Fitted furniture earns its money in the awkward bits of a house. The alcove either side of the chimney breast. The dead space under the stairs. The bedroom with a ceiling that slopes down to a metre high at the eaves.
That is exactly where off-the-shelf furniture fails and where making it properly pays off. We build wardrobes, alcove units, cabinets and storage in our own workshop in Mansfield, sized for your room and fitted by us.
Wardrobes that use the whole space
A freestanding wardrobe wastes the gap above it, the gap behind it and the gap either side. A fitted wardrobe uses the lot, floor to ceiling and wall to wall.
Inside, you decide the layout. Full-height hanging for coats and dresses. Double hanging for shirts and trousers, which nearly doubles your capacity. Shelves at the heights you actually need. Drawers inside rather than out, so the room stays clean-looking. Shoe racks, tie rails, a pull-out rail on a top shelf for things you use twice a year.
Doors can be hinged or sliding. Hinged doors need swing room but give you full access. Sliding doors suit narrow rooms where you cannot lose the floor space. We will tell you which makes sense once we have seen the room.
Alcove units and media walls
Chimney breast alcoves are almost never the same width as each other, and they are almost never square. That is normal in an old house.
We measure both sides individually, scribe the units to the walls and make the two sides look like a matching pair even when they are not. Shelving, cupboards below, a run of drawers, or a media unit with cable routes and ventilation built in so your kit does not cook.
Under the stairs, in the eaves, round the boiler
The best fitted furniture goes where nothing else can.
Pull-out units under a staircase, cut to the rake. Eaves storage in a loft conversion with doors that follow the slope. A boxed-in boiler cupboard with proper ventilation and a removable panel so it can still be serviced. Window seats with lift-up lids. A boot room with hooks, a bench and a place for wet dog towels.
Tell us the problem and we will design round it.
Finishes
Painted is the most popular choice for fitted furniture. We use paint-grade timber and sheet material, spray the finish so it is flat and even, and match any colour you like. Painted units can be repainted years down the line if you change the room.
Natural timber suits alcove shelving, boot rooms and anywhere you want warmth and grain. Oak is the usual pick, ash if you want something lighter.
A mix works well. Painted carcasses and doors with an oak worktop or oak shelves, for example.
We spray rather than brush, so you do not get brush marks in the corners of the panels.
Matching what is already there
If you have existing skirting, architrave or picture rail, we can run the furniture up to it properly rather than cutting it off and hoping nobody notices. We cut our own profiles, so matching an old moulding is normal work rather than a problem.
This matters most in period property. We work in conservation areas regularly and we are used to making new furniture that sits quietly in an old room.
How the job runs
We come and measure. Not a rough measure, a proper survey, because a bowed wall or a floor that drops 15mm across the room changes how the unit has to be built.
We quote it in writing with the spec on it.
We make it in the workshop, and we send you photos over WhatsApp as it goes. Carcasses, doors, spray booth. You can see it happening.
Then we fit it. Scribed to the walls, packed level, sealed and finished. The person fitting it is the person who made it, so anything that needs adjusting gets adjusted on the spot.
Who you are dealing with
TC Joinery started in 2004. Tez is City & Guilds qualified and still makes things every day. Tina looks after customers, so you get a person on the phone rather than a call centre.
We are known for taking on the odd jobs. Over the years we have made all sorts, including movie props and boats. If your storage problem is a strange shape, that is a reason to ring us, not a reason not to.
What you get
- Wardrobes and cabinets made to your room, scribed to bowed walls and uneven floors
- Internal layouts designed round what you actually store
- Hinged or sliding doors, whichever suits the room
- Sloping ceilings, eaves, under-stairs and boxed-in awkward corners handled properly
- Sprayed painted finish in any colour, natural timber, or a mix of both
- Existing skirting, architrave and moulding profiles matched
- Progress photos over WhatsApp while it is being made
- Made and fitted by the same small team from our Mansfield workshop
Utility rooms and boot rooms
Bespoke Utility Room
All too often, a utility room is an impractical space which is devoid of character. Giving them a little attention can pay dividends: the drudgery of housework can be lightened in a pleasing setting, and the area can multi-task instead of being the general dumping ground for the household.
Terence Cudworth Joinery can help you rethink the actual space so that it’s easy and practical. If you’re prone to untidiness, build floor-to-ceiling narrow storage cupboards with doors to hide the evidence behind. Carefully planned units house laundry products, ironing board, mops and brooms, vacuum cleaner, recycling bins, general household items, coat hanging, shoe and boot storage. You could even include a section of bench seating for putting on and removing footwear.
Frequently asked questions
Can you build wardrobes into a room with a sloping ceiling?
Yes. Eaves and sloped ceilings are one of the main reasons people go bespoke in the first place. We cut the units and the doors to follow the slope so you get usable storage right into the low corner instead of a triangle of wasted space. It takes more setting out than a square room, and that is reflected in the price, but the result is worth it.
Hinged doors or sliding doors?
Hinged doors give you full access to the whole opening and are usually cheaper to make. They need clear swing room in front, which can be a problem in a narrow bedroom. Sliding doors take no floor space but you can only ever see half the wardrobe at once, and the running gear adds cost. If the room is tight, slide. If you have the space, hinge.
How long does fitted furniture take to make?
It varies with the size of the job, the finish and the workshop's current workload. A single alcove unit is a much shorter job than a full run of bedroom wardrobes. Painted work takes longer than natural because of the priming, spraying and drying. We will give you a realistic timescale with your quote and keep you posted with photos.
What makes one wardrobe cost more than another?
Size, the number of doors and drawers, the internal fit-out, the timber, the finish, and how awkward the space is. Drawers are more work than shelves. Sliding gear costs more than hinges. A sloped ceiling or a badly out-of-square alcove takes more setting out. We will break the quote down so you can see what is driving it and decide what to keep.
Will the units be attached to the wall permanently?
Yes. Fitted furniture is scribed and fixed to the walls, which is what lets it sit tight against uneven surfaces with no gaps. It is not designed to be moved to another house. If you want something you can take with you, tell us and we will look at a freestanding piece instead.
Can you match the paint colour to the rest of my room?
Yes. Give us the colour name and reference and we will spray to match. If you only have a wall you want to match to, a small painted sample or an offcut is ideal. Sprayed finishes look slightly different to a rolled wall because of the sheen level, so it is worth talking through the finish as well as the colour.
Get in touch
Got an awkward space that needs filling properly?
Ring 01623 530838 or send over a photo of the room with a few rough measurements. We will tell you what we would do with it and roughly what is involved. We work across Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Ashfield and the wider East Midlands from our workshop in Mansfield.
We work across Mansfield, Ashfield and the wider East Midlands from our workshop in Mansfield. See the areas we cover.