Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Hackney · London
Hackney Marshes Alcove Units
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. We make alcove units for homes in Hackney Marshes, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Shelving for books and records
- Furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
Alcove units in Hackney Marshes
What it costs
The price reflects the time and materials the job needs. The main factors are:
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
- The width and height of the space
- Access to the room, such as stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Parking near your home
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers all add work. We’ll talk through what you need inside during the design visit, and the quote follows.
What to send when you get in touch
A little information at the start saves time later. If you can, send:
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it. For a quote, drop us a line using the contact form.
About our alcove units in Hackney Marshes
We work across London, including Hackney Marshes. It starts with a design visit, where we measure the alcoves and talk through the design. Then you receive a quote; the units are then built in our workshop and fitted in your home. If your home has shelving for books and records and bowed walls and sloping floors, that’s what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Wherever your home in Hackney Marshes sits in London’s mix of housing, alcove units start with the room you actually have. Period rooms bring sloping floors and mouldings; newer rooms bring stud walls and service boxing. We measure for whichever you have, and the pieces are made to suit.
The quote names the materials: moisture-resistant MDF, birch plywood or both, depending on the design. The finish is stated too, whether that is spray painting or hand painting.
- Where
- Hackney Marshes (E5, E10, E9)
- Borough
- Hackney
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What prompts alcove units in Hackney Marshes
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. Built into the alcove, a cupboard holds clothes without taking over the room, which matters in a smaller room.
A few of the things people ask us to solve are these:
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Room to work in an alcove
For an older house near The Risen Christ and All Souls, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Will the quote be in writing?
- How parking will work on your street
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
Questions from Hackney Marshes
Can you make alcove units for a home in Hackney Marshes?
Yes, Hackney Marshes is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Hackney and the rest of London. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, and then we send a quote.
My home in Hackney Marshes is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
At the design visit, we measure the way in not just the room. Alcove units are made at 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 to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to let us in. It is good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
Can an alcove unit include a desk?
Yes. You can have a desk in one alcove and cupboards in the other if you want the two sides to differ. The desk is planned around the way you work.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
Either a spray-painted or a hand-painted finish. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even; a hand-painted one is easy to touch up later. We talk through both at the measuring visit.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement. Let us know when you first get in touch, and we will see what we can do.
From workshop to your room
At the end, we tidy up and take up the floor coverings. Before we go, we look over the finished furniture with you. The time the fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Fitting day means joining the sections, fitting them to the walls and setting them level. The fixings suit whatever the walls are made of. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill, with a note of the room they’re in.
- A design visit follows, where we measure up and agree the layout with you. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing, ready for you to check.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that is what you chose.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
How to prepare
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
- Let us know about parking near your home
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
Arranging a design visit
The design visit is where every quote starts. We measure the room properly, check how the walls and floors run and discuss the design with you. Afterwards, we send a quote in writing, so you can take your time with it. To book one, use our contact form.
Advice
Hackney Marshes homes and alcove units
In the area around Hackney Marshes, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 33%) and between 1973 and 1999 (about 28%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. The National Heritage List records 7 entries within half a mile of the centre of Hackney Marshes. You can check whether a particular building is listed on Historic England’s list. Parking on many inner London streets is controlled, with zones run by each borough. So a van fitting furniture in Hackney Marshes normally needs a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension arranged through the council. Let us know about parking near your home at the design visit.
If you live near Leyton Jubilee Park, alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear. For a flat near Lea Bridge station, check any building rules on lifts and working hours early, and the sections will be sized for the way in.
Hackney Marshes is part of the London Borough of Hackney, about 3 miles south-west of Shoreditch. We cover Hackney Marshes as part of our work across Hackney. Our work takes in places right across Hackney, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
We make alcove units across the E5, E10 and E9 postcode area for alcove units. Whether you live on a street like Glyn Road, Gilpin Road and Redwald Road or on one nearby, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. The A106 run close to Hackney Marshes; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Nearby, we also make alcove units in Leyton Grange (1 mile north-east), Lea Bridge (1 mile north-west), Homerton (1 mile south-west), Lower Clapton (1 mile south-west) and Temple Mills (1 mile south-east). Elsewhere in Hackney, we also cover Shoreditch (3 miles south-west), Hoxton (3 miles south-west), West Hackney (2 miles west), De Beauvoir Town (2 miles south-west), Hackney Central (2 miles south-west) and London Fields (2 miles south-west).
What’s near Hackney Marshes
We fit furniture in homes around Lammas School and Sixth Form, The Lammas School and The Adam & Eve pub, among other places. The closest station to Hackney Marshes is Lea Bridge station, roughly 0.7 miles north-west. Other landmarks nearby include V&A East (1.3 miles south-east) and Homerton University Hospital (0.8 miles south-west). For a walk, there is Old Ford Island.
How it is made
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is stiff, strong and grips screws firmly, so it is ideal for shelves and the boxes behind the doors. You can paint its layered edge or leave it on show.
Hand-painted finish
With a hand-painted finish, you see the colour in your own light as it goes on. It also means any filling around scribed edges is painted in one go.
What alcove units cannot fix
We do not treat damp or carry out building work, so these points are worth knowing:
- Removing or altering a chimney breast, which is structural work
- Electrical work, like new sockets or switches, which is for your electrician
- Making good damaged walls before fitting
If in doubt, you can get in touch through our contact form and describe the room. How it works.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Adjustable shelves
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood
- Hand-painted finish