Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Waltham Forest · London
Waltham Forest Alcove Units
In Waltham Forest, we design alcove units around the room you actually have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Storage that suits a period room
- Clutter with nowhere to go
Ask about alcove units in Waltham Forest
What we do not do
We don’t treat damp or carry out building work, and there are a few other limits too:
- Painting the walls, ceiling and woodwork around the units
- Any structural work on the chimney breast
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can tell us about the room on our contact form and we’ll give you a straight answer before you arrange a visit. How it works.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Adjustable shelves
- Hand-painted finish
- Spray-painted finish
- Birch plywood
About our alcove units in Waltham Forest
A classic layout is a low cupboard with open shelves above. The cupboards take the things you’d rather not see, and the shelves are for books and favourite objects. The cupboard top gives you a ledge for a lamp, a speaker or a plant. Heights are agreed with you to suit the room and your things. If your home has old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and bare alcoves beside the fireplace, that is what alcove units are for, made from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish.
A typical 1930s semi has a bay window at the front and a chimney breast with a recess either side. Around Waltham Forest, interwar houses, semis and detached homes make up a big part of the housing, so that layout is worth knowing well. Alcove units usually go on the chimney breast wall, leaving the bay clear.
If the job needs another trade, such as an electrician or a plumber, we’ll tell you. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Where
- Waltham Forest (E4, IG9)
- Area
- Waltham Forest
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- 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, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Many London terraces have been converted into flats, and that often means a shared hallway and a tight turn on the stairs. We plan the size of each section around it, once we have measured the way in.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. 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 without a struggle.
What happens on fitting day
You will not need to do much on the day. We need someone to let us in at the start, and it helps to have the room cleared beforehand. From there, we protect the floors, bring the furniture in and get on with the fitting. How long fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Some interwar and suburban streets have driveways, which can make unloading easier, so let us know at the design visit. Otherwise, a visitor permit or a nearby bay helps. Floors and doorways are protected while the pieces come in.
- You contact us with a few 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.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, leaving a scribing allowance where they meet the walls.
- At fitting, we set each unit level on a plinth or feet and trim that edge to follow the wall.
Before we arrive
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Point out meters, boilers and fuse boards near the furniture
Arranging a design visit
Rough sizes are fine at the start. We measure everything properly at the design visit. To arrange it, send us a few details through our contact form. You receive a written quote after the visit.
Advice
Places near Waltham Forest
Also in Waltham Forest
Pricing alcove units in Waltham Forest
The price reflects the time and materials the job needs. That depends on:
- Parking near your home
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. A larger piece means more material and more time. After that, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fittings and the finish all play a part.
What to send when you contact us
Ahead of the design visit, we will usually ask about:
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Rough sizes: width, height and depth
A quote begins with a few details from you: the room, rough sizes and some pictures if you have them. When you’re ready, drop us a line using the contact form. We’ll then arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Shop-bought shelving and cabinets can go in an alcove, and they’re usually cheaper. The catch is the fit: standard widths rarely match the recess, and uneven walls make every gap obvious. A bespoke alcove unit is made to your measurements and scribed to the plaster. Doors, windows and radiators rarely leave a gap that matches a standard width, so ready-made furniture often ends up in the wrong place. Built-in pieces are planned around those fixed points.
Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
Why choose us
- Over 300 projects completed
- Designed for the room you have
- Built in our workshop and fitted in your home
- Saturday work by prior arrangement
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and how to compare quotes.
Questions from Waltham Forest
Do you cover homes near Chingford station?
Yes. We cover the whole of London. To get started, you can send us a few details through our contact form with some details about the room.
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Waltham Forest?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a parking bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It’s useful to tell us about parking at the design visit.
Which finishes are there for alcove units?
We offer spray painting in the workshop and hand painting on site. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even; a hand-painted one is easy to touch up later. We talk through both at the design visit.
Can I send photos before the visit?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit. It helps to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
Can the two alcove units be different?
That is your choice. A matching pair balances the chimney breast, but you might want a desk on one side and cupboards on the other. We can keep the details the same so they still look like a pair.
What affects the price of alcove units?
Size, doors and drawers, what goes inside and the finish all affect it. The price comes in a written quote after the design visit.
Waltham Forest homes and alcove units
About 39% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Waltham Forest went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 23% before 1919, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. 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. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Waltham Forest include Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge (Grade II*), less than half a mile west, and Church of St John the Baptist (Grade II), about 0.6 miles south-east. If your own home is listed, changes inside that alter its character, like fixing into or removing original joinery, can need listed building consent. The council’s conservation officer is the person to ask before work starts. Each London borough runs its own parking controls, and the rest of London is no exception. Where a street in Waltham Forest is controlled, a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension from the council. We ask about parking during the design visit, so the day can be planned around it.
If your children go to Normanhurst 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 John the Baptist Church, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. For a flat near Chingford station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Waltham Forest is in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, about 4 miles south-west of Walthamstow. Wherever you are in Waltham Forest, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. Our work takes in places right across the rest of London, large and small.
In E4 and IG9, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. The A1069 runs close to Waltham Forest; on busy main roads, unloading alcove units takes a little planning. Close by, we also work in Friday Hill (1 mile south-west), Monkhams (1 mile south), Chingford Hatch (1 mile south-west) and Woodford Wells (1 mile south). Other parts of the rest of London we cover include Walthamstow (4 miles south-west), Leyton (5 miles south), Bakers Arms (4 miles south), Walthamstow Village (4 miles south-west), Leytonstone (5 miles south) and Holloway Down (6 miles south).
Near you in Waltham Forest
The streets we cover here include those near Heathcote School & Science College, Royal Forest pub and Whitehall Primary School. Waltham Forest’s nearest station is Chingford station, about 0.6 miles west. Well-known places in the area include The Epping Forest Museum (a few minutes’ walk west). Not far away are Pole Hill.