Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Redbridge · London
Cranbrook Alcove Units
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. We make alcove units for homes in Cranbrook, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Shelving for books and records
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Clutter with nowhere to go
Alcove units in Cranbrook
Honest limits
Damp treatment and building work are for other specialists, and there are a few other limits too:
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
- Treating damp in the chimney breast or walls
- Replastering, which is a plasterer’s job
If in doubt, you can message us from the contact page and describe the room before you arrange a visit. How it works.
What it’s made from
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Hand-painted finish
- Spray-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood
- Scribed side panels
- Adjustable shelves
How we make alcove units for Cranbrook
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. Closed cupboards hide everyday clutter, and the shelves are for books and favourite objects. The top of the cupboard makes a useful surface at a comfortable height. Heights are agreed with you to suit the room and your things. Most enquiries start with alcoves that aren’t square and space for a growing book collection; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Older houses tend to come with picture rails, tall skirtings and cornices, and they set the lines that alcove units have to meet. Homes built before 1919 make up a large share of the housing around Cranbrook, so those details are worth looking at closely at the design visit. The top of the furniture can stop at the picture rail or carry on to the cornice, whichever suits the room.
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.
- Where
- Cranbrook (IG1, IG2, E12)
- Area
- Redbridge
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- Send us a message
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Also near Cranbrook
Also in Cranbrook
How fitting works for alcove units
Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails, cornices or coving for the furniture to meet. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it sits neatly against the room. How long the fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. On fitting day, edges are trimmed on site to follow the walls, so we ask for a clear space to work near the room. We keep dust down and tidy as we go. Where the finish is hand-painted, it can be done after the pieces are in.
- You contact us with a short note about the room and the units you have in mind.
- We come to measure the alcoves, look at the walls and agree the design with you, noting the skirting, picture rail and any chimney vent.
- You receive a quote in writing setting out the units, materials and finish, for you to read through at your own pace.
- Each unit is built in our workshop to the measurements we took, ready for a spray-painted finish or for hand painting on site.
- We install the units, set them level and scribe them to the alcoves.
Before fitting day
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
- Keep pets in another room while we work
How to get a quote
There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, when we have measured up and talked through the design. To arrange a visit, message us from the contact page.
Read more
How it’s made
Birch plywood
We often use birch plywood for drawer boxes too, where strength matters. The edge can be painted or shown as a detail.
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting lets the colour be judged in the room itself before the final coat. Scribed edges and joins are painted along with the rest.
Living-room storage in Cranbrook
Homes built before 1919 make up about 66% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Cranbrook, with about 18% built between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how alcove units are fixed and fitted. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Cranbrook include Valentines Mansion (Grade II*), about 0.5 miles north, and Chapel (Grade II*), about 0.6 miles south-east. For a listed home, works inside that affect its character can need listed building consent from the council, for instance removing or fixing into original panelling. Ask the council’s conservation officer before anything is fixed. Flats in converted or shared houses account for about 21% of households in the area around Cranbrook, going by Census 2021 figures from the ONS. Conversions often leave rooms in unusual shapes, with partition walls, boxed-in pipes and chimney breasts in odd places, and the route in may go through a shared hall and stairs. If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before anything is fixed to the walls.
If you live near Valentines Park, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it. For a flat near Ilford station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in. For an older house near St Clement's Church, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Cranbrook is about 3 miles north-west of Woodford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. We cover Cranbrook as part of our work across Redbridge. Our work takes in places right across Redbridge, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
Design visits and fitting in IG1, IG2 and E12 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. We cover homes on streets such as Mill Road, York Road and Prior Road, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Close by, we also work in Ilford (1 mile south-east), Redbridge (1 mile north-west), Gants Hill (1 mile north-east), Little Ilford (1 mile south) and Manor Park (1 mile south). Elsewhere in Redbridge, we also cover Woodford (3 miles north-west), Wanstead (2 miles north-west), South Woodford (3 miles north-west), Goodmayes (2 miles east), Woodford Wells (4 miles north) and Barkingside (2 miles north-east).
Around Cranbrook
We fit furniture in homes around Great Spoon of Ilford pub and Highlands Primary School. For rail, the closest station is Ilford station, roughly 0.5 miles south-east. Well-known places in the area include Redbridge Museum (0.7 miles south-east).
Your questions about alcove units in Cranbrook
I live near Ilford station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Redbridge and the rest of London. You can message us from the contact page to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Can you make alcove units for a home in Cranbrook?
Yes. We cover all of Redbridge and the rest of London, and Cranbrook is part of that. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, and then we send a quote.
Are alcove units spray painted or hand painted?
You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted finish in your home. Both are in a colour agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. Ideally it is done before fitting, and we can tell you where the units will sit so the sockets end up in the right place. The units are made with cut-outs and cable gaps to suit.
How long will the fitting take?
The fitting depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. We’ll talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
Should alcove units go up to the ceiling?
It’s up to you. Some people take the units right to the ceiling for the most storage, while others stop them at the picture rail or leave open shelves above a low cupboard. We discuss the options during the design visit.
How we price alcove units
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. The things that affect it are:
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Access to the room, like stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Parking and unloading on your street
- Tricky walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
Before the design visit
A few details help us understand the job before we visit. When you get in touch, it helps to send:
- How you want to use the space
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- Rough sizes: width, height and depth
It’s useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them give us a good feel for the space, along with rough sizes. To share them, drop us a line using the contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.
When is bespoke worth it?
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there is often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can use the full height and width.
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.