Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Westminster · London
Window seats in Clare Market, Westminster
Window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside, for homes in Clare Market. After a design visit and a quote in writing, it is made in our workshop and fitted in your home.
- A period room that needs furniture to suit it
- A radiator that makes the space hard to use
- An empty bay that does not get used
Window seats in Clare Market
Honest limits
Some parts of a job need another trade, such as an electrician, a plumber or a Gas Safe registered engineer. Here is what to bear in mind:
- Seat cushions, which you source separately
- Any wiring, which needs an electrician
- Plumbing work on the radiator under the window
If you are not sure what’s possible in your room, you can fill in our short enquiry form and we will give you a straight answer. How a job runs, step by step.
Materials and parts
- Radiator grilles
- Lift-up lids or drawers
- Birch plywood
- Hand-painted finish
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
About our window seats in Clare Market
Window seats work in bedrooms and children’s rooms as well as living rooms. With deep drawers or a lift-up lid, it becomes useful storage as well as a place to sit. Drawers can be easier than a lid for children to use. In Clare Market, the design visit is where the details are settled. If your home has a nursery or bedroom short of storage and wanting a seat without blocking the radiator, that is what window seats are for, made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
Where original shutters, doors or panelling survive, they’re worth designing around. Around Clare Market, where homes from before 1919 make up a large share, new storage can be made to sit beside them rather than replace them. Panel details can be drawn to suit the house, and painted to match. For a listed home, fixing into original joinery can need consent, so check first.
Everything we agree at the design visit goes into the written quote: the layout, what goes inside, the materials used and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.
- Place
- Clare Market (WC2H, W1D, WC2B)
- Area
- Westminster
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Materials and finish
- MDF and birch plywood, painted
- Fitting days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Nearby places to Clare Market
More for homes in Clare Market
DIY, flat-pack or bespoke
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can use the full height and width.
It is worth being honest about cost: flat-pack is normally cheaper to buy. Bespoke earns its place where the room is awkward, space is tight or you want the furniture to look part of the house.
Questions we are often asked
Do you make window seats for homes in Clare Market?
Yes, we work across Westminster, Clare Market included, and across the rest of London. You can tell us about the room on our contact form to arrange a design visit.
Does a conservation area in or near Clare Market affect fitted furniture?
Usually 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, works inside that affect its character can require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Can you build a window seat over a radiator?
Yes. Many windows have a radiator beneath, and we design the seat around it. The front includes a grille so the radiator keeps working. Storage above a radiator stays warm, so it suits things that do not mind that.
What if my walls and floors are out of level?
Walls and floors that aren’t true are part of the job in older homes. We trim the edges to follow the wall and level the base, so it sits tight to the room.
How long will the window seat fitting take?
How long fitting takes depends on whether the seat has drawers, a lift-up lid or a radiator grille, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. Every part is made in our workshop before we arrive. Saturday fitting is possible by arrangement.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
Someone needs to be there to let us in. You do not need to watch us work, but it helps to be around at the end.
How fitting day works
Before anything is fixed, we set the furniture level. Where the floor slopes, we bring the furniture up to level on adjustable feet or a plinth. After that, it’s fixed to the wall using fixings that suit the wall, whether that is solid brick, lath and plaster or plasterboard. Hallways in period houses are often narrow, and the stairs turn sharply, so window seats are made in sections sized to get through. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through, and the sections are joined and scribed in the room.
- You get in touch with a few details about the window. Say how you’d like to use it, if you know.
- At the design visit, we look at the window, the radiator and what you need.
- A written quote follows, with the fitting days agreed. Read it through and ask if anything is unclear.
- Your window seat is built in our workshop, shaped to the window.
- The seat is fitted and set level, ready for a cushion.
Before we arrive
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Let us know about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
How to get a quote
A quote begins with some details from you: which room it is, rough sizes and a couple of pictures if you can take them. To send them, send us a few details through our contact form. After that, we arrange a visit to measure and talk through the design, then send a quote in writing.
Read more
Is bespoke worth it?
Bespoke seats are scribed to the walls and set level, so it fits neatly at the walls and floor. A bench simply sits in front of the window. The difference is most noticeable in a period room. Alcoves and recesses in period houses are rarely a standard width or depth, so off-the-shelf pieces either do not fit or leave a gap either side. Made for the space, the furniture uses the full width and height.
The finish affects the cost: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. The written quote reflects your choice, along with the size and fittings.
Why us?
- Finished by spray or by hand
- Saturday work by prior arrangement
- Made in moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Built around your room
See how bespoke compares with ready-made and how to compare quotes.
What affects the price in Clare Market
To work out the quote, we look at:
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Where a van can park, like a permit bay or a bay suspension
- The width and height of the space
- Hanging rails, shelves, drawers and other fittings inside
Every room is priced on its own, because the size, the layout and the finish all vary. A spray finish and a hand-painted finish involve different work, and that shows in the price. The figure comes in your written quote after the design visit.
What to send when you contact us
Ahead of the design visit, we’ll normally ask about:
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- What the furniture needs to hold
- Whether it is a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Radiators, sockets, pipes or meters on or near the wall
You do not need exact measurements to get started. Everything is measured properly when we visit. To arrange it, message us from the contact page. You receive a written quote after the visit.
Window seats in Clare Market: local notes
About 48% of the homes in the streets around Clare Market went up before 1919, and about 22% since 2000, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. Clare Market is partly covered by the Strand 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. Since the zone was extended to the outer boroughs in August 2023, the whole of London has been inside the ULEZ. It applies to the vans that deliver and fit furniture in Clare Market, as it does anywhere else in London. Access and parking are talked through at the measuring visit.
Dr Johnson's House, about 0.4 miles east, 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. For an older house near Enon Chapel, a bay or a sash window is a natural place for a window seat. Living in a block of flats near London Charing Cross station? Then check any building rules on lifts and working hours early, and the sections will be sized for the way in.
Clare Market is about 2 miles west of City of Westminster, within the City of Westminster. Whether your home in Clare Market is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, we measure the room as it is and design around it. Our work takes in places right across Westminster, large and small.
Design visits and fitting in WC2H, W1D and WC2B work the same way as everywhere else we cover. We cover homes on streets like Drury Lane, New Square and Old Square, along with the roads around them, whether you want window seats or another piece made for the room. Clare Market sits close to the A4 and A301. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the measuring visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. We also cover Aldwych (1 mile south), Temple Bar (1 mile east), Covent Garden (1 mile south-west), Temple (1 mile south-east) and Seven Dials (1 mile west). Elsewhere in Westminster, we also cover City of Westminster (2 miles west), Victoria (2 miles south-west), Paddington Green (3 miles west), Paddington (2 miles west), Connaught Village (2 miles west) and Belgravia (2 miles south-west).
Local landmarks in Clare Market
Our area takes in the homes around Mercers' School, Ye Old White Horse pub and LSE Shaw Library. Clare Market’s nearest station is London Charing Cross station, about 0.6 miles south-west of the centre. Other landmarks nearby include Hunterian Museum (less than half a mile north-east) and Gabriel's Wharf (0.6 miles south-east). Not far away are St. James's Park Lake and Ludgate Hill.