Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Redbridge · London
Woodford Wells Alcove Units
For homes in Woodford Wells, we make alcove units from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. Each piece is finished by spray or by hand, in the colour you choose.
- Bare alcoves beside the fireplace
- Alcoves that are not square
- Standard units leaving gaps at the sides
Ask about alcove units in Woodford Wells
What happens on fitting day
Once the main sections are fixed in place, any doors go on and any drawers or lids are fitted. We adjust each one so the gaps line up and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. The time the fitting takes depends on the size of the alcoves and what goes in them, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. If you have a driveway, it can make unloading simpler, so let us know at the design visit. Otherwise, details of permits or nearby bays help. Floors and doorways are protected while the pieces come in.
- You get in touch to say you’d like alcove units.
- We come to measure and talk through cupboards, shelves, heights and doors. If one alcove needs a desk or a TV space, this is when we plan it.
- We put the design, materials and finish into a quote in writing, ready for you to check.
- The units are built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. A spray-painted finish is applied there too, if that’s what you chose.
- The units are fitted in your home, ready to fill. Any scribing to the walls is done on the day.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Have your electrician move any sockets or switches beforehand
Ask for a quote
You do not need exact measurements to get started. Everything is measured properly when we visit. To arrange it, use our contact form with a few details about the room. You receive a written quote after the visit.
Advice
About our alcove units in Woodford Wells
Even a chimney that’s been blocked or capped needs some ventilation to help keep damp out of the breast. Units are planned so any vent stays clear. Any damp in the alcoves should be dealt with by the right trade before the units go in so the new furniture starts on a dry wall. People usually come to us about storage that suits a period room and shelving for books and records, and the answer is built in our workshop from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
With interwar houses or semis a big part of the picture around Woodford Wells, many homes have had the front and back rooms knocked together. The result is often a long room with a chimney breast, a good spot for alcove units. Cable routes for a TV or speakers, and space for set-top boxes, are planned during the design visit.
Once you’ve read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is made at our workshop. The quote sets out the agreed design, materials and finish, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- Woodford Wells (IG8, IG9)
- Area
- Redbridge
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Nearby places to Woodford Wells
Also in Woodford Wells
Living-room carpentry in Woodford Wells: local notes
Homes built between 1919 and 1939 make up about 40% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Woodford Wells, with about 28% built between 1945 and 1972, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. The National Heritage List records 6 entries within half a mile of the centre of Woodford Wells. You can check whether a particular building is listed on Historic England’s list. More than a third of the homes in the area around Woodford Wells (about 40%) date from between 1919 and 1939, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Houses from the 1920s and 1930s often have a bay window and a chimney breast in the front room, and alcove units are planned around both.
If you live in a period home close to All Saints' Church, the alcoves beside a chimney breast are the natural place for alcove units. If you live near The Highams Park, alcove units can be arranged to keep the window and the light clear. Living in a block of flats near Highams Park station? Then each piece is planned so it can be carried up and joined together in the room.
Woodford Wells is about 1 mile south of Woodford, part of the London Borough of Redbridge. Wherever you are in Woodford Wells, the process is the same: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. We list Woodford Wells among 18 places we cover in Redbridge.
Design visits and fitting in IG8 and IG9 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. If your home is on a street such as Bush Road, Park Avenue and Sydney Road, or close by, we can arrange a design visit for alcove units. Main roads around Woodford Wells include the A121. If you are just outside Woodford Wells, we also cover Monkhams (1 mile west), Woodford (1 mile south), Woodford Bridge (1 mile south-east), Friday Hill (1 mile west) and Chingford Hatch (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Redbridge, we also cover Ilford (4 miles south-east), Loxford (5 miles south-east), Wanstead (3 miles south), South Woodford (2 miles south), Newbury Park (3 miles south-east) and Gants Hill (3 miles south-east).
Landmarks near Woodford Wells
The streets we cover here include those near Woodford Green Preparatory School, Trinity Catholic High School and The Monkhams pub and the streets around them. The nearest railway station is Highams Park station, about 1.5 miles west. A little further out are Claybury Hospital (1.7 miles south-east) and The Epping Forest Museum (1.5 miles north-west). Open spaces near Woodford Wells include Highams Park Lake.
What affects the cost of alcove units
What you pay depends on:
- What goes inside: rails, shelves, drawers and dividers
- Access to the room, like stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- How big the furniture is
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. A larger piece means more material and more time, so size comes first. Doors, drawers, internal fittings and the finish make up most of the rest.
Helping us understand the room
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. When you get in touch, it helps to send:
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Approximate measurements of the space
Getting a quote starts with some details: which room it is, rough measurements and a couple of photos if you can take them. To send them, fill in our short enquiry form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and talk through the design, then send a written quote.
Before and after fitting day
Painted fitted furniture is easy to look after. These habits help most:
- Think about how the units meet the picture rail and cornice
- Measure anything large that must fit inside, such as a record player
- Make the alcoves easy to reach for measuring
- Note any vent or air brick on the chimney breast
To clean painted units, a soft cloth that is barely damp is enough. Avoid abrasive pads and strong cleaning sprays, which can dull or mark the paint. Wipe it dry when you’ve finished.
Keep heaters and very hot lamps from standing right against the paintwork, as strong heat can mark paint over time.
Questions from Woodford Wells
Can you make alcove units for a home in Woodford Wells?
Yes, we work across Redbridge, Woodford Wells included, and across the rest of London. You can fill in our short enquiry form to arrange a design visit.
Does a conservation area in or near Woodford Wells affect fitted furniture?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, works inside that affect its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. If you are unsure, the council can confirm.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to let us in. It is good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
Do both alcove units have to match?
It is entirely your choice. Alcoves are often different widths anyway, so each unit is made to its own measurements. They can match in style while doing different jobs.
Will alcove units block the chimney vent?
We plan alcove units so any chimney vent stays clear. A capped or blocked chimney should still be ventilated to help stop damp.
Can alcove units be fitted to uneven walls?
Yes. We measure each alcove carefully at the measuring visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall, so there are no tricky gaps.
Flats, leases and landlords
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. An agent can arrange access for you.
Conversions and newer flats often have stud walls rather than solid brick. Fixings are chosen to suit whatever the wall is made of, which we check during the design visit.
When is bespoke worth it?
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that are not square. Older London rooms tend to have leaning walls, sloping floors and alcoves of different widths, and standard units leave gaps.
If you are 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.