Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Kensington and Chelsea · London
Alcove Units in Earl's Court
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. Our work on alcove units in Earl's Court starts with a design visit, and everything is built in our workshop.
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Room to work in an alcove
Alcove units for your home in Earl's Court
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Flat-pack and off-the-shelf furniture has its place. If the walls are straight and the space suits standard sizes, it often does the job, and it’s easy to buy.
Alcove units in Earl's Court
Period alcoves are rarely square. The walls lean, the chimney breast may bow and the floor often slopes, sometimes all in one recess. Each unit is built in our workshop to our measurements and scribed to the walls when we fit it, so the edges follow the plaster instead of leaving a gap. A plinth or adjustable feet take up any slope in the floor. If your home has a desk that tucks into an alcove and bare alcoves beside the fireplace, that’s what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
In a house from the Victorian or Edwardian years, the front room usually keeps its chimney breast even where the fireplace has gone. Around Earl's Court, where a large share of homes date from before 1919, that’s a common starting point. The recesses either side take alcove units scribed to the plaster and cut around the skirting, so they sit as if they came with the house.
The quote comes in writing, so you can read it at your own pace and share it with anyone else involved. It records the design, the materials and the finish we discussed.
- Location
- Earl's Court (W14, W8, SW5)
- Area
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
What happens on fitting day
In older rooms, the furniture usually has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. On fitting day, we cut and scribe the furniture around these details, so it sits neatly against the room. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Hallways in period houses are often narrow, and the stairs turn sharply, so the furniture comes in sections sized for the route in. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through.
- You get in touch with a short description of the alcoves and your ideas.
- At the design visit, we measure both alcoves, check the walls and look at the skirting and picture rail.
- We send a written quote setting out the layout, materials and finish.
- Once you’re happy, the units are made at our workshop.
- Fitting day: the units go in, are scribed to the alcoves and levelled on a plinth or feet. The finish is sprayed in our workshop or hand-painted on site, as agreed.
Preparing the room
- Take anything hanging off the wall we’re fitting to
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
Arranging a design visit
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it. For a quote, message us from the contact page.
Related advice
FAQs: alcove units in Earl's Court
How do you fit alcove units in a flat in Earl's Court?
We measure the route in not just the room: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Alcove units are made at our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. It’s useful to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Is Earl's Court in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. Earl's Court is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Kensington and Chelsea and London. You can use our contact form to arrange a design visit.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in Earl's Court?
The first step is to drop us a line using the contact form. After that, we arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement. Let us know when you first get in touch, and we’ll see what we can do.
Do I need planning permission for fitted furniture?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
How tall should alcove units be?
That is your choice. 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’ll go through what suits your room when we visit.
What prompts alcove units in Earl's Court
Others want a proper home for books, records or a TV. An alcove unit can be shaped around what you own, with shelf heights and depths to suit.
These come up often when people first get in touch:
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- A place for a small desk
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Shop-bought shelving that does not fill the recess
Close to Gwendwr Garden? Shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green.
Choosing a carpenter
- Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
Places near Earl's Court
Also in Earl's Court
What alcove units cannot fix
It’s worth being clear about where our work stops:
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
- Removing or altering a chimney breast, which is structural work
- Finding and fixing the cause of damp
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can get in touch through our contact form and we will give you a straight answer. How a job runs, step by step.
What it’s made from
- Hand-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Spray-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Adjustable shelves
- Birch plywood
- Moisture-resistant MDF
Alcove units in Earl's Court: local notes
About 72% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Earl's Court went up before 1919, and about 9% between 1973 and 1999, 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 Earl's Court include Church of St Cuthbert and St Matthias (Grade I), under half a mile west, and Church of St Jude (Grade II*), less than half a mile north-east. If your own home is listed, internal works that affect its character, like fixing into or removing original joinery, may need listed building consent. It’s worth speaking to the council’s conservation officer before the design is final. Red routes are run by TfL, with tight limits on where and when vehicles can stop. If your home is on or just off a main road, it helps to mention it. We can then plan where the van will stop.
If your children go to St Cuthbert with St Matthias CofE Primary School or a school nearby, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else. The wider area includes historic houses like Garden Lodge, about 0.3 miles north-west. If your own home is a period one, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Earl's Court is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, about 1 mile north-west of Kensington. Design visits and fitting in Earl's Court can be on a Saturday, by prior arrangement. Earl's Court is one of 13 places on our list for Kensington and Chelsea.
Here we cover the W14, W8 and SW5 postcode area for alcove units. You will find streets here like Sun Road, Star Road and Rich Lane, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. The A3218 and A3220 run close to Earl's Court; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Close by, we also work in West Brompton (1 mile south), South Kensington (1 mile east), Little Chelsea (1 mile south-east), World's End (1 mile south-east) and Walham Green (1 mile south). Other parts of Kensington and Chelsea we cover include Notting Dale (2 miles north), Kensal Town (2 miles north) and North Kensington (3 miles north-west).
Local landmarks in Earl's Court
In Earl's Court, that includes homes near Collingham College, Abdus Salam Library and The Fulham Boys School and the streets around them. Earl's Court has its own railway station: West Brompton station. Nearby you will also find Chelsea Stadium Tour And Museum (0.7 miles south) and Kensington Arcade (0.7 miles north). For a walk, there’s Campden Hill and The Long Water.
What affects the price in Earl's Court
The price for your room depends on:
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- Where a van can park, such as a permit bay or a bay suspension
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. We will talk through what you need inside at the measuring visit.
What to send when you contact us
You do not need exact measurements or a plan. Just send what you can:
- A few pictures of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
To get a quote, message us from the contact page and tell us a little about the room and what you want the furniture to do. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and a written quote follows.