Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
City of London · London
Window seats in City of London
Window seats in the City of London: window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books
- Wanting new furniture to sit well in an older room
- A bay with no furniture that fits
Window seats in the City of London
Your questions about window seats in the City of London
Does a conservation area in or near the City of London affect fitted furniture?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are largely about how buildings look from outside, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character can require listed building consent from the council. If you are unsure, the council can confirm.
I live in a flat in the City of London. How will the furniture get up the stairs?
We measure the route in along with the room itself: the stairs, landings, lift and doors. The furniture is made in sections that fit the stairs and lift, and put together in the room. If your building has rules on lift booking or working hours, or your lease needs consent for alterations, it is worth checking those early.
Can the fitting be on a Saturday?
Yes, we can arrange Saturdays. Let us know when you first get in touch, and we’ll see what we can do.
Can you build a seat beneath sash windows?
Yes. The seat is set below the cill so the window can still open and close. If there are working shutters, we leave room for them to fold back. We check all of this at the design visit.
Do I choose the paint colour?
You choose it. The paint colour is agreed with you before anything is painted.
Can I send pictures before the visit?
Yes, they help. Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling, give us a good idea of the space. You can send them when you use our contact form.
How we make window seats for the City of London
Each window seat is built in our workshop, using moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. Birch plywood is strong and holds screws well, which suits a seat that takes weight every day, and MDF gives the fronts and panels a smooth surface for paint. It is then spray-painted or hand-painted and fitted in your home in the City of London. We make window seats from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted, and people most often get in touch about wanting a seat without blocking the radiator and a recess under the window doing nothing.
Many post-war homes have a boiler in a hall, kitchen or landing cupboard. If it sits in a cupboard you’d like rebuilt, the new storage keeps the clearances and ventilation set out in the manufacturer’s instructions. Because many homes around the City of London date from the post-war years, that’s one of the things we check at the design visit. Any boiler work is for an engineer on the Gas Safe Register.
Where other trades are needed, for instance an electrician to move a socket, we point that out, so it can be arranged before fitting day. Our quote covers the carpentry: the design, the materials and the finish.
- Location
- City of London (EC4V, EC1A, EC2M, EC2Y)
- Area
- City of London
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Flats, conversions and lettings
A lot of London’s terraced houses are now converted flats, and that often means a shared hallway and a tight turn on the stairs. Each section is sized with that in mind.
If you live in a flat, getting the furniture in is planned from the start. At the design visit, we measure the stairs, the landings, any lift and the doors, so each section is sized to get through without a struggle.
What it is made from
Lift-up lids
A lid can run the full width of the seat or be split into sections. Smaller lids are easier to open. The design visit is where we agree the layout.
Doors and drawer fronts
Fronts are made from moisture-resistant MDF and painted to your colour. Panels can suit the shutters or doors in an older room. The gaps are kept even all along.
Pricing window seats in the City of London
The price for your room depends on:
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
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’ll talk through what you need inside during the design visit, then set it out in the quote.
What we need to know
Getting some details early makes the visit more useful. Where you can, include:
- Any ideas or images you’ve saved
- What the furniture needs to hold
- What kind of home it is, and which floor the room is on
- Approximate measurements of the space
The design visit is where every quote starts. We take full measurements, see how true the walls and floors are and work through the design together. A quote in writing follows the visit. To arrange the visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Fitted storage in the City of London
The biggest shares of homes in the streets around the City of London were built between 1945 and 1972 (about 40%) and since 2000 (about 27%), going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. The age of a home tells us a lot about its walls, floors and ceilings, and so about how window seats are fixed and fitted. Part of the City of London is in the Guildhall Conservation Area, one of the conservation areas recorded by Historic England. Being in a conservation area mainly affects changes to the outside of a building, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. If in doubt, the council’s planning team can confirm. Purpose-built flats are home to about 87% of households in the area around the City of London, in the ONS Census 2021 figures. For a flat, window seats are made in sections sized for the stairs, the lift and the doors. Building management rules on lifts, deliveries and working hours are worth checking early.
Close to St Alphage Garden? Window seats can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things. For families living near Fashion Retail Academy, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up. Near listed buildings like Church of St Lawrence Jewry, less than half a mile north of the centre of the City of London, older homes may keep original joinery that window seats can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can need listed building consent.
The City of London is one of London’s 33 local authority areas. We design and make window seats for homes in the City of London. We cover places right across the rest of London.
Design visits and fitting in EC4V, EC1A, EC2M and EC2Y work the same way as everywhere else we cover. You will find streets here like Aldermanbury Square, Monkwell Square and Paternoster Square, and we cover homes on all of them for window seats. The City of London is near the A1 and A3; on busy main roads, unloading window seats takes a little planning. Other places close to the City of London include Barbican Estate (1 mile north), Bishopsgate (1 mile east), Finsbury (1 mile north), Aldgate (1 mile east) and St Luke's (1 mile north).
Near you in the City of London
Around the City of London, we cover homes near Golden Fleece pub, Prior Weston Primary School and Children's Centre and Barts Health Archives and the streets around them. There’s a railway station in the City of London itself: London Cannon Street station. Nearby you’ll also find Gabriel's Wharf (0.8 miles south-west) and London Mithraeum (under half a mile south). Green spaces nearby include Ludgate Hill.
What happens on fitting day
Furniture made in a workshop still has to meet the room it is going into, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it. How long the fitting itself takes depends on the shape of the bay or recess and what goes under the seat, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Fixing into concrete takes a heavy-duty drill and makes some noise, so a word with the neighbours before fitting day can help. Fitting day is planned around any building rules on noisy work. Dust is kept down and cleared as we go.
- First you let us know about the bay or window where you’d like a seat.
- At the design visit we measure the bay or recess and check the radiator, cill and any shutters. We also talk about lift-up lids or drawers.
- You receive a written quote for the seat we have discussed, for you to look over.
- We make the seat, the lids or drawers and any grille in our workshop.
- The seat is fitted in your home and checked so the lids and drawers run well. Any radiator grille is fitted so heat can still reach the room.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Let us know about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Clear the hallway and stairs so the sections can come through
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
Ask for a quote
If you know what you want, say so; if not, we can work it out together at the visit. At the design visit, we measure up and talk the design through with you, and the written quote then sets it out. To arrange a visit, tell us about the room on our contact form.
Related advice
Places near the City of London
Other services in the City of London
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
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’s a radiator below, or you want storage built in. We’re happy to give an honest view at the measuring visit. A ready-made unit pushed back to the wall leaves a gap above the skirting, which wastes depth and gathers dust. Fitted furniture is scribed over the skirting or set on its own plinth.
Tricky rooms take more time: uneven walls, sloping floors and angled ceilings all add scribing and cutting on site. The quote allows for it, written once we have measured up.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in the City of London
- Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Designed for the room you have
- More than 300 projects completed
- Finished by spray or by hand
See our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what a quote should include.