Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Kensington and Chelsea · London
Brompton Window Seats
Window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside, for homes in Brompton. Every piece is made at our workshop and fitted in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- No space for toys and games
- An empty bay that doesn’t get used
- A radiator that makes the space hard to use
Window seats in Brompton
What it’s made from
Lift-up lids
With a lift-up lid, the whole space beneath the seat opens up. It suits blankets, toys and things you don’t need every day. We make the lid to open and close cleanly.
Birch plywood
Its layered build gives birch plywood its strength. We use it for the frame, the seat and the drawer boxes, with the edge either shown or painted.
How we make window seats for Brompton
In many period houses, a bay window is the obvious place for a seat. A bay is rarely a simple shape, with angled sides and walls that are not quite straight. We measure every face and scribe the seat to follow them, so it sits neatly in the bay without gaps. It is a job that suits bespoke work, in Brompton or anywhere else. We make window seats from birch plywood and moisture-resistant MDF with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish, and the things people most often want solved are a bay with no furniture that fits and nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books.
A solid brick outside wall in an older house can be cold and sometimes damp, so a gap and ventilation behind fitted storage help avoid condensation. That matters around Brompton, where a large share of the homes are that old. Any damp is dealt with before storage goes in.
The written quote is your record of the job. It describes the window seat we have designed for the room, its materials and its finish, and the workshop works from it.
- Where
- Brompton (SW3, SW7, SW1X)
- Borough
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- When we fit
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Contact
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
Fitting day follows a set order: we protect the floors, bring the sections in, set them level, scribe them to the walls, fix them and finish them. At the end, we tidy up and go over the work with you. How long fitting takes depends on whether the seat has drawers, a lift-up lid or a radiator grille, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Where a period house has been split into flats, the way in often goes through shared parts, so neighbours may appreciate a note before fitting day. The sections are sized for the narrowest point on the route. Saturday fitting is possible by arrangement.
- You send us a note about the window and the seat you’d like.
- We visit to measure and go through the design, the storage and the finish.
- You receive a quote in writing for the design, materials and finish.
- The seat is built in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood; a spray-painted finish is done there for a smooth, even surface.
- We fit it in your home, and a hand-painted finish is applied in the room.
- Give new paintwork gentle use while it cures; a hand-painted finish is easy to touch up later.
Preparing the room
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Take anything hanging off the wall we’re fitting to
Getting a quote
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. Each room is different, so we quote after seeing it, once the room is measured and the design talked through. For a quote, send us a few details through our contact form.
Related advice
Made for the room, or bought in a box?
If you only want a simple bench under a straight window, an off-the-shelf piece may be enough. Bespoke work makes sense when the window is a bay, there is a radiator below, or you want storage built in. At the design visit, we’ll tell you honestly which approach suits your window. Tall ceilings in older homes leave a band of empty wall above standard furniture, wasting space that could hold things you rarely use. Built-in pieces can run to the cornice or the picture rail.
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We will talk through what you need inside at the measuring visit, then set it out in the quote.
Why choose us
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- Built from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Scribed to uneven walls
- Finished by spray or by hand
Read bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
Caring for painted furniture
The finish lasts best with a little care. Here are our suggestions:
- Move furniture away from the window so we can measure
- Decide on cushion thickness before the design visit
- Note the position of any radiator and its pipes
- Bring paint colours you like to the design visit
Once the seat is fitted, it is ready to use. Paint needs time to cure fully, so treat the new finish gently at first. Keep heavy objects and sharp edges off the fresh paint.
Wipe away condensation from the window before it runs onto the seat. A little fresh air helps reduce condensation. Dry any water on the paint promptly.
Questions we’re often asked
Do you make window seats for homes in Brompton?
Yes, we work across Kensington and Chelsea, Brompton included, and across the rest of London. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Normally not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, internal works that affect its character can need listed building consent, so check with the council first. If you are unsure, the council can confirm.
Will a window seat work below a sash window?
Yes. The seat is set below the cill so the window can still open and close. Where there are shutters, the seat is planned so they still open fully. These details are measured when we visit.
Do I choose the paint colour?
You choose it. The paint colour is agreed with you before anything is painted.
Can you build a window seat over a radiator?
Yes. A radiator under the window is common, and the seat is designed to work with it. A grille in the front lets the heat into the room. Storage above a radiator stays warm, so it suits things that don’t mind that.
What happens when you come to measure?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too.
Window seats for homes in Brompton
In the neighbourhood around Brompton, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 69%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 14%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. There are 438 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Brompton. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. Since the zone was extended to the outer boroughs in August 2023, the whole of London has been inside the ULEZ. That includes the vans that bring and fit furniture in Brompton. We plan parking and access with you at the measuring visit.
If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Church of Holy Trinity, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. Carlyle's House, about 0.8 miles south, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, a seat under a sash window can keep shutters and cills clear. If you live in a period home close to Church of St Simon Zelotes, window seats can be scribed to follow a bay that is rarely square.
Brompton is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, about 2 miles west of Kensington. Anywhere in Brompton, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. We cover places right across Kensington and Chelsea.
We make window seats across the SW3, SW7 and SW1X postcode area for window seats. Our area takes in homes on streets like West Road, Hans Road and Eaton Lane, along with the roads around them, for window seats and any of our other fitted furniture. Main roads around Brompton include the A315 and A3212. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the measuring visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. Close by, we also work in Chelsea (1 mile south), Belgravia (1 mile north-east), South Kensington (1 mile south-west), Victoria (1 mile east) and Little Chelsea (1 mile south-west). We also make window seats in nearby places such as Kensington (2 miles west), Notting Hill (2 miles north-west), Notting Dale (2 miles north-west), Holland Park (2 miles west), Bayswater (2 miles north-west) and Kensal Town (3 miles north-west).
Local landmarks in Brompton
Our area takes in the homes around Natural History Museum Library and Archives, Shuckburgh Arms and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School and the streets around them. The closest station to Brompton is London Victoria station, roughly 0.8 miles east of the centre. A little further out are Harrods (within half a mile north) and Berkshire & Westminster Dragoons Museum (within half a mile south-east). For a walk, there is Serpentine.
Also near Brompton
What else we make in Brompton
When is bespoke worth it?
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there is usually a gap left over at the top or at one end. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
It is worth being honest about cost: off-the-shelf furniture usually costs less up front. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is tricky, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.