Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
Limehouse Alcove Units
Planning alcove units for a home in Limehouse? It starts with a design visit to measure and talk through ideas, then a quote in writing, before anything is made.
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Space for a growing book collection
Need alcove units in Limehouse?
Common questions about alcove units
I live near Limehouse station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Tower Hamlets and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit, and let us know about parking and access at the same time.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Usually not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, internal works that affect its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and go through the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
The time on site depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Most of the making happens in our workshop, so the work in your home is about fitting and finishing.
Should I send pictures?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot, particularly with rough sizes. To send them, drop us a line using the contact form.
How do I get started?
Just fill in our short enquiry form. It helps to send rough measurements and a few pictures, and we’ll arrange a design visit, followed by a written quote.
Alcove units in Limehouse: what you get
Many people choose cupboards at low level and shelves above them. Closed cupboards hide everyday clutter, while the shelves hold books and the things you want on show. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. Heights are agreed with you to suit the room and your things. We make alcove units from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and the things people most often want solved are a desk that tucks into an alcove and furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove.
Newer homes often come with a TV point and sockets on one wall but nothing built around them. A good number of homes around Limehouse went up since 2000, so alcove units are usually designed around what’s already there. Any new socket is a job for your electrician, and we leave space and cable routes for it.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It sets out the alcove unit designed for your room, what it’s made from and how it’s finished, and it is what the workshop builds to.
- Place
- Limehouse (E14, E3, E1)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Why people ask for alcove units in Limehouse
Many people ask about alcove units because the alcoves are the most obvious wasted space they have. Off-the-shelf furniture rarely fits them, leaving gaps at the sides and above. Built-in units use the whole recess up to the ceiling if you want.
People normally get in touch with us about needs like these:
- Furniture that does not fit the alcove
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
- Everyday clutter left on show
If your home is one of the older houses near St Paul's Bow Common, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Real projects you can actually look at
- Whether the quote follows a visit to your home
- Whether the quote says what the furniture is made from
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
Alcove units in Limehouse: local notes
Homes built since 2000 make up about 42% of the housing in the streets around Limehouse, with about 24% built between 1945 and 1972, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. The centre of Limehouse is within about a quarter of a mile of the Brickfield Gardens Conservation Area. Conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If you’re unsure, check with the council before work starts. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) now covers the whole of London, Tower Hamlets included. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in Limehouse is covered by it. How the van gets to your door is planned during the design visit.
If you live in a flat close to Limehouse station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. The wider area includes historic houses like Sutton House, about 2.4 miles north. For a period home anywhere nearby, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
Limehouse is about 2 miles west of Whitechapel, within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Design visits and fitting in Limehouse can be on a Saturday, by arrangement. Across Tower Hamlets, we cover Limehouse, along with the rest of the borough.
We make alcove units across the E14, E3 and E1 postcode area for alcove units. If your home is on a street such as Oak Lane, Bale Road and Wharf Lane, or close by, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. Limehouse sits close to the A126. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the measuring visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. Close by, we also work in Bow Common (1 mile east), Mile End (1 mile north), Ratcliff (1 mile south-west), Stepney (1 mile west) and Shadwell (1 mile south-west). Across the rest of Tower Hamlets, our area takes in Whitechapel (2 miles west), Spitalfields (2 miles west), Tower Hill (2 miles west), Bethnal Green (2 miles north-west), Cambridge Heath (2 miles north-west) and Isle of Dogs (2 miles south).
Near you in Limehouse
The streets we cover here include those near Stepney Green Mathematics and Computing College and Star Of The East Public House and the streets around them. Limehouse has its own railway station: Limehouse station. Other landmarks nearby include Tower of London (2 miles west) and Surrey Quays Shopping Centre (1.6 miles south-west). Not far away are Lavender Pond.
Fitting day, step by step
You won’t need to do much on the day. Someone needs to let us in, and it’s useful to have the room cleared beforehand, as agreed during the design visit. From there, we protect the floors, bring the furniture in and get on with the fitting. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Newer homes often have finished floors, painted walls and new doors that mark easily, so we protect the route before carrying anything in. Corners and door frames are covered as well. The sections are assembled in the room.
- You get in touch and tell us about the room and the alcoves, and we arrange a design visit at a time that suits you.
- At the design visit, we measure each alcove and go through the layout with you, noting the skirting, picture rail and any chimney vent.
- We send a written quote for the units.
- The units are made at our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We install the units, set them level and scribe them to the alcoves. Then we go through the doors and shelves with you.
Before we arrive
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
Getting a quote
To get a quote, get in touch through our contact form and let us know which room you have in mind and roughly what you’d like. We then arrange a design visit to measure and go through the design, and a quote in writing follows.
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Flats, blocks and rented homes
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so each section is sized to get through.
In conversions and newer blocks, many internal walls are timber or metal stud with plasterboard. We choose fixings to suit the wall, after checking the walls at the measuring visit.
How we price alcove units
The price reflects the time and materials the job needs. That depends on:
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- The internal fittings
How it is painted is part of the price: spray painting happens in the workshop, and hand painting can be done in your home. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
Before the design visit
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. It’s useful to include:
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- A few photos of the space, taken from the doorway and from each corner
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Examples of the look you’re after
If you know what you want, say so; if you do not, that is fine, and we can work it out together. The design is talked through at the visit, once we have measured, and the written quote that follows sets it out. To arrange a visit, send us a few details through our contact form.
Nearby places to Limehouse
More for homes in Limehouse
Boards, parts and paint
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF in a moisture-resistant grade is stable and paints beautifully, which makes it our choice for doors and visible panels. It’s a good match for alcoves on an external wall.
Spray-painted finish
Spraying gets an even coat into corners and onto edges and leaves no brush marks. You choose the colour at the design stage.