Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Hounslow · London
Gunnersbury Alcove Units
Alcove units in Gunnersbury: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and go through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Units that sit well with original features
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
Ask about alcove units in Gunnersbury
From workshop to your room
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and fitting day is where that happens. Walls in older homes are rarely flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it, closing the gaps a standard unit would leave. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. If you live in a block, check any rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours; for a house, steps, paths and parking are the things to mention. Either way, the day is planned at the design visit. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You let us know which room it is and roughly what you’d like in the alcoves, even if the design is only a rough idea so far.
- We visit to measure, look at how the walls run and note the skirting, picture rail and any vent. We also talk through heights, doors and shelves.
- We send a written quote setting out the layout, materials and finish. If anything needs changing, just tell us.
- The cupboards and shelves are then built in our workshop.
- We fit the units, scribe them to the walls and set them level.
Before we arrive
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
Starting with a design visit
Getting a quote starts with a few details: the room, rough sizes and some pictures if you have them. To send them, tell us about the room on our contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and discuss the design, then send a written quote.
Advice
About our alcove units in Gunnersbury
We work across London, including Gunnersbury. The first step is a design visit to measure the alcoves and agree the layout. After that we send a quote in writing, and once you are happy the units are made in our workshop and fitted in your home. Typical reasons to get in touch are toys and paperwork with no proper home and bowed walls and sloping floors; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
Across London, neighbouring streets can be decades apart in age, and a wall might be brick, lath and plaster, blockwork or plasterboard. We check what the walls are made of during the design visit, then choose the fixings. If your room has a chimney breast, the alcoves are an obvious place for alcove units; if not, a full wall works well.
We write quotes in plain English. They say what will be made, what it’s made from and how it will be finished, all taken from the design visit.
- Location
- Gunnersbury (W4, W3, TW8)
- Borough
- Hounslow
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Looking after your furniture
A little care keeps the finish looking good, whether it was spray painted or hand painted. Here are our suggestions:
- Look for a chimney vent that needs to stay clear
- Note the sizes of large things you want to store
- Clear the alcoves before the design visit if you can
- Plan any new sockets with your electrician before fitting
Doors can settle a little once the units are in use. Hinges can usually be adjusted to bring a door back in line, which deals with a door that starts to catch.
Watch for damp marks on the chimney breast or the walls near the units. Damp needs its cause fixing by the right trade, and it is easier to deal with before it spreads.
Common questions about alcove units
My home in Gunnersbury 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.
Is Gunnersbury in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. Gunnersbury is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Hounslow and London. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
Should I send photos?
Yes. They give us a feel for the space before we visit. Show anything the furniture has to work around, such as radiators or sockets.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
It depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. We will explain what to expect before we arrive.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
External walls can be colder and damper than internal ones, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps to avoid condensation. If there is damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
Electrical work isn’t something we do. New or moved sockets are a job for your electrician, ideally before fitting, and some electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. We can plan cut-outs and cable routes in the units around them.
Do you need alcove units in Gunnersbury?
A move into an older home is a common reason. New owners want storage that suits the house, and the alcoves are an obvious place to start. It’s also a good moment, before the room fills up.
Requests we hear often include:
- Room to work in an alcove
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Units that sit well with original features
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
If you live in a period home close to St Michael's Church, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Before you choose who makes it
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Do they scribe the furniture to the walls?
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- A written quote that sets out the job
When is bespoke worth it?
If you’re handy, a simple shelf or a standard wardrobe in a square room is a reasonable DIY job. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s normally a gap left over at the top or at one end. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
Flats, conversions and lettings
Leaseholders should check the lease before anything is fixed to the walls. A lease can require consent from the building owner for alterations, which is worth sorting early. We cannot give advice on leases.
In a managed block, the building manager or concierge may need notice before we arrive. If there is a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Mention it when you contact us.
Also near Gunnersbury
Also in Gunnersbury
Built-in living-room furniture in Gunnersbury
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Gunnersbury were built before 1919 (about 37%) and since 2000 (about 23%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. The Thorney Hedge Conservation Area is close by, within about a quarter of a mile of the centre of Gunnersbury. Planning controls in conservation areas are mainly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitting furniture inside a house does not normally need permission. The council can confirm if you’re not sure. Around Gunnersbury, about 37% of homes date from before 1919, well above the figure for Hounslow as a whole, about 16%, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. So older-house details are more likely to come into the design of alcove units.
Close to Turnham Green? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it. The wider area includes historic houses such as Gunnersbury Park, about 0.7 miles north-west. If your own home is a period one, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Gunnersbury is within the London Borough of Hounslow, about 4 miles south-west of Hounslow. Wherever you are in Gunnersbury, it works the same way: a design visit, a quote in writing, furniture made in our workshop and fitting in your home. We list Gunnersbury among 25 places we cover in Hounslow.
Every home in W4, W3 and TW8 is within our area for alcove units. You will find streets here like Kew Road, Kent Road and Power Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. The A3000 run close to Gunnersbury; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. We also cover Strand-on-the-Green (1 mile south), Kew (1 mile south), Grove Park (1 mile south-east), Chiswick (1 mile east) and Turnham Green (1 mile south-east). Other parts of Hounslow we cover include Hounslow (4 miles south-west), Feltham (7 miles south-west), Isleworth (3 miles south-west), Woodlands (3 miles south-west), Lampton (4 miles west) and Hounslow West (5 miles west).
Landmarks near Gunnersbury
Around Gunnersbury, we cover homes near Ark Acton Academy, Clayton Hotel Chiswick and Library for Iranian Studies. Gunnersbury has its own railway station: Gunnersbury station. A little further out are Barnes Hospital (2 miles south-east) and Asian Music Museum (less than half a mile north-east). For a walk, there’s Kew Gardens Lake.