A window seat in the kitchen!
October 23, 2014
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For YEARS I have wanted a window seat in our home. I’ve gotten googly-eyed over beautiful photos, daydreamed about it, really dreamed about it (sad, I know)…the love is deep and true.
And we’re finally getting one. Or will be when I build it – but I’ll be able to build it, yay! I could pee my pants with excitement my friends. Pee. my. pants. Very long story short – we thought about adding on to our house, the quotes were ridiculous, we decided to knock down a wall instead and then perhaps still expand our bay window area:
That’s when we thought the kitchen table would still stay there, but we quickly realized we were going to have way more space than we thought so the table moved over to where the sofa used to be.
The kitchen renovation will be next year (and it will probably last all year) but the new open space gives us all kinds of fun options in the room, including expanding the kitchen island.
We decided pretty early in our renovation that expanding the kitchen just isn’t needed with the new layout. But we did decide to go ahead with changing a few things that we planned from the start – the double window in the family room/kitchen will be changed to double doors. Since we don’t need two doors within feet of each other my wheels started turning and the bay window getting a little change up so that I will be able to get my DREAM WINDOW SEAT. Whoot!
I will be building it myself so I’ve been researching different looks and plans. It’s not really hard to do but I’ll need a table saw for sure.
Although I’m not picky and love just about any window seat, I’ve been searching those specifically built into bay windows. I haven’t decided if I want it to curve with the window or just go straight across:
Isn’t that gorgeous? Ack!!
Heather’s turned out beautifully too and she shares the steps to their process:
I don’t know yet if we’ll add a small round table or not – I don’t know if we’ll have room when the island is expanded. I’ll have to wait and see.
Here’s another version straight across:
I love the little plant shelf behind it – I couldn’t believe I found one like that because I’m hoping to add something similar. Not sure it will work but I’m going to see!
Of course storage will be a MUST. I think I’d rather have drawers than a pull up seat – haven’t decided just yet. If we don’t have a table in front of it I guess pulling up the seat wouldn't be a big deal at all. We’d get better use of all that space that way too. I think I just talked myself out of the drawers. :)
I do like the idea of kind of curving it around too, like this:
Our bay window is pretty deep so I think we could do this.
Here’s a step by step tutorial on building a curved bench in a bay window:
When you break it down like that it doesn’t look that hard!
Our space isn’t this deep but this one is gorgeous too:
Lighting is a whole other thing – I’ve always wanted lights in that window area and I’ve come up with a solution. It involves these from Lowe’s:
I think it will look pretty awesome and be wonderful additional light. (They are way cheaper in the store by the way.) Stay tuned!!
This one isn’t the shape of our window at all, but it’s what we were going to do if we added on. I’m including it because it’s just so pretty, I love it all:
Sigh. I can’t believe it’s finally going to happen. Happy happy joy joy!
I don’t know if I’ll get it done yet this year, but it may have to become a priority after the family room is done. That I will be sharing next week by the way, come hell or high water. :)
Do you have a window seat in your home? Do you love them? If you’ve ever built one feel free to link to it in the comments!
Follow along with me on Instagram to see the progress on this spot over the next few days!
Yay! I'm so excited for you! We just put one in our daughters' room, too. I thought I'd have to wait to do it later, but it hit me one day that if we left the bottom open, it could do double duty (triple, really, because it helps keep the room tidier). The open spaces on the bottom are rooms for her 18 inch dolls! If she tosses the pillows off the top, she's got two stories! So, she has seating (perfect now that she is Crazy Book Devouring Girl, a big dollhouse, and a place to leave her doll things "out" without me tripping on them when I put my littlest to bed. I don't know what it is about window seats, but I love them, and am so happy my girls get to have one to enjoy! I'm sure yours will be greatly enjoyed by your family (that grandbaby! I get my first one next month and my youngest child isn't quite three, lol!) and friends!
ReplyDeleteJealous and happy for you at the same time. The majority of the windows in our home are too low and have widow cranks so you really can't block them. I wanted one badly in our office/craft room so to compromise I had the hubby build me a regular bench which can be moved when I need to open the window and I made a seat cushion and pillows and it looks great. My dog loves it, too. We have one big three in one window in our living room. I would love, love, love to change it into a bay window just so I can have a big window seat. My hubby, however, is pretty practical and wouldn't do it just because, after all, the window we have there "works just fine". Ugh. I'll have to live precariously through you. Can't wait to see it come to fruition. I'm excited for you!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add that the bench the hubby built fo the office/craft room is flanked on both sides by book cases. While not built in, it added so much to the room.
