Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Islington · London
Newington Green Alcove Units
In Newington Green, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. We design your alcove unit at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
Ask about alcove units in Newington Green
Alcove units in Newington Green
We fit alcove units across Islington and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit to measure the alcoves and agree the layout. After that we send a written quote; the units are then built in our workshop and fitted in your home. If you are living with toys and paperwork with no proper home and cupboards in keeping with an older house, that’s what alcove units are for, made from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
Ceilings in homes built before 1919 are often taller than in later houses, and a large share of the homes around Newington Green date from then. That gives full-height alcove units room to reach the picture rail or the cornice, with the top line set to match the room’s own mouldings. Blocked fireplaces are common too, and a capped chimney should still be ventilated before anything is built against it.
If the job needs another trade, like an electrician or a plumber, we will tell you. Our quote covers the carpentry: the design, the materials and the finish.
- Location
- Newington Green (N16, N1, N5)
- Borough
- Islington
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Your questions about alcove units in Newington Green
I live near Canonbury station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Islington and the rest of London. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with a few details about the room.
My home in Newington Green is a period house with walls that aren’t straight. Is that a problem?
Yes. Walls in older houses are rarely flat or square, and floors are often out of level, so each piece is scribed to follow the wall and set level on a plinth or adjustable feet. Skirting, picture rails and cornices are met neatly or cut around. Fixings are chosen for the wall, whether solid brick or lath and plaster.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
We offer spray painting in the workshop and hand painting on site. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even, while hand painting suits a softer, traditional look and is simple to touch up. We’ll help you choose at the design visit.
What happens to the chimney vent when alcove units go in?
Any vent in the chimney breast is kept clear when we design the units. Even a blocked chimney needs some ventilation to help keep damp away, so we never box a vent in.
Can I send pictures ahead of the visit?
Yes. They give us a feel for the space before we visit, along with rough measurements. Show anything the furniture has to work around, like radiators or sockets.
Do you move sockets for alcove units?
That is a job for your electrician. It’s best done before the units go in so the sockets line up with the design. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
Places near Newington Green
More for homes in Newington Green
Is bespoke worth it?
A bespoke unit takes longer to arrive than something from a shop: there’s a design visit, a quote and making time in the workshop. In return, the unit is planned for your alcove alone. Ready-made units stop well short of a tall period ceiling, wasting space that could hold things you rarely use. Built-in pieces can run to the cornice or the picture rail.
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size comes first. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Why work with us in Newington Green
- We work across all London boroughs
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made and what a quote should include.
Living-room storage in Newington Green
Homes built before 1919 make up about 53% of the housing in the streets around Newington Green, with about 22% built between 1945 and 1972, 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 has 99 entries within half a mile of the centre of Newington Green. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. Purpose-built flats are home to about 48% of households in the neighbourhood around Newington Green, in the ONS Census 2021 figures. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
The wider area includes historic houses like Sutton House, about 1.5 miles east. For a period home anywhere nearby, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. If your children go to Newington Green Primary School or a school nearby, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. Living in a block of flats near Canonbury station? Then each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room.
Newington Green is about 1 mile west of Highbury, within the London Borough of Islington. Newington Green is part of the area we cover. Newington Green is one of 17 places on our list for Islington.
We make alcove units across the N16, N1 and N5 postcode area. Whether you live on a street such as Dove Road, Burma Road and Piano Lane or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. The A1199 runs close to Newington Green; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Close by, we also work in Mildmay (1 mile south), Highbury (1 mile west), Canonbury (1 mile south), De Beauvoir Town (1 mile south) and Kingsland (1 mile south-east). Elsewhere in Islington, we also cover Farringdon (2 miles south), Clerkenwell (2 miles south-west), Finsbury (2 miles south), St Luke's (2 miles south), Angel (2 miles south-west) and Upper Holloway (2 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Newington Green
In Newington Green, that includes homes near Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form, Army and Navy pub and Stoke Newington School and Sixth Form, among other places. There is a railway station in Newington Green itself: Canonbury station. Nearby you’ll also find German Hospital (0.8 miles east) and Hackney Walk (1.5 miles east). Green spaces nearby include Gillespie Park.
Boards, parts and paint
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF does not have a grain to show through the paint, so a painted finish looks even and calm. Moisture-resistant MDF is what we use for fitted work.
Plinths and scribe strips
In older houses, we typically scribe the sides and often the top too. It’s what makes a fitted unit look fitted.
Flats, blocks and rented homes
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. If there is a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Mention it when you get in touch.
If your building is on a red route or a busy main road, unloading takes some planning. TfL runs the red routes, and the stopping rules are strict, so it is worth raising at the design visit.
Fitting day, step by step
In older rooms, the furniture normally has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it looks as though it was always there. How long fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Terraced streets in London are often lined with parked cars, so details of permits, bays and any loading restrictions help. Unloading is kept short, with sections taken straight inside. Saturday fitting can be arranged.
- You send us a few details about the alcoves and what you’d like in them, and we arrange a design visit at a time that suits you.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and discuss the design.
- You receive a written quote setting out the units, materials and finish, for you to read through at your own pace.
- We make the cupboards and shelves in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We install the units, set them level and scribe them to the alcoves.
How to prepare
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
Arranging a design visit
If you already have something in mind, tell us; if you do not, that is fine, and we can work it out together. The design is talked through at the visit, once we’ve measured, and the written quote then sets it out. To start, get in touch through our contact form.
Related advice
What it costs
There is no set price, because there’s no set room. What affects it comes down to:
- Parking and unloading on your street
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- Spray painting or hand painting
Access to the room makes a difference too. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying, which the quote allows for. Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design.
What we need to know
Before the design visit, it helps us to know about:
- Rough measurements, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
- How you want to use the space
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
For a quote for alcove units in Newington Green, get in touch through our contact form. Tell us which room it is and roughly what you have in mind. We will arrange a design visit, then send a quote in writing.