Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Croydon · London
Alcove Units in Woodcote
Alcove units in Woodcote: cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast. Every piece is made in our workshop and fitted in your home.
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Old alcove cupboards that have seen better days
- Clutter with nowhere to go
Ask about alcove units in Woodcote
Alcove units in Woodcote: what you get
Even a chimney that’s been blocked or capped needs some ventilation to help stop damp. We keep any vent clear when we design alcove units, with nothing covering it. If there are signs of damp on the chimney breast or in the alcoves, they’re best sorted before fitting, as cupboards fitted over damp walls can suffer. If you’re living with worn or badly fitted alcove units and alcoves that are wasted space, alcove units made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand can solve it.
A typical 1930s semi has a bay window at the front and a chimney breast with a recess either side. Around Woodcote, interwar houses, semis and detached homes make up a big part of the housing, so it’s a layout worth planning for. We tend to plan alcove units along the chimney breast wall so the bay keeps its light, though every room is measured first.
A quote in writing follows the design visit. It sets out the design we have talked through, the materials and the finish, so you know exactly what you are getting.
- Place
- Woodcote (CR8, CR5, SM6)
- Area
- Croydon
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Made
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Before and after fitting day
These points come up often when people plan alcove units. They help whatever the room:
- Move things out of the alcoves so we can measure properly
- Decide what goes behind doors and what goes on show
- Note any vent or air brick on the chimney breast
- Let us know about stairs, parking and access early
Doors can settle a little once the units are in use. Most hinges can be adjusted to line the doors up again, so a small gap or rub is easy to correct.
Keep heaters and very hot lamps from standing right against the paintwork.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that aren’t square. In period homes, walls lean, floors slope and the alcoves on each side are often different widths, which leaves standard units with gaps at the sides and top.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. Sloping ceilings, uneven floors and lath-and-plaster walls make it harder, because scribing and the right fixings start to matter.
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
Off-the-shelf units can work in an alcove, and they normally cost less to buy. The catch is the fit: standard widths rarely match the recess, and uneven walls make every gap obvious. A bespoke unit is built to the alcove and scribed to follow the wall. Even in a 1930s house, walls and floors are not perfectly true, so standalone furniture can still lean or leave gaps. Built-in pieces are adjusted to the room on site.
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside, and the quote follows.
Why choose us
- Built from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Scribed to uneven walls
- Built in our workshop and fitted in your home
- Work across the whole of London
Read bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
Questions we’re often asked
I live near Reedham (London) station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Croydon and the rest of London. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character may need listed building consent from the council. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
What happens when you come to measure?
We measure the room, check how level the walls and floors are and go through the design with you. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and afterwards we send a quote in writing.
Can you fit a desk into an alcove?
Yes. You can have a desk in one alcove and cupboards in the other. We will plan the desk around how you work.
What paint finish can I have on alcove units?
We offer spray painting in the workshop and hand painting on site. A sprayed finish is very smooth and even. We’ll help you choose at the design visit.
How do I get a quote?
It’s easiest to message us from the contact page and tell us about the room. After that, we arrange a design visit and follow it with a written quote.
What happens on fitting day
On the morning of the fitting, the first job is covering the floors and protecting the way in from the front door. Next, we carry in the sections made in our workshop, one at a time. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Clearing the room and the way in beforehand helps the day run well. On the day, we cover the floors first, then bring the sections in. The pieces are levelled, fitted to the walls and fixed back.
- To begin, use our contact form; a brief note on the room and the alcoves is enough.
- At the design visit we measure the alcoves and also the way in: the front door, the hall and any stair turns. It’s useful to tell us then about parking, as much of London is in a controlled parking zone.
- We then send a quote in writing for the units.
- The units are made in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, in sections sized to come through your door.
- On fitting day the sections come in, are joined in place and scribed to the walls. A spray-painted finish arrives done; a hand-painted one is applied once the units are in.
How to prepare
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
Arranging a design visit
The design visit is where every quote starts. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. Afterwards, we send a quote in writing. To book one, message us from the contact page.
Advice
Nearby places to Woodcote
More for homes in Woodcote
Living-room carpentry in Woodcote: local notes
About 37% of the homes in the streets around Woodcote went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 25% since 2000, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. Part of Woodcote is in the Upper Woodcote Village Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. Planning controls in conservation areas are mainly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitting furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need permission. If you want to be certain, ask the council’s planning team. Around a third of the homes in the neighbourhood around Woodcote (about 37%) date from between 1919 and 1939, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Interwar front rooms usually have a bay at the front and a chimney breast on the side wall, which shape where alcove units go.
If you live near Dollypers Hill, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone. If your children go to Woodcote High School or a school nearby, a cupboard for board games and a shelf for reading books can go into the same design. Living in a block of flats near Reedham (London) station? Then it helps to book the lift and tell the concierge before fitting day.
Woodcote is in the London Borough of Croydon, about 5 miles north of Thornton Heath. We work across all London boroughs and the City of London, and Woodcote is part of that. Our work takes in places right across Croydon.
Every home in CR8, CR5 and SM6 is within our area for alcove units. If your home is on a street like Elton Road, Birch Lane and Newton Road, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. We also cover the places around Woodcote: Woodcote Green (1 mile north-west), Peaks Hill (1 mile north-east), Purley (1 mile east), Little Woodcote (1 mile west) and Coulsdon (1 mile south). Elsewhere in Croydon, we also cover Thornton Heath (5 miles north), Croydon (3 miles north-east), Broad Green (4 miles north), Upper Norwood (6 miles north), Selhurst (5 miles north-east) and South Norwood (5 miles north-east).
Around Woodcote
The streets we cover here include those near Woodcote Primary School, The Foxley Hatch pub and Laleham Lea School, among other places. For rail, the closest station is Reedham (London) station, roughly 0.7 miles east. Well-known places in the area include Purley War Memorial Hospital (1.1 miles east) and Croydon Airport Visitor Centre (1.7 miles north-east). Not far away are Foxley Wood.
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
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, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
In a managed block, the building manager or concierge may need notice before we arrive. If there’s a lift, it may need booking, and its size matters when we plan the sections. Let us know about it when you get in touch.