Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Westminster · London
Alcove Units in Connaught Village
Alcove units for your home in Connaught Village: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and discuss the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Storage that suits a period room
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Room to work in an alcove
Need alcove units in Connaught Village?
Alcove units in Connaught Village
Period alcoves are rarely square. The walls lean, the chimney breast may bow and the floor often slopes, often all at once. Each unit is built in our workshop to our measurements and scribed to the walls when we fit it, so the sides meet the wall closely rather than showing a dark line. Adjustable feet or a plinth set it level. If you’re living with room to work in an alcove and empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast, alcove units made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
A flat’s living room often has to hold the sofa, the TV, the books and the dining table. Around Connaught Village, where most households live in purpose-built flats, alcove units that use the height of the room help keep the floor clear. Shallow units on one wall can hold more than a standalone bookcase while using less space.
The written quote puts the design visit in writing: the layout, what goes inside, the materials used and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Location
- Connaught Village (W1U, W1H, W2)
- Borough
- Westminster
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
With the carcasses fixed and level, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, then checked again. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Sections come into the flat in the order they’re fitted, so the flat doesn’t fill up. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. The fixings suit each wall, whether solid or stud.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- We visit to measure the alcoves top, middle and bottom, and check the floor for level.
- You get a written quote for the units, materials and finish.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, leaving a scribing allowance where they meet the walls.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall. Spray-painted units arrive finished; hand-painted ones are painted once fitted.
Preparing the room
- Let us know about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
How to get a quote
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it. For a quote, use our contact form.
Related advice
What prompts alcove units in Connaught Village
Sometimes it’s the clutter of a busy living room. Toys, games, paperwork and gadgets need somewhere to go, and cupboards with doors keep them out of sight. The shelves above can then stay tidy.
People usually get in touch with us about needs like these:
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
For an older house near Church of St John the Evangelist, 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
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- How they handle walls that are not straight
- Where they’ll park and unload
Living-room storage in Connaught Village
About 44% of the homes in the streets around Connaught Village went up before 1919, and about 17% 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. Within a mile of the centre of Connaught Village, 18 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings. About 44% of homes in the streets around Connaught Village were built before 1919, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Houses of that age typically have a chimney breast with an alcove each side, and alcove units are built to those exact widths.
If you live near Hyde Park, shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green. The wider area includes historic houses like Handel Hendrix House, about 0.9 miles east. 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.
Connaught Village is about 1 mile east of City of Westminster, part of the City of Westminster. Connaught Village is part of the area we cover, and the process is the same everywhere we work. Our Westminster coverage includes Connaught Village, along with the rest of the borough.
Every home in W1U, W1H and W2 is within our area for alcove units. You will find streets here such as Craven Road, Harbet Road and Edgware Road, and homes on each of them are within our area for alcove units. The A40 and A402 run close to Connaught Village, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. We also cover Hyde Park Estate (1 mile west), Tyburn (1 mile south-east), Paddington (1 mile north-west), City of Westminster (1 mile east) and Paddington Green (1 mile north-west). Across the rest of Westminster, our area takes in Soho (2 miles east), Covent Garden (2 miles east), Aldwych (2 miles east), Charing Cross (2 miles east), Adelphi (2 miles east) and Victoria (2 miles south-east).
Landmarks near Connaught Village
Around Connaught Village, we cover homes near Duke Of Kendal pub, Royal Society of Medicine Library and North Westminster Community School and the streets around them. The nearest railway station is London Paddington station, about 0.5 miles west. Other landmarks nearby include Fortius Clinic (0.6 miles east) and Harrods (1 mile south). For a walk, there is The Long Water.
How it’s made
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF in a moisture-resistant grade is stable and paints beautifully, so we use it for doors, panels and the faces you see. It is a good match for alcoves on an external wall.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish can be done on site, after the units are fitted. It is easy to touch up later, and it gives a softer, traditional look.
Your questions about alcove units in Connaught Village
My home in Connaught Village is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
We measure the route in along with the room itself: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. 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’s worth checking those early.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Typically not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, changes inside that alter its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do both alcove units have to match?
It’s up to you. Matching units give a balanced, formal look around the chimney breast, but you might want a desk on one side and cupboards on the other. We can keep the details the same so they still look like a pair.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. After that, you don’t need to stay in the room, but it helps to be around at the end.
What happens when you come to measure?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. We’ll also ask about access and parking, and a quote in writing follows.
Are alcove units spray painted or hand painted?
There are two options: a spray-painted finish done in our workshop, or a hand-painted finish done on site. Either way, the colour is agreed with you. Spraying gives a smooth, even surface, and hand painting is easy to touch up.
Places near Connaught Village
Also in Connaught Village
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Off-the-shelf units come in the colours the maker chose. Ours are painted in a colour agreed with you, sprayed in the workshop or painted by hand on site. They can match the walls, the woodwork or neither. Ready-made furniture stops at a set height, whatever the ceiling, which wastes the space above. Fitted furniture runs to the ceiling.
Access to the room makes a difference too. Narrow halls, tight stairs or a small lift may mean the furniture is made in more sections, which the quote allows for. We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit.
What you get with us
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Work across the whole of London
- Saturday work by arrangement
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
See how bespoke compares with ready-made and what a quote should include.
Could you do it yourself?
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. We design shelves with that in mind.
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: flat-pack is usually cheaper to buy. Bespoke earns its place where the room is awkward, space is tight or you want the furniture to look part of the house.