Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Camden · London
Alcove units in Swiss Cottage, Camden
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, designed for your room in Swiss Cottage. We measure, design and quote first, then make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
Need alcove units in Swiss Cottage?
When is bespoke worth it?
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: off-the-shelf furniture typically costs less up front. Bespoke earns its place where the room is tricky, space is tight or you want the furniture to look part of the house.
Flat-pack and off-the-shelf furniture has its place. In a room with square walls and standard sizes, it can work well, and it’s easy to buy.
Alcove units in Swiss Cottage: what you get
An alcove can also take a small desk, with shelving overhead and storage underneath. It gives you a place to work without turning a room into an office. We plan the desk height and depth with you. If you are living with furniture that doesn’t fit the alcove and storage that suits a period room, alcove units made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
In a house from the Victorian or Edwardian years, the front room normally keeps its chimney breast even where the fireplace has gone. Around Swiss Cottage, where a large share of homes date from before 1919, that is a common starting point. The recesses either side take alcove units scribed to the plaster and cut around the skirting, so they sit as if they came with the house.
Our quotes are written in plain words, without jargon. They say what will be made, what it is made from and how it will be finished.
- Where
- Swiss Cottage (NW3, NW8, NW6)
- Borough
- Camden
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Living-room carpentry in Swiss Cottage: local notes
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Swiss Cottage were built before 1919 (about 47%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 23%), according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how alcove units are fixed and fitted. There are 125 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Swiss Cottage. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and alcove units can be designed to work around them. In inner London, a large part of the street parking sits inside borough-run controlled parking zones. For fitting in Swiss Cottage, a van typically needs a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. Parking is worth mentioning at the measuring visit, so we can plan the day around it.
If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Belsize Fire Station, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. For a flat near South Hampstead station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Swiss Cottage is part of the London Borough of Camden, about 3 miles south-east of St Pancras. Wherever you are in Swiss Cottage, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. Our Camden coverage includes Swiss Cottage and the places around it.
Design visits and fitting in NW3, NW8 and NW6 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. 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. Other places close to Swiss Cottage include South Hampstead (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). Elsewhere in Camden, we also cover 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).
Near you in Swiss Cottage
Our area takes in the homes around Cecil Sharp House, St. Mary's Town and Country School and Holy Trinity CofE Primary School, among other places. Swiss Cottage has its own railway station: South Hampstead station. Other landmarks nearby include O2 Centre (0.5 miles north-west) and Isokon Gallery (0.8 miles north-east). Not far away are Adelaide Nature Reserve.
What it is made from
Shelves
Alcove shelves can be fixed or adjustable. Fixed shelves help brace the unit, while adjustable ones give you room to change things.
Plinths and scribe strips
Most alcoves need scribing on both sides and sometimes at the top. It’s the difference between a unit that sits in the alcove and one that belongs there.
How fitting day works
Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails, cornices or coving for the furniture to meet. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it looks as though it was always there. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. On fitting day in an older house, the main job is scribing to walls and levelling on floors that slope, so there is some trimming and adjusting on site. Floors are protected, and dust is kept down as far as possible. It’s useful to let us know about parking at the design visit, as terraced streets are often busy.
- You get in touch with a short description of the alcoves and your ideas.
- We visit to measure, look at how the walls run and note the skirting, picture rail and any vent.
- We send a quote in writing setting out the layout, materials and finish.
- The cupboards and shelves are then built in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- Fitting day: the units go in, are scribed to the alcoves and levelled on a plinth or feet.
Preparing the room
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Empty the space we will be working in
Arranging a design visit
To make a start, get in touch through our contact form and tell us a little about the room. We then arrange a design visit to measure and talk through the design, and a quote in writing follows.
Related advice
Flats, blocks and rented homes
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
If the property is let, we’ll need access agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. A letting agent can arrange this on a landlord’s behalf, and the written quote can go to whoever needs it.
Questions we are often asked
Do you cover homes near South Hampstead station?
Yes, homes across Camden 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 do you fit alcove units in a flat in Swiss Cottage?
We measure the route in along with the room itself: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. Alcove units are built in our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. It helps to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Will alcove units fit if my walls aren’t straight?
Yes. Each alcove is measured at the design visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, which closes the gaps you’d see with standard furniture.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and go through the design with you. We’ll also ask about access and parking, and a quote in writing follows.
Can you fit a desk into an alcove?
Yes. A desk in one alcove, with shelves above and storage below, works well in many rooms. Height and depth are agreed with you.
Do alcove units need to reach the ceiling?
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. We agree the height at the design visit.
Places near Swiss Cottage
Also in Swiss Cottage
The problems alcove units solve
A bedroom’s alcoves are often the best place for a wardrobe. A fitted alcove cupboard holds clothes without filling the floor, which helps in a small bedroom.
A few of the things people ask us to solve are these:
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Alcoves that aren’t square
- Units that sit well with original features
Winfield House, about 0.9 miles south-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units.
Before you choose who makes it
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- How they deal with uneven walls and floors
- Which materials they’ll use, named in the quote
- How the furniture will be finished, and where