Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bromley · London
Alcove units in Hayes, Bromley
We make alcove units in moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood for homes in Hayes. The finish is spray painted or hand painted, in a colour agreed with you.
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
- Space for a growing book collection
Ask about alcove units in Hayes
How fitting works for alcove units
If anything comes up on the day, just ask. Most of the decisions were made at the measuring visit and set out in your quote, so fitting day is about putting it in place carefully. 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. It helps to clear the room and the route before we arrive. On the day, we cover the floors first, then bring the sections in. Each piece is levelled, scribed where the wall wanders and fixed to suit the wall.
- You tell us which room it is and roughly what you’d like in the alcoves.
- At the design visit, we measure both alcoves, check the walls and look at the skirting and picture rail.
- You receive a quote with the design, the materials and the paint finish. If anything needs changing, just tell us.
- The cupboards and shelves are then built in our workshop.
- Fitting day: the units go in, are scribed to the alcoves and levelled on a plinth or feet.
Before we arrive
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
Starting with a design visit
To make a start, message us from the contact page and tell us which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Related advice
Alcove units for homes in Hayes
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp. Units are planned so any vent stays clear, rather than boxing it in. If there are signs of damp on the chimney breast or in the alcoves, they’re best sorted before fitting, as cupboards fitted over damp walls can suffer. If you’re living with old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and walls too uneven for standard furniture, that is what alcove units are for, made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
If you live in one of the interwar houses or semis around Hayes, the main room is often well proportioned, with a bay, a chimney breast and not many other recesses. Alcove units can fill the alcoves, run the length of a wall or frame the chimney breast, depending on how you use the room. Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood keep the pieces stable, and the paint finish is agreed with you.
The quote comes in writing, so you can read it at your own pace and talk it over at home. It records the design, the materials and the finish we discussed.
- Place
- Hayes (BR4, BR2)
- Area
- Bromley
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What else we make in Hayes
Questions we’re often asked
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Hayes?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. It’s useful to let us know about parking at the measuring visit.
Can you make alcove units for a home in Hayes?
Yes, Hayes is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Bromley and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and discuss the design, followed by a quote.
Can I send photos before the visit?
Yes, they help. Photos of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling, give us a good idea of the space, especially with rough sizes. You can send them when you use our contact form.
How is the price worked out?
It depends on the size, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish. The price comes in a quote in writing after the design visit.
What happens during the design visit?
It is a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, and the written quote comes afterwards.
Can the two alcove units be different?
That depends on how you use the room. Alcoves are often different widths anyway, so each unit is made for its own recess. They can match in style while doing different jobs.
What we don’t do
It’s worth being clear about where our work stops:
- Replastering, which is a plasterer’s job
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
If in doubt, you can message us from the contact page and describe the room. Our process from visit to fitting.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Birch plywood
- Adjustable shelves
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Hand-painted finish
What affects the price in Hayes
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Parking near your home
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
Parking is part of the price picture in London. Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones, so a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension. Tell us about parking during the design visit, so it can be planned.
What to send when you contact us
To help us picture the room, please include:
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- Where you live, with the postcode
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- What the furniture needs to hold
Every quote follows a design visit. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, and the written quote comes after. Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. To arrange a visit, use our contact form.
Flats, leases and landlords
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so each section is sized to get through without a struggle.
Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Let us know about them during the design visit, so fitting day is planned around them.
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls, because scribing and the right fixings start to matter.
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s typically a gap left over at the top or at one end. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
Alcove units for homes in Hayes
The biggest shares of homes in the streets around Hayes were built between 1919 and 1939 (about 72%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 16%), 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 National Heritage List records 5 entries within half a mile of the centre of Hayes. Being near listed buildings doesn’t make a home listed, and you can check any address on Historic England’s list. On TfL’s red routes, the rules on stopping and loading are strict. Where a home in Hayes is on or beside a main road, it’s useful to mention that at the design visit. We will plan where the van can stop.
Bromley Palace, about 2 miles north, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If your children go to Hawes Down Primary School or a school nearby, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place. Living in a block of flats near Hayes (Kent) station? Then the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Hayes is in the London Borough of Bromley, about 4 miles east of Orpington. Homes in Hayes are part of the area we cover for alcove units. Our work takes in places right across Bromley, large and small.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: BR4 and BR2. We cover homes on streets like Hawes Lane, Crest Road and Keswick Road, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include West Wickham (1 mile west), Coney Hall (1 mile west), Bromley Common (1 mile north-east), Nash (1 mile south) and Eden Park (2 miles north-west). Elsewhere in Bromley, we also cover Orpington (4 miles east), Bromley (2 miles north), Beckenham (3 miles north-west), St Mary Cray (5 miles east), Chislehurst (4 miles north-east) and Penge (4 miles north-west).
Near you in Hayes
Around Hayes, we cover homes near Hayes School and New Inn and the streets around them. Hayes has its own railway station: Hayes (Kent) station. Nearby you will also find National Psychosis Unit (1.6 miles west) and The Mall (1.9 miles north).