Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Croydon · London
Thornton Heath Alcove Units
We make alcove units for homes in Thornton Heath, designed around the room you have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Somewhere to keep books and records
Ask about alcove units in Thornton Heath
Alcove units in Thornton Heath
Some alcoves suit a full-height unit, with doors from floor to ceiling. In bedrooms, this often becomes a compact wardrobe or a place for bedding, while in a dining room it can keep china, glass and table linen. We ask what you want to store before we plan the inside, and set out the shelves and rails around it. We make alcove units from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are alcoves that are wasted space and room to work in an alcove.
In a Victorian or Edwardian terrace, the front room typically keeps its chimney breast even where the fireplace has gone. Around Thornton Heath, where a large share of homes date from before 1919, that is a common starting point. Alcove units built into the recesses either side are scribed to the plaster and cut around the skirting.
We write quotes in plain English. You will see what will be made, the boards used and the finish, taken from what we agreed at the visit.
- Where
- Thornton Heath (CR7, SW16, SE25)
- Borough
- Croydon
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Questions we’re often asked
Do you cover homes near Thornton Heath station?
Yes, homes across Croydon and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can message us from the contact page with a few details about the room.
My house in Thornton Heath 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 need to reach the ceiling?
That is your choice. Full-height units give the most storage, while others stop them at the picture rail or leave open shelves above a low cupboard. We will go through what suits your room when we visit.
What affects the price of alcove units?
Size, doors and drawers, what goes inside and the finish all affect it, along with access and parking. We send a quote in writing after the design visit.
What happens to the chimney vent when alcove units go in?
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.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Conservation areas mostly control changes to the outside, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different: check with the council’s conservation officer first.
Flats, conversions and lettings
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let, often to make the most of a small or awkward room. The materials are the same as for any home: moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand.
In a flat, the route in matters as much as the room. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so the furniture can be made in sections that fit through.
Alcove units for homes in Thornton Heath
The biggest shares of homes in the neighbourhood around Thornton Heath were built before 1919 (about 53%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 27%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Thornton Heath include Church of St Stephen (Grade II), less than half a mile west. If you live in a listed building, fixing into or taking out original features like panelling can require listed building consent. An early word with the council’s conservation officer is the best first step. About 53% of homes in the area around Thornton Heath were built before 1919, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Most London houses of that age have chimney breasts with an alcove either side in the main rooms, the classic place for alcove units, scribed to walls that are rarely straight.
For a flat near Thornton Heath station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in. Kingswood House, about 2.4 miles north-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. If your children go to Winterbourne Junior Girls' School or a school nearby, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place.
Thornton Heath is within the London Borough of Croydon. Homes in Thornton Heath are part of the area we cover for alcove units. Our Croydon coverage includes Thornton Heath.
Design visits and fitting in CR7, SW16 and SE25 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Streets in the area include Ena Road, Elm Road and Mayo Road, and we cover homes on all of them for alcove units. Thornton Heath sits close to the A23 and A212. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the design visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. We also cover Norbury (1 mile north), Pollards Hill (1 mile north), Mitcham (2 miles west), Hackbridge (2 miles west) and Eastfields (2 miles west). Elsewhere in Croydon, we also cover Croydon (2 miles south), Coulsdon (6 miles south), Purley (4 miles south), Upper Norwood (2 miles north-east), Norwood New Town (2 miles north-east) and Woodside (2 miles south-east). Thornton Heath is one of the larger places we cover in Croydon.
Near you in Thornton Heath
Our area takes in the homes around The Archbishop Lanfranc School, Prince George pub and Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College for Girls and the streets around them. Thornton Heath has its own railway station: Thornton Heath station. Well-known places in the area include Crystal Palace Museum (1.9 miles north-east) and Centrale Croydon (1.7 miles south). Open spaces near Thornton Heath include Biggin Wood.
Tips worth knowing
New paint needs time to cure fully, so go gently with it for a while. After that, a few simple habits help:
- Plan any new sockets with your electrician before fitting
- Consider whether the units should reach the ceiling
- Mention parking and access when we visit
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, such as a record player
Once the cupboards are filled and in daily use, a door may settle slightly. Most hinges can be adjusted to line the doors up again.
Put the heaviest books and objects low down and spread the weight. Most sagging comes from shelves carrying more than they were planned for, so tell us at the measuring visit if a shelf will hold something heavy.
When is bespoke worth it?
If you’re handy, a simple shelf or a standard wardrobe in a square room is a reasonable DIY job. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls, because scribing and the right fixings start to matter.
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that are not square. Older London rooms tend to have leaning walls, sloping floors and alcoves of different widths, and standard units leave gaps.
Places near Thornton Heath
More for homes in Thornton Heath
How we price alcove units
A few things affect what fitted furniture costs:
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- Parking near your home
- The internal fittings
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
In London, parking can affect the price. Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones, so a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension. Tell us about parking at the measuring visit.
What we need to know
Getting some details early makes the visit more useful. If you can, send:
- Rough measurements: width, height and depth
- What the furniture needs to hold
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
It is useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them give us a good feel for the space, along with rough measurements. To send them over, tell us about the room on our contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
From workshop to your room
Furniture made in a workshop still has to meet the room it is going into, and fitting day is where that happens. Walls in older homes are rarely flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it, until the line is tight. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Where a period house has been split into flats, the way in often goes through shared parts, so it helps to let neighbours know about fitting day. The sections are sized for the narrowest point on the route. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- You contact us with some details about the chimney breast and alcoves.
- At the design visit we measure each alcove at several heights, because period walls are rarely flat or square.
- We send the design, materials and finish in a quote in writing.
- In our workshop the units are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a little extra left on the edges that meet the wall.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall.
Before fitting day
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- If you live in a block, book the lift and tell the building manager
- Let us know about parking near your home
Getting a quote
For a quote for alcove units in Thornton Heath, drop us a line using the contact form. Let us know which room it is and roughly what you have in mind, with sizes if you have them. We’ll arrange a design visit, then send a quote in writing.