Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Merton · London
Alcove units in West Barnes, Merton
We make alcove units for homes in West Barnes, designed around the room you have. Your alcove unit is designed at a visit to your home and made at our workshop.
- Room to work in an alcove
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
- Somewhere to keep books and records
Alcove units in West Barnes
What affects the cost of alcove units
Each piece is designed for one room, so each price is too. What affects it comes down to:
- How big the furniture is
- How easy it is to get the furniture into the room
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
- How square the room is
The finish affects the cost: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
Helping us understand the room
Ahead of the design visit, we’ll normally ask about:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
- Rough measurements: width, height and depth
- What the furniture needs to hold
To make a start, get in touch through our contact form and tell us a little about the room and what you want the furniture to do. From there, we arrange a design visit to measure up and talk through your ideas, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
Alcove units in West Barnes
Few alcoves in older houses are truly square. The walls lean, the chimney breast may bow and the floor often slopes. Each unit is made at our workshop to our measurements and scribed to the walls when we fit it, so the sides meet the wall closely rather than showing a dark line. Adjustable feet or a plinth set it level. We make alcove units from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and the things people most often want solved are walls too uneven for standard furniture and units that sit well with original features.
Around West Barnes, interwar houses or semi-detached and detached homes make up a good part of the housing. If yours is a 1920s or 1930s house, the front room may have a bay window at one end and a chimney breast on the side wall, and that layout shapes where alcove units work best. Walls in houses of that age are normally straighter than in Victorian ones, though they’re still checked and scribed where needed.
The quote comes in writing, so there’s time to read it properly and talk it over at home. It covers the design, materials and finish agreed at the visit.
- Where
- West Barnes (KT3, SW20)
- Area
- Merton
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
What we don’t do
We design, make and fit the furniture. In practice, that means:
- Removing or altering a chimney breast, which is structural work
- Making good damaged walls before fitting
- Painting the walls, ceiling and woodwork around the units
Not sure whether your space suits alcove units? You can send us a few details through our contact form and we’ll tell you. How it works.
What it is made from
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Adjustable shelves
- Panelled or flat doors
- Hand-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Scribed side panels
Your questions about alcove units in West Barnes
Can you make alcove units for a home in West Barnes?
Yes, West Barnes is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Merton and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and talk through the design, and then we send a quote.
I live near Motspur Park station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Merton and the rest of London. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit, and let us know about parking and access at the same time.
How do I get a quote?
Simply get in touch through our contact form. Rough sizes and a few pictures help, and we will arrange a design visit.
Is it possible to have a desk built into one alcove?
Yes. Many people use one alcove for a desk and the other for cupboards. We will plan the desk around how you work.
Will alcove units block the chimney vent?
Any vent in the chimney breast is kept clear when we design the units. Even a blocked chimney needs some ventilation to help keep damp away and we design around it.
Can I send pictures ahead of the visit?
Yes, they help. Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling, give us a good idea of the space. You can send them when you use our contact form.
Flats, blocks and rented homes
We also make and fit furniture for landlords furnishing a let, as it makes good use of an tricky room. It is made from the same moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood as any of our work.
Blocks of flats often have their own rules on lift bookings, entry systems and times for trades. Tell us about them at the measuring visit.
Built-in living-room furniture in West Barnes
The biggest shares of homes in the neighbourhood around West Barnes were built between 1919 and 1939 (about 46%) and before 1919 (about 25%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. 5 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of the centre of West Barnes. England has around 10,000 in all, and their controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Red routes, run by TfL, have strict rules on stopping and loading. Where a home in West Barnes is on or beside a main road, it helps to mention that during the design visit. It lets us plan the stop before fitting day.
The wider area includes historic houses such as Southside House, about 1.1 miles north. For a period home anywhere nearby, picture rails and cornices give alcove units a line to finish at. For a family home near Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, shelving with deep cupboards below keeps books, games and school things in one place.
West Barnes is about 2 miles north-east of Wimbledon, in the London Borough of Merton. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and West Barnes is part of that. Our work takes in places right across Merton.
Design visits and fitting in KT3 and SW20 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Whether you live on a street such as Queens Road, Blakes Lane and Egmont Road or on one nearby, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. Neighbouring places we cover for alcove units include Raynes Park (1 mile north-east), Motspur Park (1 mile north-west), Bushey Mead (1 mile north-east), Cannon Hill (1 mile east) and New Malden (1 mile west). Other parts of Merton we cover include Wimbledon (2 miles north-east), Colliers Wood (3 miles north-east), Eastfields (4 miles east), South Wimbledon (2 miles north-east), Merton Abbey (3 miles east) and Merton Park (2 miles north-east).
Around West Barnes
The streets we cover here include those near Ursuline Preparatory School, The Fountain pub and Raynes Park High School, among other places. There’s a railway station in West Barnes itself: Motspur Park station. Nearby you’ll also find Wimbledon Museum (1.9 miles north-east) and Atkinson Morley Hospital (1.2 miles north). For a walk, there is Derwent Floodwash.
Fitting day, step by step
You’re welcome to ask questions while we work. The design, materials and finish were settled before anything was made, so fitting day is about putting it in place carefully. How long the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. 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. Elsewhere in the house, the route is usually more generous. Each section is assembled and fixed in the room.
- To begin, send us a few details through our 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 written quote for the units.
- In our workshop we build the units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, sized so each piece gets up the stairs and round the corners.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed to the walls.
How to prepare
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Let us know about parking near your home
Ask for a quote
Getting a quote starts with a few details: the room, rough measurements and some photos if you have them. To send them, drop us a line using the contact form. We’ll then arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
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Why people ask for alcove units in West Barnes
Often the alcoves are simply the biggest unused space in the room. Standard furniture seldom fits an alcove, so there are gaps at the sides and the top. A fitted unit fills the recess from wall to wall.
Most of the enquiries we get are about things like these:
- Worn or badly fitted alcove units
- Storage that suits a period room
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
- Toys and paperwork with no proper home
Living in a block of flats near Motspur Park station? Then it’s useful to book the lift and tell the concierge before fitting day.
Before you choose who makes it
- Will they visit to measure before quoting?
- Whether you’ll get a quote in writing, not just a figure
- How doors and drawers are fitted
- Which materials they’ll use, named in the quote