Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Croydon · London
Alcove Units in South Croydon
Walls in older London homes are rarely straight, so we scribe the furniture to follow them. We make alcove units for homes in South Croydon, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Shop-bought shelving that does not fill the recess
Ask about alcove units in South Croydon
About our alcove units in South Croydon
An alcove can also take a small desk, with shelving overhead and storage underneath. It is a neat way to work from home without giving up a whole room. We plan the desk height and depth with you. We make alcove units from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and people most often get in touch about a desk that tucks into an alcove and clutter with nowhere to go.
In streets where so much of the housing went up before 1919, as it did around South Croydon, plenty of living rooms are two reception rooms knocked into one, each with its own chimney breast. One pair of alcoves might take shelves and the other cupboards, a TV or a desk. Some internal walls in houses of that age are lath and plaster, so fixings are chosen to suit what’s behind the paint.
Materials are named in the quote: moisture-resistant MDF, birch plywood or both, depending on the design. It also says how the furniture will be finished: spray painted or hand painted.
- Location
- South Croydon (CR2, CR8, CR0)
- Area
- Croydon
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
The problems alcove units solve
A move into an older home is a common reason. New owners want storage that suits the house, and the alcoves are an obvious place to start. It’s also a good moment, before the room fills up.
Some of the things we’re asked to solve include:
- Somewhere to keep books and records
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Room to work in an alcove
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
Addington Palace, about 2.4 miles east, 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.
Choosing a carpenter
- Which parts of the job need an electrician or a plumber
- Whether you’ll get a quote in writing, not just a figure
- Which materials they’ll use, named in the quote
- Whether the route into your home has been checked
Also near South Croydon
Also in South Croydon
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s typically 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.
Where bespoke earns its keep is in rooms that are not square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths, and standard units leave gaps.
Your questions about alcove units in South Croydon
My house in South Croydon is Victorian. Can you deal with uneven walls?
Yes, that is normal in older houses: each piece is scribed to the wall and levelled at the base. We also work around skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. Older walls can be solid brick or lath and plaster, and the fixings are chosen to suit.
Can you fit furniture in a home close to Sanderstead station?
Yes, homes across Croydon and the rest of London are within the area we cover. You can message us from the contact page to arrange a design visit.
How long does it take to fit alcove units?
The fitting depends on the size and number of units, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. We’ll talk you through what fitting day involves before we start.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
We don’t do electrical work. New or moved sockets are a job for your electrician, ideally before fitting, and some electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. We plan the units around the sockets, with cut-outs where needed.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. After that, you do not need to stay in the room, but it helps to be around at the end.
Do photos help?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit. It is useful to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
Before and after fitting day
Looking after painted furniture is simple with a little care. These habits help most:
- Plan any new sockets with your electrician before fitting
- Deal with any damp on the chimney breast first
- Decide whether the units stop at the picture rail or run to the ceiling
- Note the sizes of large things you want to store
Fill the shelves gradually and spread heavy things evenly. A full shelf of books is heavier than it looks.
Now and then, check handles and hinges are still tight and adjust a door before a small rub becomes a mark.
Living-room storage in South Croydon
Homes built before 1919 make up about 52% of the housing in the neighbourhood around South Croydon, with about 17% built between 1919 and 1939, 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. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of South Croydon include Church of St Augustine (Grade II*), under half a mile west, and Croham Hurst House (Grade II), about 0.5 miles east. For a listed home, changes inside that alter its character can require listed building consent from the council, for example removing or fixing into original panelling. The council’s conservation officer is the person to ask before work starts. More than half of the homes in the area around South Croydon (about 52%) were built before 1919, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Most London houses of that age have chimney breasts with an alcove either side in the main rooms, the classic place for alcove units.
For a family home near Purley Oaks Primary School, alcove units can be planned with low cupboards for toys and higher shelves for everything else. If you live near Duppas Hill, shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green.
South Croydon is about 3 miles north of Thornton Heath, within the London Borough of Croydon. Our work covers every London borough and the City of London, South Croydon included. We cover places right across Croydon.
Every home in CR2, CR8 and CR0 is within our area for alcove units. Streets in the area include Edgar Road, Bynes Road and Grange Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. Close by, we also work in Croydon (1 mile north), Coombe (1 mile north-east), Sanderstead (1 mile south-east), Riddlesdown (2 miles south) and Kenley (2 miles south). Other parts of Croydon we cover include Thornton Heath (3 miles north), Coulsdon (3 miles south-west), Purley (2 miles south-west), Broad Green (2 miles north), Upper Norwood (5 miles north) and Selhurst (3 miles north).
Around South Croydon
Around South Croydon, we cover homes near Rutherford School, Harris Academy Purley and The Purley Arms and the streets around them. South Croydon has its own railway station: Sanderstead station. Well-known places in the area include St George's Walk (1.4 miles north) and Purley War Memorial Hospital (1.2 miles south-west). Open spaces near South Croydon include Roundshaw Downs.
How fitting works for alcove units
On the morning of the fitting, the first job is covering the floors and protecting the way in from the front door. Next, we carry in the sections made at our workshop. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. On fitting day, edges are trimmed on site to follow the walls, so we ask for a clear space to work near the room. Dust is kept down and cleared up as we go. Where the finish is hand-painted, it can be done after the pieces are in.
- You contact us about the alcoves you want to fill, with a note of the room they’re in.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors. 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 built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill.
Before fitting day
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
Arranging a design visit
The quote is built from the design visit. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. A written quote follows the visit for you to look over. To arrange the visit, message us from the contact page.
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What affects the cost of alcove units
There’s no set price, because there’s no set room. What affects it comes down to:
- Parking near your home
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- How many doors and drawers there are
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
Helping us understand the room
What helps most when you first contact us:
- Your postcode and the borough
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Examples of the look you are after
- Rough sizes: width, height and depth
It is useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them tell us a lot about the space, along with rough measurements. To send them over, use our contact form, and we’ll arrange a design visit.