of London. To get started, you can use our contact form with some details about the room.
What happens at the design visit?
We measure the space and discuss the design, materials and finish. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, then send a quote in writing.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
It needs a little planning: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. Damp treatment isn’t something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. You don’t need to watch us work.
How do I get started?
Just fill in our short enquiry form. Rough measurements and a few pictures help, and we will arrange a design visit.
What it is made from
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish can be done on site, after the units are fitted. It’s easy to touch up later, and it gives a softer, traditional look.
Plinths and scribe strips
Most alcoves need scribing on both sides and sometimes at the top. It’s the difference between a unit that sits in the alcove and one that belongs there.
From workshop to your room
If anything comes up on the day, just ask. Most of the decisions were made at the design visit and set out in your quote, so the day itself is about careful fitting and leaving everything tidy. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that aren’t straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. Parking can be tight on terraced streets, so tell us about permits and bays during the design visit.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill, and we find a time for the design visit.
- A design visit follows, where we measure up and agree the layout with you. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a written quote, ready for you to check.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
How to prepare
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
Ask for a quote
We quote once we’ve seen the room. At the visit, we measure, look at the walls and floors and talk through the design with you, then send a quote in writing. Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. To book a design visit, fill in our short enquiry form.
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Alcove units in City of Westminster: local notes
About 46% of the homes in the neighbourhood around City of Westminster went up before 1919, and about 19% since 2000, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Part of City of Westminster is in the Stratford Place Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. Planning controls in conservation areas are mainly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitting furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need permission. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. In inner London, a large part of the street parking sits inside borough-run controlled parking zones. For fitting in City of Westminster, a van normally needs a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. We ask about parking during the design visit, so the van can be planned for.
If your home is one of the older houses near St Mark's, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Church of St Mark's, 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. Handel Hendrix House, about 0.3 miles east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. 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.
City of Westminster is within the City of Westminster. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and City of Westminster is part of that. Across Westminster, we cover City of Westminster and the places around it.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: W2, NW8, W9 and SW1V. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Portman Square, Grosvenor Square and Cavendish Square, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. The A4 and A5 runs close to City of Westminster, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. Close by, we also work in Marylebone (1 mile north-east), Mayfair (1 mile south-east), Tyburn (1 mile west), Burlington Estate (1 mile south-east) and Connaught Village (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Westminster, we also cover Aldwych (2 miles east), Clare Market (2 miles east), Westbourne (2 miles west), Westbourne Green (2 miles west), Pimlico (2 miles south) and Maida Vale (2 miles north-west). As one of the bigger places in Westminster, City of Westminster is covered for all of our fitted furniture.
Near you in City of Westminster
The streets we cover here include those near Devonshire Arms, Royal Society of Medicine Library and The St Marylebone CofE School and the streets around them. City of Westminster has its own railway station: Bond Street station. Other landmarks nearby include Fortius Clinic (close by, under half a mile north) and Kingly Court (0.6 miles east). For a walk, there’s Serpentine.
Neighbourhoods near City of Westminster
Also in City of Westminster
Flats, leases and landlords
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. Lifts sometimes need to be booked, and the lift size helps decide how big each section can be. Tell us about it when you get in touch.
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf.