Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Croydon · London
Alcove Units in Shirley
Planning alcove units for a home in Shirley? We start with a design visit and a written quote, before anything is made.
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Units that sit well with original features
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
Alcove units in Shirley
Common questions about alcove units
Is parking a problem for fitting in Shirley?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor’s permit, a paid parking bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It helps to let us know about parking at the measuring visit.
I live near Elmers End station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Croydon and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can message us from the contact page with a few details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
Your electrician handles sockets and wiring. Ideally it’s done before fitting so the sockets line up with the design. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.
Will alcove units fit if my walls aren’t straight?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully at the measuring 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.
Should both alcoves have the same units?
That is your choice. Matching units give a balanced, formal look around the chimney breast, but many people put a desk or a TV in one alcove and cupboards in the other. We can keep the details the same so they still look like a pair.
Can I send pictures ahead of the visit?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit. It’s useful to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
Alcove units for homes in Shirley
Most Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses have a chimney breast in the main rooms, with an alcove on each side. Alcove units turn that space into cupboards and shelves that sit as part of the room. If your home in Shirley has alcoves like these, we design a unit for each one after we’ve measured them at a design visit. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand, and the usual reasons to get in touch are clutter with nowhere to go and alcoves that aren’t square.
If you live in one of the interwar houses or semis around Shirley, the main room is often well proportioned, with a bay, a chimney breast and not many other recesses. Alcove units can fill the alcoves, run the length of a wall or frame the chimney breast, depending on how you use the room. The carcasses are made from moisture-resistant MDF or birch plywood, painted in a colour agreed with you.
After the design visit, we send you a quote in writing. It sets out the design we have talked through, the materials and the finish.
- Location
- Shirley (CR0, SE25, CR9)
- Borough
- Croydon
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Alcove units for homes in Shirley
In the neighbourhood around Shirley, the largest groups of homes date from between 1919 and 1939 (about 49%) and between 1973 and 1999 (about 17%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. It’s a good starting point, though every room is still measured, as two homes of the same age rarely match. Detached and semi-detached houses are home to about 60% of households in the area around Shirley, going by Census 2021 figures from the ONS. A house like that normally has more rooms to plan around than a flat, and sometimes a driveway that makes unloading easier. Red routes are run by TfL, with tight limits on where and when vehicles can stop. If you live on or close to a main road in Shirley, let us know at the measuring visit. That way we can plan where to load and unload.
Addington Palace, about 1.7 miles south, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. 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. For a flat near Elmers End station, alcove units are made in sections sized for the stairs, landings and lift, so measuring the route matters as much as measuring the room.
Shirley is about 3 miles north-west of Thornton Heath, in the London Borough of Croydon. We cover Shirley as part of our work across Croydon. In Croydon, Shirley is one of the places we cover, and the borough has 32 places on our list.
Every address in CR0, SE25 and CR9 is within our area for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. If your home is on a street like Poppy Lane, Homer Road and Craven Road, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Shirley sits close to the A232, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. Close by, we also work in Monks Orchard (1 mile north), Shirley Oaks (1 mile west), Addiscombe (1 mile west), Ashburton (1 mile north-west) and Woodside (1 mile north-west). We also make alcove units in nearby places such as Thornton Heath (3 miles north-west), Croydon (2 miles south-west), Coulsdon (6 miles south-west), Purley (4 miles south-west), Broad Green (2 miles west) and Upper Norwood (3 miles north-west).
Local landmarks in Shirley
In Shirley, that includes homes near Orchard Way Primary School and The Cricketers pub and the streets around them. The closest station to Shirley is Elmers End station, roughly 1.2 miles north of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include National Psychosis Unit (1 mile east) and St George's Walk (2 miles west).
What prompts alcove units in Shirley
Moving into a period house often prompts it. People who have just moved in want storage that suits the age of the house, and the alcoves are an obvious place to start. It is easier to do before the room fills with boxes.
Most of the enquiries we get are about needs like these:
- Alcoves that are wasted space
- Cupboards in keeping with an older house
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- A desk that tucks into an alcove
For a family home near Oasis Academy Shirley Park, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else.
Before you hire any carpenter
- Will the quote be in writing?
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- Whether the finish is set out in the quote
Pricing alcove units in Shirley
What it costs comes down to the materials and the time involved. The main factors are:
- The width and height of the space
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- Where a van can park, like a permit bay or a bay suspension
- Spray painting or hand painting
In London, parking can affect the price. The boroughs run controlled parking zones across much of the city, so we may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a suspended bay. It’s useful to talk about parking at the design visit, so we can plan for it.
What to send when you get in touch
Here’s what helps us most when you contact us:
- Examples of the look you are after
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
Rough measurements are fine at the start. We measure everything properly at the measuring visit, along with the walls, floor and ceiling. To get started, drop us a line using the contact form and tell us about the room. The written quote follows the visit.
Boards, parts and paint
Plinths and scribe strips
In older houses, we normally scribe the sides and often the top too. It is what makes a fitted unit look fitted.
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting lets the colour be judged in the room itself before the final coat. It also means any filling around scribed edges is painted in one go.
What alcove units cannot fix
We are carpenters, so some jobs belong to other trades. These are worth knowing before you plan:
- Curing damp, which needs the right specialist
- Decorating the rest of the room
- Making good damaged walls before fitting
Not sure whether your space suits alcove units? You can use our contact form and we will tell you. How a job runs, step by step.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Adjustable shelves
- Spray-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Hand-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Birch plywood
From workshop to your room
Furniture made in a workshop still has to meet the room it is going into, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it, closing the gaps a standard unit would leave. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. On fitting day, the sections are carried in, assembled, scribed to the wall and levelled. Hand-painted furniture can be finished on site; spray-painted pieces arrive finished from the workshop. Saturday fitting is possible by arrangement.
- It starts with a short message from you about the alcoves.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and talk through the design, including the paint finish.
- A written quote follows, with the finish written in alongside the design and materials.
- We make the units in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF, which takes paint well, and birch plywood. If you chose spray painting, that’s done in the workshop too, for a smooth, even surface.
- The units are fitted and scribed to the alcoves; a hand-painted finish is done on site after fitting and is easy to touch up later.
- Paint needs time to cure, so go gently with the new units at first.
Preparing the room
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Get any new sockets or wiring done by your electrician before fitting day
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
Arranging a design visit
Every quote follows a design visit. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, and the written quote comes after. Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. To arrange a visit, send us a few details through our contact form.