Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Haringey · London
St Ann's Alcove Units
For homes in St Ann's, we make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. Each piece is finished by spray or by hand, in the colour you choose.
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Clutter with nowhere to go
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
Alcove units designed for your room
FAQs: alcove units in St Ann's
I live near Seven Sisters station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Haringey and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with a few details about the room.
Is parking a problem for fitting in St Ann's?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. 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. Let us know what parking is near you during the design visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Should alcove units go up to the ceiling?
That is your choice. Full-height units give the most storage, while a low cupboard with shelves above keeps the room feeling lighter. We go through the options 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 and we design around it.
How do I get a quote?
Simply drop us a line using the contact form. It’s useful to send rough sizes and a few pictures, and we will arrange a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
How is the price worked out?
Size, doors and drawers, what goes inside and the finish all affect it. The price comes in a written quote after the design visit.
Alcove units for homes in St Ann's
Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. We can cut units around these details, stop beneath them or run up to meet them, depending on the look you want. The plinth height can match the skirting so the units feel part of the room. We agree these details during the design visit, before anything is made. People usually come to us about tired cupboards in the alcoves and shop-bought shelving that doesn’t fill the recess, and the answer is built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Ceilings in homes built before 1919 are often taller than in later houses, and around St Ann's, a large share of homes are that age. Full-height alcove units can run up to 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.
Materials are named in the quote: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, each used where it suits the job. The finish is stated too, whether that is spray painting or hand painting.
- Where
- St Ann's (N15, N4, N16)
- Borough
- Haringey
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it’s made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Contact
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Off-the-shelf units come in the colours the maker chose. We paint ours in the colour you pick, either spray painted in the workshop or hand painted. You can match the walls or choose a contrast. Chimney breasts in older houses stand out by different amounts, so the recesses either side are rarely the same, which means a matching pair of ready-made units seldom fits both. Each side can be made to its own size.
What goes inside matters as much as the outside: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We’ll talk through what you need inside at the measuring visit.
What you get with us
- Spray painted or hand painted, in the colour you choose
- Over 300 projects completed
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- We visit, measure and talk through the design before we quote
See how bespoke compares with ready-made and what a quote should include.
Could you do it yourself?
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. Off-the-shelf furniture cannot usually do that in an older room.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. Span, depth and the weight on it decide whether a shelf sags, so a long run needs a thicker shelf, a stiffening lip or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
Neighbourhoods near St Ann's
Other services in St Ann's
Caring for painted furniture
Most of what helps is simple. Here’s what we suggest:
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
- Talk to your electrician early if you want new sockets
- Make a rough list of what the cupboards need to hold
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, such as a record player
Paint is dry to the touch well before it has fully cured. At first, go gently with the new paintwork: lift things onto the shelves rather than sliding them, and don’t scrub the surfaces.
Use a mat under plants, vases and drinks. Dry any spills quickly.
How fitting works for alcove units
If anything comes up on the day, just ask. The design, materials and finish were settled before anything was made, so the day itself is about careful fitting. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. In houses converted into flats, the route in may include a shared hall and stairs, so neighbours may appreciate a note before fitting day. Each section is sized for the tightest door or turn. Saturdays can be arranged.
- You tell us which room it is and roughly what you’d like in the alcoves.
- At the design visit, we measure both alcoves, check the walls and look at the skirting and picture rail.
- We send a written quote setting out the layout, materials and finish.
- Once you are happy, the units are built in our workshop, each one sized to its own alcove.
- Fitting day: the units go in, are scribed to the alcoves and levelled on a plinth or feet.
Before we arrive
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
How to get a quote
For a quote for alcove units in St Ann's, get in touch through our contact form. Let us know the room and the rough idea, with sizes if you have them. Next comes a design visit, followed by a quote in writing.
Advice
Living-room storage in St Ann's
Homes built before 1919 make up about 54% of the housing in the neighbourhood around St Ann's, with about 17% built since 2000, 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. There are 7 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of St Ann's. Being near listed buildings doesn’t make a home listed, and you can check any address on Historic England’s list. Purpose-built flats are home to about 41% of households in the neighbourhood around St Ann's, the 2021 Census shows. 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 your home is one of the older houses near St Ann's Church, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. Near listed buildings like Parish Church of St Ann, under half a mile east of the centre of St Ann's, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features may need listed building consent. If you live near Chestnuts Park, shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green.
St Ann's is within the London Borough of Haringey, about 1 mile north-east of Tottenham. Design visits and fitting in St Ann's can be on a Saturday, by arrangement. St Ann's is one of 23 places on our list for Haringey.
Postcode districts we cover here for alcove units: N15, N4 and N16. Whether you live on a street like Ida Road, Elmar Road and Grove Road or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Nearby, we also make alcove units in West Green (1 mile north-west), Seven Sisters (1 mile east), South Tottenham (1 mile east), Harringay (1 mile west) and Tottenham Green (1 mile north-east). Other parts of Haringey we cover include Wood Green (2 miles north-west), Crouch End (2 miles west), Bowes Park (2 miles north-west), Bounds Green (2 miles north-west), Highgate (3 miles west) and Muswell Hill (3 miles west).
Around St Ann's
The streets we cover here include those near Moselle Upper School, Park View School and No.8 Seven Sisters pub and the streets around them. There is a railway station in St Ann's itself: Seven Sisters station. A little further out are City of London Maternity Hospital (1.7 miles south-west) and The Mall Wood Green (1.4 miles north-west). Not far away are Railway Fields.
Materials and finishes
Moisture-resistant MDF
MDF does not have a grain to show through the paint, so a painted finish looks even and calm. We choose the moisture-resistant grade for fitted furniture.
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is strong and holds screws well, which makes it a good choice for shelves and carcasses. Its layered edge can be painted or left to show.