DeleteWe had a window seat/bench built into our breakfast nook and LOVE IT. Best decision ever. With respect to storage, here's my two cents: if you plan to have a table in front, pull up provides easier access than drawers (drawers can bump into table legs/pedestal and chairs). Otherwise, drawers are easier because you don't have to lift or move any cushion or pillows you have on top.
ReplyDeleteI was also going to mention the whole moving of cushions and pillows with the pull up storage.
DeleteI just love all your projects...I can't wait to have my own "big girl" house.
Love this idea. Wish I had one. Our "bay" in the office is "faux"...windows to the floor. So that rules that out. :-(
ReplyDeleteI LOVE window seats. . . I think most of us are romantics at heart and the idea of a window seat just sounds so cozy! I think you'll enjoy the window seat even more since your main eating table won't be there. Maybe it's just me, but I think getting people to scoot out of the way when they're sitting at the table is a lot of trouble. But a window seat seat by itself or with a secondary table by it? That sounds awesome! I'm proud you're going to build it yourself. OF COURSE you can do it--it'll be much like your mudroom bench, won't it? Except I think you're smart to do storage drawers rather than a hinged lid. Enjoy yourself!!
ReplyDeleteI had a room that begged for a window seat, so I built one out of cabinets from Home Depot! Very similar to your mudroom bench. It was the first big project I did, and I absolutely love it. It adds so much to the room. I've since added board and battens to this room (I have yet to blog about it), and it went from being a room that never got used to my most favorite room in the house! Check it out: http://thepursers.blogspot.com/2013/08/home-improvements-window-seat.html
ReplyDeleteIf you are doing drawers you'll want the seat to go straight across. It'll make it more like a half of a day bed but will be super comfortable!
ReplyDelete-Ash
www.stylizedwannabe.blogspot.com
We are fortunate to have 3 window seats in our house (none in bay windows though). They look nice and in theory are great, but my book devouring girls never read on the one in their room, the one in our dining room is only used for kids to use as a coloring table (it's a great height to stand next to and doesn't have cushions) and the one in our sitting room is used occasionally to look out the window but not for hours at a time or anything. Frankly, leaning against a window or surrounding wall, even with a few pillows behind you, is just not very comfortable! So while I love the idea of seeing a window seat in your bay, and I actually thought of it right away when you asked for suggestions, don't be surprised if you don't actually sit on it. It will look cozy and maybe make for nice extra seating for parties, but the curling up on a window seat concept just doesn't seem to work out, at least for our family. I still thing it'll be a great addition to your kitchen though. Sorry to be a downer, don't mean to be.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Anonymous above. I think it will look great in your kitchen area, but I also wonder about how practical it will be. Will you be cozy when sitting in that area when it is 14 degrees outside? I also think it would look strange if you put a table in front of it. It's way too close to the new kitchen table which is surely a focal point. I see your new window seat (no matter what shape it is) as the perfect place for kitties and puppies to hang out. Having said that, please build your underneath storage as drawers so you don't have to disturb a sleeping furball !!
DeleteI still can't picture your layout of your house.... kitchen/living room. Does the black glass door lead out to your deck?
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to see beautiful windows.A very decorated room with clean floor is essential for every house.check out this blog about buying and selling.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.buyingandsellingsite.blogspot.com
So fun to watch you redecorate/remodel/reorganize! Thanks so much for sharing your skillz with us. Your bravery inspires me!
ReplyDeleteSarah, I think you should go for the window seat in your kitchen. Whether your famuly actually uses it is beside the point. "Dahling, it's not how you feel...it's how you look," being facetious, of course. Still, I think it would "look mahvelous, dahling."
ReplyDeleteI totally just lost my whole comment to no man's land. I hate it when that happens. I'm too tired to retype the whole thing. Ugh. The gist of it was, it will be amazing, cause all your projects rock. I gave the back story to the following links the first time around, but I'm just throwin' them in this time. :)
ReplyDeleteWindow seat when the room was a nursery: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2012/01/babys-room-reveal.html
And as it looks currently: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2014/01/24-hour-bedroom-makeover-kids-new-room.html