Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Camden · London
Alcove Units in South Hampstead
Alcove units for your home in South Hampstead: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Room to work in an alcove
Ask about alcove units in South Hampstead
Common questions about alcove units
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Typically not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, changes inside that alter its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. If you’re unsure, the council can confirm.
My house in South Hampstead is Victorian. Can you deal with uneven walls?
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. Older walls can be solid brick or lath and plaster, and the fixings are chosen to suit.
Do alcove units affect the chimney’s ventilation?
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 and we design around it.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. Units can stop just under the picture rail or run up to the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. We agree the height at the measuring visit.
Do you work in South Hampstead?
Yes, we do. We design and make alcove units for homes in South Hampstead.
Is the furniture made to order?
Each piece is built in our workshop for the room it is going into, then brought to your home and fitted. We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
About our alcove units in South Hampstead
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 South Hampstead has alcoves like these, we design a unit for each one after we have measured them at a design visit. If your home has alcoves that aren’t square and standard units leaving gaps at the sides, that is what alcove units are for, made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Solid brick external walls are standard in Victorian and Edwardian houses, while the walls inside can be brick or lath and plaster. Since a large share of the homes around South Hampstead date from before 1919, the wall type is checked before any fixing for alcove units is chosen. Lath and plaster in particular needs fixings chosen for it, especially behind loaded shelves.
The furniture is made in our workshop after you have had the quote and decided to go ahead. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Where
- South Hampstead (NW3, NW8, NW6)
- Borough
- Camden
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What happens on fitting day
Finishing comes last. With a spray finish from the workshop, there’s typically only filling and touching up to do in the room; hand painting, if that is what you chose, can be done in place once everything is fitted. Either way, the finish is the one set out in your quote. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that aren’t straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. Parking can be tight on terraced streets, so tell us about permits and bays at the measuring visit.
- To begin, get in touch through our contact form; a brief note on the alcoves is plenty, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- At the design visit we measure the alcoves and also the way in: the front door, the hall and any stair turns.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed to the walls.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Keep pets in another room while we work
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
Ask for a quote
Getting a quote starts with some details: the room, rough measurements and some photos if you have them. When you’re ready, use our contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and talk through the design, then send a written quote.
Related advice
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Living-room carpentry in South Hampstead: local notes
Homes built before 1919 make up about 47% of the housing in the neighbourhood around South Hampstead, with about 23% built between 1945 and 1972, 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. There are 125 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of South Hampstead. Older homes nearby may have original joinery, shutters or panelling worth keeping, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. About 57% of households in the streets around South Hampstead live in purpose-built flats, according to Census 2021. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Many blocks have rules on lift booking and working hours, so check with the managing agent before fitting day.
If you live in a flat close to South Hampstead station, each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room. If you live in a period home close to Church of All Souls, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place.
South Hampstead is about 3 miles south-east of St Pancras, within the London Borough of Camden. From period terraces to newer flats in South Hampstead, we measure the room as it is and design around it. South Hampstead is one of 28 places on our list for Camden.
In NW3, NW8 and NW6, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. Our area takes in homes on streets like Avenue Road, Acacia Road and Harben Road, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Swiss Cottage (1 mile north), St John's Wood (1 mile south), Haverstock (1 mile east), Belsize Park (1 mile east) and Primrose Hill (1 mile east). Across the rest of Camden, our area takes in St Pancras (3 miles south-east), West End (3 miles south-east), St Giles (3 miles south-east), Seven Dials (3 miles south-east), Holborn (3 miles south-east) and Bloomsbury (2 miles south-east).
What’s near South Hampstead
Around South Hampstead, we cover homes near Cafe Med pub, Holy Trinity CofE Primary School and Cecil Sharp House, among other places. South Hampstead has its own railway station: South Hampstead station. A little further out are Isokon Gallery (0.8 miles north-east) and Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth (0.7 miles south). Not far away are Adelaide Nature Reserve.
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that are not square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths.
Long shelves are where off-the-shelf often struggles. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. That is something we plan for in the design.
Boards, parts and paint
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish suits alcove units in a period room. The colour is agreed with you, and touch-ups are simple if the units get marked later.
Moisture-resistant MDF
With no grain to show through, MDF keeps the painted surface smooth and even. We choose the moisture-resistant grade for fitted furniture.
Why people ask for alcove units in South Hampstead
In bedrooms, the alcoves may be the only place for hanging space. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor, which helps in a small bedroom.
If you recognise any of these, it is worth talking to us:
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Empty alcoves either side of the chimney breast
- Walls too uneven for standard furniture
If you live near Primrose Hill, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
Before you choose who makes it
- Are the boards named, such as MDF or plywood?
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- Is it spray painted or hand painted?
- Whether you will get a quote in writing, not just a figure
Before and after fitting day
Fresh paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so go gently with it for a while. Beyond that, these tips help:
- Plan any new sockets with your electrician before fitting
- Bring the sizes of anything that has to fit in the cupboards
- Let us know about parking and access during the design visit
- Note any vent or air brick on the chimney breast
Painted finishes feel dry quickly but take longer to cure fully. For the first while, treat the units gently, lifting things rather than sliding them and avoiding any scrubbing.
Watch for damp marks on the chimney breast or the walls near the units. Damp needs its cause fixing by the right trade, and it’s easier to deal with before it spreads.