Heritage
Traditional alcove cupboards and fitted furniture
Chimney-breast alcove cupboards, bookcases and fitted furniture drawn to the original proportions and mouldings of a period room.
The alcoves either side of a chimney breast are the most useful and the most easily spoiled space in a period room. Cupboards set out badly read as boxes pushed into a gap; set out properly they look as though they were built with the house.
We take the room's own language as the starting point: skirting and cornice heights, dado lines, panel proportions and moulding profiles. Cupboard bases usually align with the skirting, shelving sits at the same rhythm on both sides of the chimney breast, and doors are panelled to match the doors of the room.
Interiors are planned for how the space is used, whether that is books, glassware, records, files or hi-fi, with concealed cable routes and ventilation where equipment sits behind doors. Finishes are usually hand-painted so the joinery can be repainted with the room in future.
What the work includes
- Set out to the room
- Heights and lines taken from existing skirting, dado and cornice.
- Matched mouldings
- Door panels, beads and cornices run to the profiles already in the room.
- Symmetry
- Both alcoves drawn together so shelves and doors align across the chimney breast.
- Planned interiors
- Adjustable shelving, drawers, cable routes and ventilation as required.
- Hand-painted finish
- Primed, filled and finished ready to sit with the room's decoration.
Suited to
Who this work is for
- Period reception rooms, studies and bedrooms
- Rooms needing storage without losing original character
- Bookcases and cabinetry either side of a chimney breast
- Designers specifying fitted furniture in a period scheme
How it runs
From brief to installation
- 01
Conversation
We discuss the brief, the room and the level of finish you have in mind, on site or from drawings.
- 02
Survey & design
Measured survey, setting out and drawings, with material and finish samples to sign off.
- 03
Workshop
Cabinetry is made and finished off site, so time on site stays short and controlled.
- 04
Installation
Careful installation, scribing and final adjustment by the people who made the work.
Discuss alcove cabinetry
Send photographs of the alcoves and the room, and rough dimensions if you have them.