Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Hounslow · London
Heston Alcove Units
Alcove units for your home in Heston: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, built in our workshop and fitted by us.
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Shelving for books and records
- Alcoves that are wasted space
Need alcove units in Heston?
Tips worth knowing
Fitted furniture is part of the room, so it is worth looking after. A few pointers help:
- Clear the alcoves before the design visit if you can
- Plan any new sockets with your electrician before fitting
- Note any vent or air brick on the chimney breast
- Deal with any damp on the chimney breast first
Fill the shelves gradually and spread heavy things evenly. A full shelf of books is heavier than it looks, and an even load keeps the shelves straight.
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’s easier to deal with before it spreads.
About our alcove units in Heston
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. Closed cupboards hide everyday clutter, and the shelves are for books and favourite objects. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. We set the heights to suit the room and what you’ll store. Most enquiries start with tired cupboards in the alcoves and cupboards in keeping with an older house, and the answer is made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
In a semi from the 1920s or 1930s, the front room typically has a bay at one end and a chimney breast on the side wall. Interwar, semi-detached and detached houses make up a big part of the housing around Heston, so it is a layout worth planning for. We tend to plan alcove units along the chimney breast wall so the bay keeps its light, though every room is measured first.
The written quote is your record of the job. It sets out the alcove unit designed for your room, its materials and its finish.
- Place
- Heston (TW5, UB2, TW3)
- Area
- Hounslow
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What it costs
Every room is different, so every job is quoted on its own. This is what makes the difference:
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- The internal fittings
- Access to the room, like stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
The finish affects the cost: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
What we need to know
Getting a few details early makes the visit more useful. Where you can, include:
- Examples of the look you are after
- How you want to use the space
- Where you live, with the postcode
- The type of home and how the room is reached
It is useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them tell us a lot about the space. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will arrange a design visit.
Living-room storage in Heston
Homes built between 1919 and 1939 make up about 44% of the housing in the area around Heston, with about 33% built between 1945 and 1972, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how alcove units are fixed and fitted. Near the centre of Heston, Historic England’s list includes Church of St Leonard (Grade II*), under half a mile east, and Vicarage of St Leonards Parish Church (Grade II), less than half a mile east. If you live in a listed building, fixing into or taking out original features like panelling may need listed building consent. Check with the council’s conservation officer first. Around a third of the homes in the streets around Heston (about 33%) were built between 1945 and 1972, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Post-war rooms tend to be simple shapes, often without a chimney breast, so a full wall of alcove units is often the answer, with fixings chosen for the wall.
If you live in a period home close to St Leonard's Church, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place. Osterley House, about 1.2 miles east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For a family home near Westbrook Primary School, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else.
Heston is about 2 miles south-east of Hounslow, part of the London Borough of Hounslow. From period terraces to newer flats in Heston, we measure the room as it is and design around it. Across Hounslow, we cover Heston and the places around it.
Every address in TW5, UB2 and TW3 is covered for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. If your home is on a street such as Fern Lane, Sutton Road and Eton Avenue, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. Heston sits close to the A3005. If your home is on one of them, tell us during the design visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. We also cover North Hyde (1 mile north), Norwood Green (1 mile north-east), Lampton (1 mile south-east), Hounslow West (1 mile south) and Osterley (1 mile east). Other parts of Hounslow we cover include Hounslow (2 miles south-east), Feltham (3 miles south-west), Brentford (3 miles east), Isleworth (2 miles south-east), Chiswick (5 miles east) and Strand-on-the-Green (4 miles east).
Landmarks near Heston
Our area takes in the homes around The Plough Public House and Heston Community School, among other places. The closest station to Heston is Southall station, about 1.4 miles north of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Hounslow Hospital (1.2 miles south) and Treaty Centre (1.3 miles south-east). Open spaces near Heston include Garden Lake.
Other services in Heston
Where other trades come in
We’re carpenters, so some jobs belong to other trades. It is useful to know these before you plan the job:
- Painting the walls, ceiling and woodwork around the units
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Treating damp in the chimney breast or walls
If in doubt, you can get in touch through our contact form and describe the room. How a job runs, step by step.
Materials and parts
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Panelled or flat doors
- Hand-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Adjustable shelves
- Birch plywood
Your questions about alcove units in Heston
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Heston?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. 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 is useful to let us know about parking at the design visit, and we’ll plan around it.
I live near Southall station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Hounslow and the rest of London. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Normally not. Fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings may need listed building consent for works that affect their character.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you do not need to stay in the room, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?
Yes. Each alcove is measured at the design visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, which closes the gaps you’d see with standard furniture.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, we can arrange Saturdays. Let us know when you first get in touch.
Flats, blocks and rented homes
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. Lifts sometimes need to be booked, and the lift size helps decide how big each section can be. Tell us about it when you get in touch.
Conversions and newer flats often have stud walls rather than solid brick. We choose fixings to suit the wall, which we check at the design visit.
What happens on fitting day
When the fitting is done, we tidy the room and take up the floor coverings. Before we leave, we go over the finished piece together. How long the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Semis and detached houses often have a front path or a side gate, which can make carrying in easier. Gates, paths and steps up to the door are part of the route we measure. Floors, stairs and doorways are protected on the way in, and the sections are assembled in place.
- To begin, fill in our short enquiry form; a brief note on the room and the alcoves is enough.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, discuss the design and check the route from the street to the room. It helps to tell us then about parking, as much of London is in a controlled parking zone.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls.
How to prepare
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
How to get a quote
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. A quote in writing follows the visit for you to look over. To arrange the visit, tell us about the room on our contact form.