Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Bromley · London
Alcove Units in St Paul's Cray
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, designed for your room in St Paul's Cray. After a design visit and a written quote, it is made at our workshop and fitted in your home.
- Storage that suits a period room
- A place for a small desk
- Everyday clutter left on show
Need alcove units in St Paul's Cray?
How we make alcove units for St Paul's Cray
A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp. Units are planned so any vent stays clear, with nothing covering it. Any damp in the alcoves should be dealt with by the right trade before the units go in, as cupboards fitted over damp walls can suffer. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and people most often get in touch about somewhere to keep books and records and clutter with nowhere to go.
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 Paul's Cray, the cornice may be plain or missing, so the furniture can run straight to the ceiling. The skirting is scribed around neatly.
You get the quote in writing, so there is time to read it properly. It records the design, the materials and the finish we discussed.
- Where
- St Paul's Cray (BR5, BR7)
- Area
- Bromley
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
St Paul's Cray homes and alcove units
The biggest shares of homes in the streets around St Paul's Cray were built between 1945 and 1972 (about 54%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 18%), 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. The National Heritage List records 6 entries within half a mile of the centre of St Paul's Cray. Being near listed buildings doesn’t make a home listed, and you can check any address on Historic England’s list. Parking controls in London are set borough by borough, so Bromley has its own. If your street in St Paul's Cray is in a controlled parking zone, a visitor permit, a pay-and-display bay or a suspended bay through the council may be needed. Let us know what the parking is like at the design visit.
If you live near Chislehurst Common, shelving that stops short of the window keeps the view of the green. Living in a block of flats near St Mary Cray station? Then the route in is measured along with the room itself, and the sections are sized to fit it. For a family home near Leesons Primary School, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room.
St Paul's Cray is about 1 mile south of Orpington, in the London Borough of Bromley. We cover St Paul's Cray as part of our work across Bromley, and the process is the same everywhere we work. Our Bromley coverage includes St Paul's Cray, along with the rest of the borough.
Every address in BR5 and BR7 is covered for alcove units, from the main roads to the quieter streets. We cover homes on streets like Main Road, Murray Road and Rushet Road, along with the roads around them, for alcove units and any of our other fitted furniture. Nearby, we also make alcove units in St Mary Cray (1 mile south), Poverest (1 mile south), Derry Downs (1 mile south), Orpington (1 mile south) and Kevington (2 miles south-east). Other parts of Bromley we cover include 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).
Local landmarks in St Paul's Cray
We fit furniture in homes around Kemnal Technology College, Walsingham School and The Blue Anchor Public House and the streets around them. St Paul's Cray has its own railway station: St Mary Cray station. Other landmarks nearby include Queen Mary's Hospital (1.3 miles north) and London Borough of Bromley Museum (1.5 miles south). Open spaces near St Paul's Cray include The Warren.
Questions we are often asked
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in St Paul's 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 at the measuring visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Do you make alcove units for homes in St Paul's Cray?
Yes, St Paul's Cray is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Bromley and the rest of London. We start with a design visit to measure the room and talk through what you need, and then we send a quote.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully at the design visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall.
Can you add sockets inside the units?
Electrical work isn’t something we do. 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 can plan cut-outs and cable routes in the units around them.
How tall should alcove units be?
It depends on the room and the look you want. In a tall period room, units can stop under the picture rail or the cornice, or run to the ceiling for a built-in look. The height is settled at the design visit.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not typically. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, and furniture inside a house does not normally need it. In a listed building, check with the council’s conservation officer before any work.
What it is made from
Plinths and scribe strips
Scribing means trimming the edges on site so they follow the wall. It’s how a straight unit meets a wall that is not straight.
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is also good for drawer boxes. The edge can be painted or shown as a detail.
What it costs
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. The things that affect it are:
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Parking and unloading on your street
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
- The number of doors and drawers
No two rooms cost the same to furnish, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
Before the design visit
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. When you get in touch, it’s useful to send:
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
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. To send them over, message us from the contact page, and we’ll suggest a time for a design visit.
Also near St Paul's Cray
More for homes in St Paul's Cray
Fitting day, step by step
When the fitting is done, we tidy the room. Before we go, we look over the finished furniture with you. How long fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. In a 1930s house with a converted loft, the stairs to the loft room are often steeper than the main flight, so any section going up there is sized for them. The main stairs in houses of that age are usually straighter. Each section is assembled and fixed in the room.
- To begin, drop us a line using the 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.
- We visit to measure the alcoves, talk through the design and check the route from the street to the room. Parking is worth mentioning too, since a van often needs a permit or a paid bay in London.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls. A spray-painted finish arrives done; a hand-painted one is applied once the units are in.
Before fitting day
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
- Tell us about parking near your home
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
Ask for a quote
If you already have something in mind, tell us; if not, we can work it out together at the visit. The design is talked through at the visit, once we have measured, and the written quote then sets it out. To start, send us a few details through our contact form.
Read more
Tips worth knowing
Looking after painted furniture is simple with a little care. These habits help most:
- Bring the sizes of anything that has to fit in the cupboards
- Think about what you will store before we meet
- Think about how the units meet the picture rail and cornice
- Sort out damp patches before fitting
Once the cupboards are filled and in daily use, a door may settle slightly. Hinges can usually be adjusted to bring a door back in line, which deals with a door that starts to catch.
Avoid placing a heater hard up against the units, as strong heat can mark paint over time.
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
The depth of an alcove is set by the chimney breast. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. We set the depth to suit the room. Standard widths rarely add up to the length of a real wall, so fitted furniture is made to the wall’s own length. It can use the full height too.
The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. Bigger pieces use more board and take longer to make and fit, so size is the starting point. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Why us?
- Made in our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Over 300 projects completed
- Scribed to uneven walls
- Made for your room, not a standard size
See our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.