Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Alcove units in Coldblow, Bexley
In Coldblow, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. We design your alcove unit at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Room to work in an alcove
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- Alcoves that are wasted space
Alcove units in Coldblow
Alcove units in Coldblow: what you get
Alcove units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, each used where it works best. MDF suits doors and panels because it paints so evenly, while birch plywood is strong and holds screws well. The finish is spray painted in the workshop or hand painted on site, in a colour agreed with you. If you are living with units that sit well with original features and somewhere to keep books and records, that is what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Around Coldblow, with interwar houses or semis making up much of the housing, the main room is often well proportioned, with a bay, a chimney breast and not many other recesses. That leaves room for alcove units in the alcoves, along a full wall or around the chimney breast. The carcasses are made from moisture-resistant MDF or birch plywood, painted in a colour agreed with you.
Once you’ve 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 you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- Coldblow (DA5)
- Borough
- Bexley
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Pricing alcove units in Coldblow
Prices vary from room to room, and it comes down to:
- The number of doors and drawers
- Access to the room, like stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Parking near your home
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
Every room is priced on its own, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
What we need to know
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. It’s useful to include:
- Where you live, with the postcode
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- A few pictures of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- What the furniture needs to hold
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Because every room is different, the quote comes after the design visit, once the room is measured and the design talked through. For a quote, send us a few details through our contact form.
Questions we’re often asked
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Coldblow?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. It helps to let us know about parking at the measuring visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Is Coldblow in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. Coldblow is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Bexley and London. To get started, you can message us from the contact page with a few details.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Normally not. Inside a house, fitted furniture doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings can require listed building consent for works that affect their character.
How much will my alcove unit cost?
Size, doors and drawers, what goes inside and the finish all affect it. We send a quote in writing after the design visit.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
That is a job for your electrician. Ideally it is done before fitting so the sockets line up with the design. The units are made with cut-outs and cable gaps to suit.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. You don’t need to watch us work.
Before and after fitting day
None of this takes much effort. Here’s what we suggest:
- Sort out damp patches before fitting
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, like a record player
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
- Decide what goes behind doors and what goes on show
Keep a record of the colour for future touch-ups. Small marks on a hand-painted finish are easy to touch up, and it helps to keep a little of the paint.
Use a mat under plants, vases and drinks, since standing water can mark painted shelves. Dry any spills quickly.
How it is made
Spray-painted finish
A spray-painted finish is applied in our workshop, giving a smooth, even, factory-like surface. It suits a crisp, modern look as well as a classic one.
Plinths and scribe strips
A plinth lifts the cupboard off the floor and hides any slope. It can be set to line up with the skirting for a tidy finish.
Coldblow homes and alcove units
Homes built between 1945 and 1972 make up about 44% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Coldblow, with about 22% built between 1919 and 1939, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Coldblow include Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin (Grade II*), under half a mile north-west, and The Manor House (Grade II), under half a mile north-west. Where a home is listed, listed building consent can be needed for inside works that affect its character, such as fixing into original panelling. Ask the council’s conservation officer before anything is fixed. TfL’s Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every part of London, Bexley included. Vans bringing furniture to Coldblow fall under it, just as they do across the rest of London. We plan parking and access with you at the measuring visit.
If you live in a flat close to Bexley station, it helps to book the lift and tell the concierge before fitting day. If your children go to Maypole Primary School or a school nearby, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design.
Coldblow is part of the London Borough of Bexley, about 3 miles west of Sidcup. Our work covers every London borough and the City of London, Coldblow included. We list Coldblow among 27 places we cover in Bexley.
Design visits and fitting in DA5 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. If your home is on a street like St Mary's Road, Dartford Road and Wansunt Road, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. If you are just outside Coldblow, we also cover North Cray (1 mile south-west) and Bexley (1 mile west). Across the rest of Bexley, our area takes in Sidcup (3 miles west), Welling (3 miles north-west), Erith (3 miles north), Belvedere (3 miles north), Northumberland Heath (2 miles north) and Lessness Heath (3 miles north).
Around Coldblow
The streets we cover here include those near St Columba's Catholic Boys' School, Beths Grammar School and The Old Wick pub and the streets around them. The closest station to Coldblow is Bexley station, roughly 0.6 miles west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Bexley Hospital (1.9 miles north-west) and Bexley Museum (0.7 miles north). Green spaces nearby include Wansunt Pit.
The problems alcove units solve
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. We can plan an alcove unit around exactly what you have, with shelf heights and depths to suit.
Here’s what alcove units can help with:
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Furniture that does not fit the alcove
- Shelving for books and records
- Units that sit well with original features
If you live near Braeburn Park, shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Will the doors close with even gaps?
- Have they thought about parking near you?
- Will they visit to measure before quoting?
- How they handle walls that aren’t straight
Nearby places to Coldblow
More for homes in Coldblow
Fitting day, step by step
In older rooms, the furniture typically has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. On fitting day, we cut and scribe the furniture around these details. How long fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. On fitting day, the sections are carried in, assembled, scribed to the wall and levelled. Hand-painted furniture can be finished on site; spray-painted pieces arrive finished from the workshop. Saturdays can be arranged.
- To begin, fill in our short enquiry form; a brief note on the room and the alcoves is enough.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, discuss the design and check the route from the street to the room.
- Your written quote sets out the design, materials and finish.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls.
Before fitting day
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
Starting with a design visit
To make a start, use our contact form and let us know which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and a quote in writing follows.