Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Wandsworth · London
Alcove Units in Tooting
Few London rooms are perfectly square, and we scribe the furniture to follow the walls. We make alcove units for homes in Tooting, each designed at a visit to your home.
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Space for a growing book collection
- Alcoves that are wasted space
Ask about alcove units in Tooting
How we make alcove units for Tooting
Most Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses have a chimney breast in the main rooms, with an alcove on each side. Built-in alcove units put that space to work as cupboards and shelving that look as though they belong there. If your home in Tooting has alcoves like these, each alcove gets a unit designed for it, starting with a design visit to measure. People usually come to us about space for a growing book collection and toys and paperwork with no proper home; the furniture is made from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
Rooms in houses from before 1919 tend to have generous ceiling heights, and around Tooting, 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.
The furniture is made at our workshop after you have had the quote and decided to go ahead. It describes the design, the materials and the finish agreed at the visit, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- Tooting (SW17, SW19, CR4)
- Borough
- Wandsworth
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Boards, parts and paint
Moisture-resistant MDF
With no grain to show through, MDF keeps the painted surface smooth and even. Moisture-resistant MDF is what we use for fitted work.
Birch plywood
Birch plywood is also good for drawer boxes because it stands up to daily use. The edge can be painted or shown as a detail.
More for homes in Tooting
Tooting homes and alcove units
Homes built before 1919 make up about 64% of the housing in the streets around Tooting, with about 12% built between 1919 and 1939, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Within a mile of the centre of Tooting, 4 conservation areas are recorded by Historic England. England has around 10,000 in all, and their controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. About 22% of households in the neighbourhood around Tooting live in flats in converted or shared houses, going by Census 2021 figures from the ONS. In a converted house, rooms can be odd shapes, with new partitions meeting old walls, and the route in may go through a shared hall and stairs. If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before anything is fixed to the walls.
If your children go to St Boniface RC Primary School or a school nearby, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. If you live in a period home close to St Augustine, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. Living in a block of flats near Tooting station? Then the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Tooting is about 2 miles north of Clapham Junction, within the London Borough of Wandsworth. We cover Tooting as part of our work across Wandsworth. Our work takes in places right across Wandsworth, from the busiest high streets to quiet residential roads.
Every address in SW17, SW19 and CR4 is within our area for alcove units. Streets in the area include Vant Road, Byton Road and Avarn Road, and homes on each of them are within our area for alcove units. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Tooting Bec (1 mile north-west), Colliers Wood (1 mile south), Furzedown (1 mile east), Streatham Park (1 mile east) and Summerstown (1 mile north-west). Across the rest of Wandsworth, our area takes in Clapham Junction (2 miles north), Battersea (2 miles north), Putney (3 miles north-west), Wandsworth (2 miles north-west), Southfields (2 miles north-west) and Roehampton (4 miles north-west). Being one of the larger places in Wandsworth, Tooting is covered for alcove units and everything else we make.
Landmarks near Tooting
In Tooting, that includes homes near King's Head pub, Graveney School and Ensham School and the streets around them. The closest station to Tooting is Tooting station, about 0.6 miles south. Well-known places in the area include London Sewing Machine Museum (0.6 miles north-east) and Grove Hospital (less than half a mile west). Open spaces near Tooting include Myrna Close.
From workshop to your room
If anything comes up on the day, just ask. Most of the decisions were made during the design visit and set out in your quote, so fitting day is about putting it in place carefully and leaving everything tidy. How long fitting takes depends on the size and number of units, and the fitting days are set out in your quote. Terraced streets in London are often lined with parked cars, so details of permits, bays and any loading restrictions help. The van is unloaded quickly, with the sections carried straight in. Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units, and we find a time for the design visit.
- A design visit follows, where we measure up and agree the layout with you. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- A written quote follows, with the finish set out, ready for you to check.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We bring them to your home and fit them in place. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
Before fitting day
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Empty the space we will be working in
Arranging a design visit
We quote once we’ve seen the room. At the visit, we measure, look at the walls and floors and talk through the design with you, then send a written quote. Prices are quoted for your room, once we’ve measured and talked through the design. To book a design visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Related advice
Flats, leases and landlords
Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Tell us about them during the design visit.
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be 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.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
The real difference is in the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. In an older room, standard units rarely manage that.
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can use the full height and width.
Common questions about alcove units
Can you fit alcove units to the uneven walls of an older house in Tooting?
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. We also work around skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. Fixings are chosen for the wall, whether solid brick or lath and plaster.
I live near Tooting station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Wandsworth and the rest of London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with a few details about the room.
Does fitted furniture need planning permission?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different: check with the council’s conservation officer first.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. After that, you do not need to stay in the room, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by arrangement. Just mention it when you contact us, and we will see what we can do.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
External walls can be colder and damper than internal ones, so we allow for ventilation behind and inside the furniture, which helps avoid condensation and mould. If there’s damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
How we price alcove units
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. What affects it comes down to:
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- How big the furniture is
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- The internal fittings
Parking is part of the price picture in London. The boroughs run controlled parking zones across much of the city, so we may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a suspended bay near your home. It’s useful to talk about parking at the design visit, so it can be planned.
Getting in touch
When you contact us, these help most:
- Anything fixed to the wall that the furniture needs to work around
- Photos of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- Approximate measurements of the space
- Examples of the look you are after
To make a start, use 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 send you a written quote afterwards.