Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Camden · London
Alcove Units in West End
Alcove units for your home in West End: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Each piece is designed at a visit to your home, made in our workshop and fitted by us.
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Shop-bought shelving that does not fill the recess
- Room to work in an alcove
Need alcove units in West End?
How we make alcove units for West End
In a typical Victorian or Edwardian terrace, the chimney breast leaves an alcove on either side of it. Built-in alcove units put that space to work as cupboards and shelving that look as though they belong there. If your home in West End has alcoves like these, we design a unit for each one. Typical reasons to get in touch are old alcove cupboards that have seen better days and alcoves that are wasted space; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish.
Solid brick external walls are standard in Victorian and Edwardian houses, and internal walls may be brick or lath and plaster. With so many homes around West End built before 1919, we check which you have before deciding how alcove units are fixed. Lath and plaster needs a lighter touch and the right fixings, especially behind loaded shelves.
A written quote follows the design visit. It sets out the design we have talked through, the materials and the finish, so it’s clear what’s included.
- Place
- West End (W1F, W1D, W1T)
- Borough
- Camden
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
When you need someone else
It helps to know what’s outside our work before you plan:
- Decorating the rest of the room
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
- New sockets or wiring (your electrician handles those)
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can fill in our short enquiry form and we’ll give you a straight answer before you arrange a visit. Our process from visit to fitting.
Materials and parts
- Panelled or flat doors
- Birch plywood
- Hand-painted finish
- Scribed side panels
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Adjustable shelves
Materials and finishes
Plinths and scribe strips
Scribe strips are the edges we trim on site to follow the wall. This closes the gap between a straight unit and a bowed alcove.
Hand-painted finish
Hand painting can be done in your home once the units are in. Small marks are easy to touch up, and it gives a softer, traditional look.
Places near West End
More for homes in West End
Fitting day, step by step
Period rooms often have skirting boards, picture rails, cornices or coving for the furniture to meet. On fitting day, we cut and scribe the furniture around these details, so it looks as though it was always there. How long fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. In a period home, the furniture is fitted to walls that are not straight, so each piece is trimmed and adjusted on site. We protect the floors and keep dust to a minimum. It helps to tell us about parking at the measuring visit, as terraced streets are often busy.
- To begin, message us from the contact page; a brief note on the alcoves is plenty, and mention if you live in a flat or up a few flights of stairs.
- At the design visit we measure the alcoves and also the way in: the front door, the hall and any stair turns. Parking is worth mentioning too, since a van often needs a permit or a paid bay in London.
- Your written quote sets out the design, materials and finish.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- We carry the sections in, assemble them in the alcoves and scribe them to the walls.
Preparing the room
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Mention any parking restrictions on your street
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
Arranging a design visit
It helps to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space, along with rough sizes. To send them over, tell us about the room on our contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Advice
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
Shelves in some flat-pack furniture are thin and can bow under books. Shelves in a bespoke unit are sized for the span and the load, using birch plywood where strength matters. That said, if you are renting or moving soon, a good off-the-shelf unit may make more sense. Ready-made units stop well short of a tall period ceiling, wasting space that could hold things you rarely use. Built-in pieces can run to the cornice or the picture rail.
We don’t publish set prices, because each job is designed for a single room. Instead, we measure, discuss the design and then quote in writing. To arrange a design visit, send us a few details through our contact form.
Why work with us in West End
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Built in our workshop and fitted in your home
- 300+ projects completed
Take a look at our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf or what to look for in a quote.
Your questions about alcove units in West End
Do you make alcove units for homes in West End?
Yes. We cover all of Camden and the rest of London, and West End is part of that. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and go through the design, and then we send a quote.
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in West End?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the design visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Should alcove units go up to the ceiling?
It’s up to you. Full-height units give the most storage, while a low cupboard with shelves above keeps the room feeling lighter. We’ll go through what suits your room when we visit.
What happens at the design visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and afterwards we send a quote in writing.
How long will the fitting take?
The time on site depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. The units are made at our workshop first, so the time in your home is mostly fitting, scribing and finishing.
Should I send pictures?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot, particularly with rough measurements. You can send them when you fill in our short enquiry form.
Alcove units in West End: local notes
In the streets around West End, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 49%) and the years since 2000 (about 21%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. 30 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of the centre of West End. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings. Red routes, run by TfL, have strict rules on stopping and loading. If your home is on or just off a main road, it helps to mention it. Then we can work out where to load and unload.
For a family home near Soho Parish CofE Primary School, low doors that small hands can open, with books and ornaments higher up, suit a busy family room. Close to St Anne's Churchyard? Alcove units can be planned to frame a window with a view rather than block it. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, like Church of St Giles in the Fields, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features may need listed building consent.
West End is about 1 mile north-east of St Pancras, part of the London Borough of Camden. From period terraces to newer flats in West End, the furniture is designed around the room as we find it. We list West End among 28 places we cover in Camden.
We cover every part of W1F, W1D and W1T. Whether you live on a street like Duck Lane, Drury Lane and Bridle Lane or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. The A301 and A400 runs close to West End, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. If you’re just outside West End, we also cover Seven Dials (1 mile east), St Giles (1 mile north-east), Soho (1 mile west), Chinatown (1 mile south-west) and Covent Garden (1 mile east). Across the rest of Camden, our area takes in Hampstead (4 miles north-west), West Hampstead (4 miles north-west), Agar Town (2 miles north), Kentish Town (2 miles north), Greenhill (4 miles north-west) and Chalk Farm (2 miles north-west). As one of the bigger places in Camden, West End is covered for alcove units and everything else we make.
Landmarks near West End
Around West End, we cover homes near Harris Westminster Sixth Form, LITE Regal International School and LSE Shaw Library. There’s a railway station in West End itself: Tottenham Court Road station. Well-known places in the area include Leverian collection (close by, under half a mile south) and Kingly Court (within half a mile west). Open spaces near West End include Ludgate Hill and St. James's Park Lake.
Could you do it yourself?
Off-the-shelf cupboards come in fixed sizes, so there is usually a gap left over at the top or at one end. Fitted furniture is made to the room’s measurements, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
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, where scribing and fixings that suit the wall are important.