Guides
Joinery guides written from the workshop, not the marketing department
36 practical guides on costs, materials, planning and living with bespoke joinery - written for homeowners, architects and office occupiers in London.
Costs & planning
What a bespoke kitchen costs in London
Where the money actually goes in a hand-made kitchen, indicative budget bands for London projects, and the specification choices that quietly double a quote.
Read guideWhat affects fitted wardrobe cost
Rather than quote figures without seeing your room, this guide explains which choices drive the price of a bespoke wardrobe and where money is well spent.
Read guide
Kitchens & cabinetry
Kitchen renovation: the full sequence
The sequence a kitchen renovation should follow, who needs to be on site when, and the decisions that must be locked before joinery goes into the workshop.
Read guideBespoke cabinetry explained
A plain-English look inside a cabinet: what a good carcass, door, drawer and hinge actually look like, and the details that separate furniture-grade work from flat-pack.
Read guide
Wardrobes & storage
Designing a media wall
The technical decisions behind a media wall that looks calm and works properly: sightlines, ventilation, cabling, and how to hide equipment without cooking it.
Read guideBuilt-in storage for London homes
Room by room, where the usable storage volume hides in a typical London property, and how to build into it without making rooms feel smaller.
Read guideFitted wardrobe options compared
The choices that decide how a fitted wardrobe works day to day: door type, depth, internal layout, lighting and finish, with indicative costs for each route.
Read guidePlanning a walk-in wardrobe
How much space a walk-in genuinely needs, which layout suits which room shape, and the practical details - light, air, mirrors, seating - that make one work.
Read guideFloor-to-ceiling wardrobes
Why full-height wardrobes store far more than they look, and the technical detailing - scribes, shadow gaps, door sizes - that decides whether they look built-in.
Read guideDressing room design
How a dressing room differs from a walk-in wardrobe, how to zone one properly, and the fittings that make getting dressed genuinely easier.
Read guideBespoke bedroom furniture
Beyond wardrobes: the fitted pieces that make a bedroom work, from panelled headboard walls to bedside units built around the sockets you actually use.
Read guideAlcove and understairs storage
The two spaces almost every London home wastes, and how to build into them properly - including the access and safety points people miss.
Read guideHow long fitted wardrobes take
A stage-by-stage account of where the weeks go on a made-to-measure wardrobe, and what a homeowner can do to keep the programme moving.
Read guideWalk-in wardrobe vs dressing room
A practical comparison of the two, covering the floor area each needs, how they are laid out and the questions that point to one or the other.
Read guideSliding vs hinged wardrobe doors
How the choice of door affects the room around a wardrobe, what you can reach inside it, and how each option ages over years of daily use.
Read guideBespoke vs flat-pack wardrobes
Flat-pack wins on speed and upfront cost in simple rooms. Bespoke wins where walls are uneven, space is precious or the wardrobe must match the architecture. This guide sets the two side by side.
Read guide
Problems & fixes
Wardrobe doors out of alignment
A direct explanation of misaligned wardrobe doors: what the shadow gap is telling you, which faults are adjustable, and which mean the carcass itself was never held true.
Read guideGaps between fitted furniture and walls
Why a fitted unit ends up with a visible wedge of daylight against a period wall, why filler and caulk are not the answer, and how the junction should be detailed.
Read guideHow scribing works
The craft technique behind seamless fitted furniture in period rooms: transferring a wall's real profile onto timber so the cabinetry can stay square.
Read guideMedia wall sagging or pulling away
Why media walls move: substrate that cannot carry load, unsupported spans, cantilevered shelving and heat. And what a structurally sound build looks like instead.
Read guideDamp or musty smell behind wardrobes
Why the wall behind a fitted wardrobe is often the coldest surface in the room, how that produces mould and musty clothing, and the detailing that prevents it.
Read guide
Heritage & restoration
Heritage joinery explained
What heritage joinery involves, why repair usually beats replacement, and how consents, materials and detailing work in conservation areas and listed buildings.
Read guidePeriod door restoration
A step-by-step approach to restoring original doors, from diagnosing why one sticks to stripping, repairing, re-hanging and draught-proofing it properly.
Read guideSash windows: repair or replace?
A straightforward test for whether original sashes are worth saving, what repair involves, and where replacement genuinely makes sense.
Read guideMatching period mouldings
The practical process behind making new skirting, architrave and panelling that is indistinguishable from the original woodwork in a period room.
Read guide
Materials & finishes
Timber types for joinery
What each common joinery timber is actually like to live with - stability, colour change, cost and the jobs it does best.
Read guideMDF vs solid wood
Neither material wins outright. A guide to where MDF outperforms solid timber, where it must not be used, and how good joinery combines both.
Read guideJoinery finishes explained
The finish decides how joinery ages. A guide to the main systems, how they are applied, how durable they are and how each is repaired.
Read guideMedia wall vs freestanding TV unit
The practical differences between a built-in media wall and a TV cabinet you can move, and how to decide which fits your room and plans.
Read guide
Working with a joiner
How to choose a joiner
A buyer's guide to appointing a bespoke joiner: how to compare quotes fairly, what a good contract contains, and the red flags that predict a bad project.
Read guideDesigning a home office
Ergonomics, storage and cable management for a built-in home office, plus how to fit a proper study into an alcove, a landing or a spare bedroom.
Read guideOffice fit-out joinery
What commercial joinery has to deliver beyond appearance: accessibility, fire performance, durability, out-of-hours installation and landlord requirements.
Read guideHow long a joinery project takes
The seven stages of a bespoke joinery project, how long each really takes, what you need to decide at each point, and the three things that cause most delays.
Read guideWhat specialist joinery means
Specialist joinery means timber pieces designed and made for one particular space, usually in a workshop, by people who both draw and build them. Here is what that involves and how to tell whether your project needs it.
Read guideHow long a media wall takes
Fitting a bespoke media wall usually takes days, but the planning and making take longer. This guide walks through each stage and the choices that most affect the programme.
Read guideJoiner vs carpenter
The short version: a carpenter builds with timber on site, a joiner makes timber pieces at the bench. Many people do both, but knowing the difference helps you ask for the right person.
Read guide