Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Kensington and Chelsea · London
Holland Park Alcove Units
Alcove units for your home in Holland Park: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Space for a growing book collection
Alcove units in Holland Park
How we make alcove units for Holland Park
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. Closed cupboards hide everyday clutter, while the shelves hold books and the things you want on show. The top of the cupboard makes a useful surface at a comfortable height. We set the heights to suit the room and what you will store. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are everyday clutter left on show and furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove.
Picture rails, deep skirting boards and plaster cornices are part of the character of older houses, and alcove units need to meet those lines neatly. Homes built before 1919 make up a large share of the housing around Holland Park, so mouldings are something we expect to talk about at the measuring visit. The top line can stop at the rail or run on to the cornice, depending on the room.
A written quote is the clearest record of what we have agreed. It describes the alcove unit we’ve designed for the room, its materials and its finish.
- Place
- Holland Park (W8, W11, W14)
- Area
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Could you do it yourself?
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s usually 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.
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that are not square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths, which leaves standard units with gaps at the sides and top.
From workshop to your room
Getting everything level comes first. Floors are often out of level, so adjustable feet or a plinth take up the difference, and that keeps the doors and shelves true. After that, it is fixed to the wall using fixings that suit the wall, whether that is solid brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Scribing is done on site, which means some cutting in the room or close by, so a clear area to work in near the room helps. We keep dust down and tidy as we go. Where the finish is hand-painted, it can be done after the pieces are in.
- You get in touch and describe the alcoves you want to fill.
- At the design visit we measure each alcove at several heights, because period walls are rarely flat or square. Then we go through the design together.
- We send the design, materials and finish in a written quote.
- In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
- On fitting day we level the units and scribe the edges so they follow the line of the plaster.
How to prepare
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Empty the space we will be working in
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
Arranging a design visit
To get a quote for alcove units in Holland Park, send us a few details through our contact form. Let us know which room it is and roughly what you have in mind, with sizes if you have them. We’ll arrange a design visit, then send a quote in writing.
Related advice
Practical tips
Looking after painted furniture is simple with a little care. A few things help it stay looking good:
- Deal with any damp on the chimney breast first
- Make a rough list of what the cupboards need to hold
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, like a record player
- Decide whether the units stop at the picture rail or run to the ceiling
Paint is dry to the touch well before it has fully cured. For the first while, treat the units gently: lift things onto the shelves rather than sliding them, and do not scrub the surfaces.
Spread heavy loads and keep the heaviest things on lower shelves. Overloaded shelves are the main cause of sagging, so mention heavy collections when we plan the unit.
What it’s made from
Spray-painted finish
A sprayed coat covers edges and corners evenly. The colour is agreed with you before we start.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish often suits alcove units in older houses. You choose the colour.
Neighbourhoods near Holland Park
Other services in Holland Park
Alcove units in Holland Park: local notes
About 69% of the homes in the area around Holland Park went up before 1919, and about 11% between 1945 and 1972, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. We take that into account during the design visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. Holland Park is partly covered by the Holland Park Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. Conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If you are unsure, check with the council before work starts. TfL’s Ultra Low Emission Zone covers every part of London, Kensington and Chelsea included. It applies to the vans that deliver and fit furniture in Holland Park, as it does anywhere else in London. We go through parking and access during the design visit.
If your home is one of the older houses near Church of St George, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. If you live near Kensington Palace Green, alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear. Near listed buildings like Holland House, under half a mile south-east of the centre of Holland Park, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can require listed building consent.
Holland Park is about 1 mile south of Kensington, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Anywhere in Holland Park, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. Holland Park is one of 13 places on our list for Kensington and Chelsea.
In W8, W11 and W14, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. If your home is on a street like Dukes Lane, Milson Road and Elsham Road, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Holland Park sits close to the A402 and A4204. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Kensington (1 mile south), Notting Hill (1 mile north), Shepherd's Bush (1 mile west), Notting Dale (1 mile north) and White City (1 mile north-west). We also make alcove units in nearby places such as Brompton (2 miles east), Chelsea (2 miles south-east), World's End (2 miles south-east), North Kensington (2 miles north-west) and Little Chelsea (2 miles south-east).
Landmarks near Holland Park
We fit furniture in homes around Fox Primary School, Kensington School and Abdus Salam Library. The closest station to Holland Park is Kensington Olympia station, about 0.5 miles south-west of the centre. Well-known places in the area include St Mary Abbot's Hospital (0.7 miles south-east) and Kensington Arcade (0.6 miles east). For a walk, there’s The Long Water and Campden Hill.
Flats, blocks and rented homes
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. We measure the stairs, landings, lift and doorways as well as the room, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through.
Questions from Holland Park
Does a conservation area in or near Holland Park affect fitted furniture?
Usually not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, changes inside that alter its character can need listed building consent, so check with the council first. If you’re unsure, the council can confirm.
I live near Kensington Olympia station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Kensington and Chelsea and the rest of London. You can fill in our short enquiry form to arrange a design visit.
Do alcove units affect the chimney’s ventilation?
We plan alcove units so any chimney vent stays clear. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp, so we never box a vent in.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. The units are made at our workshop first, so the work in your home is about fitting and finishing.
Do photos help?
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.
Should both alcoves have the same units?
It’s entirely your choice. The two alcoves are often slightly different sizes, so each unit is made to its own measurements. They can share a style while doing different things.