Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Ealing · London
Alcove Units in Hanwell
Planning alcove units for a home in Hanwell? It starts with a design visit to measure and talk through ideas, then a quote in writing, before anything is made.
- Furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
Alcove units for your home in Hanwell
About our alcove units in Hanwell
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help keep damp out of the breast. We keep any vent clear when we design alcove units. Any damp in the alcoves should be dealt with by the right trade before the units go in so the new furniture starts on a dry wall. People typically come to us about clutter with nowhere to go and storage that suits a period room, and the answer is built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish.
Rooms in houses from before 1919 tend to have generous ceiling heights, and a large share of the homes around Hanwell date from then. Full-height alcove units can run up to the picture rail or the cornice, with the top line set to match the room’s own mouldings. Blocked fireplaces are common too, and a capped chimney should still be ventilated before anything is built against it.
A written quote follows the design visit. It sets out the design we’ve talked through, the materials and the finish, so you know exactly what you are getting.
- Place
- Hanwell (W7, W13, UB2)
- Borough
- Ealing
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Contact
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Flats, leases and landlords
Leaseholders should check the lease before anything is fixed to the walls. Some leases need the building owner’s consent for alterations, and that is best sorted before fitting day. We can’t advise on your lease.
If your building is on a red route or a busy main road, unloading takes some planning. Red routes are run by TfL and have strict stopping rules, so it is worth raising at the measuring visit.
How it’s made
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF doesn’t have a grain to show through the paint, so a painted finish looks even and calm. We choose the moisture-resistant grade for fitted furniture.
Plinths and scribe strips
Most alcoves need scribing on both sides and sometimes at the top. It’s what makes a fitted unit look fitted.
Alcove units in Hanwell: local notes
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Hanwell were built before 1919 (about 53%) and since 2000 (about 21%), in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. Within a mile of the centre of Hanwell, 8 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings. Red routes, run by TfL, have strict rules on stopping and loading. If your street in Hanwell joins a main road, it is worth telling us at the measuring visit. Then we can work out where to load and unload.
The wider area includes historic houses like Pitzhanger Manor, about 1.3 miles east. 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. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Church of St Mary, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. For families living near St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room.
Hanwell is in the London Borough of Ealing, about 1 mile east of Ealing. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and Hanwell is part of that. Hanwell is one of 19 places on our list for Ealing.
Here we cover the W7, W13 and UB2 postcode area for alcove units. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Park Road, Green Lane and Felix Road, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Hanwell is near the A4001, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. We also cover West Ealing (1 mile west), Ealing (1 mile east), Dormers Wells (1 mile north-west), South Ealing (1 mile south-east) and Pitshanger (2 miles north-east). Other parts of Ealing we cover include Acton (3 miles east), Greenford (2 miles north), Northolt (3 miles north-west), Acton Green (3 miles east), Bedford Park (3 miles east) and Acton Vale (4 miles east).
Local landmarks in Hanwell
The streets we cover here include those near Drayton Manor High School, Cuckoo Schools and Kings Arms. Hanwell has its own railway station: Hanwell station. Well-known places in the area include Ealing Hospital (under half a mile west). For a walk, there’s Long Wood and Middle Lake.
From workshop to your room
With the carcasses fixed and level, we hang any doors and fit any drawers or lids. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that are not straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. It is useful to tell us about parking at the design visit, as terraced streets are often busy.
- You get in touch about alcove units and the room they’re for.
- At the design visit we measure up, agree the layout and talk about colour and finish. You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted one done in your home.
- A written quote follows, with the finish written in alongside the design and materials.
- We make the units in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF, which takes paint well, and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted and scribed to the alcoves.
- Paint needs time to cure, so go gently with the new units at first.
How to prepare
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Empty the space we will be working in
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
Ask for a quote
To get a quote, message us from the contact page and let us know which room you have in mind 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 quote in writing follows.
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What it costs
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- What goes inside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- The number of doors and drawers
No two rooms cost the same to furnish, because size, layout and finish change from job to job. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
Getting in touch
To give us a picture of the room, it’s useful to include:
- A few photos of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- What the furniture needs to hold
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
The design visit is where every quote starts. We measure the room properly, check how the walls and floors run and go through the design with you. Afterwards, we send a written quote, so you can take your time with it. To arrange the visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Questions we’re often asked
Is Hanwell in the area you cover for alcove units?
Yes. Hanwell is one of the places we work, along with the rest of Ealing and London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit.
I live near Hanwell station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Ealing and the rest of London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Do alcove units affect the chimney’s ventilation?
We design around any vent so it stays open. Ventilation helps keep a capped chimney dry. If there is damp on the breast already, it’s best sorted before fitting.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and discuss the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and a written quote 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. Both are in a colour agreed with you. Spray painting is smooth and even, while hand painting is easy to touch up.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. In a tall period room, units can stop under the picture rail or the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. We agree the height during the design visit.
Places near Hanwell
Other services in Hanwell
Is bespoke worth it?
Alcoves vary in depth, and the chimney breast decides how far a unit can come out. Standard cabinets can stand proud of the breast or sit too far back. We set the depth to suit the room. Recesses in older houses come in every size except the standard ones, so off-the-shelf pieces either don’t fit or leave a gap either side. Made for the space, the furniture uses the full width and height.
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We’ll talk through what you need inside at the measuring visit.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Hanwell
- We work across all London boroughs
- Saturdays by arrangement
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Finished by spray or by hand
See bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what a quote should include.