Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Greenwich · London
Alcove units in Maze Hill, Greenwich
We make alcove units for homes in Maze Hill, designed around the room you have. We design your alcove unit at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Shelving for books and records
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
Ask about alcove units in Maze Hill
Questions we are often asked
I live near Maze Hill station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Greenwich and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can drop us a line using the contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Maze Hill?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. 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 helps to let us know about parking during the design visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Can I send pictures before the visit?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit, along with rough sizes. Show anything the furniture has to work around, such as radiators or sockets.
How long are you in the house for the fitting?
The time on site depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Most of the making happens in our workshop, so the time in your home is mostly fitting, scribing and finishing.
Is it possible to have a desk built into one alcove?
Yes. One alcove can take a desk with shelves above and a drawer or cupboard beneath. Height and depth are agreed with you.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps. Any damp needs sorting by the right specialist before fitting.
About our alcove units in Maze Hill
In a typical Victorian or Edwardian terrace, the chimney breast leaves an alcove on either side of it. Alcove units turn that space into cupboards and shelves that sit as part of the room. Where a room in Maze Hill has a pair of alcoves, we design a unit for each one, starting with a design visit to measure. Typical reasons to get in touch are old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and toys and paperwork with no proper home, and the answer is made in our workshop from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
In a home built since 2000, the aerial point and sockets are normally already fixed in place. A good number of homes around Maze Hill went up since 2000, so we design alcove units around the existing points rather than moving them. If you want an extra socket, that’s for your electrician.
Once you have read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is made at our workshop. The quote sets out the agreed design, materials and finish, so every detail can be checked first.
- Place
- Maze Hill (SE10, SE3, E14)
- Borough
- Greenwich
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- 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
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What we do not do
As carpenters, we leave some work to other trades. These are worth knowing before you plan:
- Plastering or repairing loose plaster in the alcoves
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
Not sure whether your space suits alcove units? You can drop us a line using the contact form and we will tell you before you arrange a visit. Our process from visit to fitting.
What it’s made from
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Panelled or flat doors
- Adjustable shelves
- Hand-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
Looking after your furniture
Most of what helps is simple. What we’d suggest:
- Look for a chimney vent that needs to stay clear
- Have any damp looked at before the units are made
- Mention parking and access when we visit
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
Don’t let stored things block the chimney breast vent, even when the cupboards fill up. Air moving through the chimney helps keep damp away.
Now and then, check handles and hinges are still tight, and adjust any door that starts to catch.
What it is made from
Plinths and scribe strips
Scribe strips are the edges we trim on site to follow the wall. It’s how a straight unit meets a wall that is not straight.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish often suits alcove units in older houses. The colour is agreed with you, and touch-ups are simple if the units get marked later.
Why bespoke in Maze Hill?
Shelves in some flat-pack furniture are thin and can bow under books. We size our shelves for their span and what they’ll carry. Still, a decent off-the-shelf unit can be the sensible choice if you are renting or moving soon. Standalone furniture fixed to plasterboard needs the right fixings, and often does not get them. Fitted furniture is planned with fixings into the studs or made for the board.
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
What you get with us
- 300+ projects completed
- Every London borough and the City of London covered
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
Living-room carpentry in Maze Hill: local notes
About 44% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Maze Hill went up since 2000, and about 32% before 1919, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (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. 3 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of the centre of Maze Hill. England has around 10,000 in all, and their controls are largely about how buildings look from outside. On TfL’s red routes, the rules on stopping and loading are strict. If your home in Maze Hill is on or near a main road, tell us at the design visit. We’ll plan where the van can stop.
For a family home near John Roan School, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else. Near listed buildings like Royal Observatory, under half a mile south-west of the centre of Maze Hill, 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. If you live near East Greenwich Pleasaunce, alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear.
Maze Hill is about 3 miles east of Plumstead, part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. From period terraces to newer flats in Maze Hill, the furniture is designed around the room as we find it. Across Greenwich, we cover Maze Hill, along with the rest of the borough.
Every home in SE10, SE3 and E14 is covered for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. Whether you live on a street like Webb Road, The Avenue and Hardy Road or on one nearby, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. If you’re just outside Maze Hill, we also cover Greenwich (1 mile south-west), Vanbrugh Park Estate (1 mile south-east), Westcombe Park (1 mile east), Blackheath (1 mile south) and Isle of Dogs (1 mile north-west). Other parts of Greenwich we cover include Plumstead (3 miles east), Eltham (3 miles south-east), Woolwich (3 miles east), Well Hall (3 miles south-east), Coldharbour (4 miles south-east) and Charlton (2 miles east).
Near you in Maze Hill
We fit furniture in homes around Wildwood Montessori School, Meridian Primary School and The Plume of Feathers pub and the streets around them. Maze Hill has its own railway station: Maze Hill station. Nearby you will also find Greenwich Castle (a few minutes’ walk south-west) and Greenwich District Hospital (within half a mile north-east). For a walk, there’s Creekside Discovery Centre.
Also near Maze Hill
Also in Maze Hill
How fitting day works
You’re welcome to ask questions while we work. Most of the decisions were made at the design visit and set out in your quote, so the day itself is about careful fitting and leaving the room tidy. How long fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Walls in newer homes are often plasterboard on studs, so fixings go into the studs or use fixings made for the board. Floors are protected throughout, as many newer homes have finished floors that mark easily, and dust is kept to a minimum.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill, and we find a time for the design visit.
- A design visit follows, where we measure up and agree the layout with you. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- A quote in writing follows, with the finish set out, ready for you to check.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
Before fitting day
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
Starting with a design visit
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, when we have measured up and talked through the design. For a quote, drop us a line using the contact form.