Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bromley · London
Alcove Units in St Mary Cray
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, for homes in St Mary Cray. We measure, design and quote first, then make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Furniture that does not fit the alcove
- Storage that suits a period room
Alcove units for your home in St Mary Cray
Is it time for alcove units?
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor, which matters in a smaller room.
Alcove units can help with:
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Room to work in an alcove
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
If your children go to Poverest Primary School or a school nearby, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- Whether the quote follows a visit to your home
- Is it spray painted or hand painted?
- Whether they can show you real projects they’ve done
- Will the quote be in writing?
Alcove units in St Mary Cray
Skirting boards, picture rails and coving are common in older rooms. Units can be cut around them, stop just below them or run neatly up to them, depending on the look you want. The plinth height can match the skirting. We agree these details during the design visit. We make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and the usual reasons to get in touch are walls too uneven for standard furniture and furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove.
Ceilings in interwar houses tend to be lower than in Victorian ones, and the proportions of alcove units are set to match. If yours is one of the interwar houses, semis or detached homes that make up much of the housing around St Mary Cray, there may be little or no cornice, which lets the furniture run straight up to the ceiling. Any skirting is cut around neatly.
A quote in writing is the clearest record of what we’ve agreed. It describes the alcove unit we’ve designed for the room, what it’s made from and how it’s finished, and the workshop works from it.
- Location
- St Mary Cray (BR5, BR6, BR7)
- Area
- Bromley
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Made from
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly the fit: scribed edges, a level base on an uneven floor and furniture that meets the ceiling, skirting and picture rail. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. 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’s something we plan for in the design.
Living-room carpentry in St Mary Cray: local notes
About 42% of the homes in the neighbourhood around St Mary Cray went up between 1945 and 1972, and about 22% between 1919 and 1939, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. Near the centre of St Mary Cray, Historic England’s list includes Church of St Mary (Grade II*), under half a mile north-east, and Spring Hall (Grade II), under half a mile south-east. For a listed home, changes inside that alter its character may need 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. All of London, Bromley included, is inside the ULEZ. So any van that delivers or fits furniture in St Mary Cray is covered by it. Parking and access are planned at the design visit.
For a flat near St Mary Cray 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. If you live near Jubilee Country Park, alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it.
St Mary Cray is about 1 mile south of Orpington, within the London Borough of Bromley. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and St Mary Cray is part of that. St Mary Cray is one of 49 places on our list for Bromley.
Every home in BR5, BR6 and BR7 is covered for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. Our area takes in homes on streets like New Road, Kent Road and Park Road, whether you want alcove units or another piece made for the room. St Mary Cray sits close to the A224, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. We also cover the places around St Mary Cray: Poverest (1 mile south-west), St Paul's Cray (1 mile north), Orpington (1 mile south), Derry Downs (1 mile south-east) and Kevington (1 mile east). We also make alcove units in nearby places like Bromley (4 miles west), Beckenham (6 miles west), Chislehurst (2 miles north-west), Penge (7 miles west), Anerley (8 miles west) and Crystal Palace (8 miles west). Being one of the larger places in Bromley, St Mary Cray is covered for alcove units and everything else we make.
What’s near St Mary Cray
Around St Mary Cray, we cover homes near Walsingham School, Harris Academy Orpington and The Blue Anchor Public House and the streets around them. There is a railway station in St Mary Cray itself: St Mary Cray station. Other landmarks nearby include Queen Mary's Hospital (1.9 miles north) and London Borough of Bromley Museum (0.9 miles south). For a walk, there’s The Warren.
What it costs
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. These are the things that affect it:
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- The width and height of the space
- Spray painting or hand painting
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
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. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside, then set it out in the quote.
Getting in touch
There’s no need for exact sizes or plans. It is enough to send:
- Examples of the look you are after
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- The type of home and how the room is reached
To make a start, send us a few details through our contact form and tell us which room you have in mind. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Fitting day, step by step
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so we scribe the edges by hand to follow the wall. How long the fitting itself takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Semis and detached houses often have a front path or a side gate, which can make carrying in easier. We measure the path, any steps and the front door as part of the route. Floors, stairs and doorways are protected on the way in, and the sections are assembled in place.
- It starts with a short message from you about the alcoves.
- We visit to measure the alcoves and discuss the design, including the paint finish. You can choose a spray-painted finish from our workshop or a hand-painted one done in your home.
- A quote in writing 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.
- 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.
- New paintwork takes a while to cure fully, so treat the surfaces gently at first.
Preparing the room
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
How to get a quote
To get a quote for alcove units in St Mary Cray, use 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
Places near St Mary Cray
More for homes in St Mary Cray
When you need someone else
Damp treatment and building work are for other specialists, so these points are worth knowing:
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- Finding and fixing the cause of damp
- Moving sockets or switches, which needs an electrician
If in doubt, you can fill in our short enquiry form and describe the room. How it works.
What goes into it
- Adjustable shelves
- Spray-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Hand-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Birch plywood
Questions we’re often asked
Is parking a problem for fitting in St Mary Cray?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. 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. It’s useful to tell us about parking during the design visit.
Do you cover homes near St Mary Cray station?
Yes. We cover all of Bromley and the rest of London. To get started, you can drop us a line using the contact form with some details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Do I need planning permission for fitted furniture?
Normally not. Fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission, even in a conservation area. Listed buildings can need listed building consent for works that affect their character.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in St Mary Cray?
It is easiest to tell us about the room on our contact form and let us know about the room. After that, we arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
Will alcove units block the chimney vent?
We plan alcove units so any chimney vent stays clear. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp, so we never box a vent in.
Who moves the sockets behind the alcove units?
That’s a job for your electrician. Ideally it’s done before fitting, and we can tell you where the units will sit so the sockets end up in the right place. We then plan cut-outs and cable gaps around them.