Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Kensington and Chelsea · London
Kensington Window Seats
Window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside, for homes in Kensington. Every piece is made at our workshop and fitted in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books
- Wanting a quiet place to read
- A ready-made bench that does not fit the bay
Window seats for your home in Kensington
Window seats in Kensington
A radiator under the window is common, and a seat has to work with it. Over a radiator, the seat needs a grille or open front so warmth can reach the room. The front of the seat includes a grille, with space left around the radiator. When we visit in Kensington, we will check the radiator and plan around it. We make window seats from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted, and the usual reasons to get in touch are off-the-shelf pieces that never quite fit the window and a radiator that makes the space hard to use.
Original features like shutters, cupboard doors and panelling are worth keeping where they survive. With a large share of the homes around Kensington built before 1919, new storage can be made to sit beside them rather than replace them. Door styles can be chosen to suit the age of the house. For a listed home, fixing into original joinery can need consent, so check first.
If the job needs another trade, like an electrician or a plumber, we’ll tell you, so it can be arranged before fitting day. The quote itself covers our work, from the design to the materials and finish.
- Location
- Kensington (W11, W8, W14, SW7)
- Borough
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
What it’s made from
Pull-out drawers
Drawers can run the full width or be combined with a lid. Around a radiator, the drawers are placed to leave room for the heat. We agree the layout at the measuring visit.
Moisture-resistant MDF
Windows can run with condensation in winter, so a moisture-resistant grade of MDF makes sense. It takes a spray-painted or hand-painted finish well, and holds its shape in the bay.
Places near Kensington
Other services in Kensington
Elsewhere in Kensington and Chelsea
Window Seats in all 13 places in Kensington and Chelsea
All services in Kensington and Chelsea
Areas we cover
About window seats
Bespoke window seats or ready-made?
Off-the-shelf benches come in the maker’s finishes. Ours is spray-painted or hand-painted in a colour agreed with you, so it can match the woodwork or the walls. The two recesses beside a chimney breast are seldom an identical size, and standard units bought as a pair rarely suit both. Fitted furniture is made to each one separately.
In London, parking can affect the price. Much of London is covered by controlled parking zones, so a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension near your home. It helps to talk about parking at the measuring visit, so we can plan for it.
Why choose us
- Every quote follows a design visit
- More than 300 projects completed
- Saturday visits and fitting by prior arrangement
- Work across the whole of London
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf or how to compare quotes.
Looking after your furniture
Fitted furniture is part of the room, so it is worth looking after. A few pointers help:
- Check the shutters so the seat can leave room for them
- Consider how often you’ll reach for what’s stored
- Choose a colour that suits the room
- Decide if the seat is part of a larger piece
In winter, windows can run with condensation, so keep the area behind the seat dry. Opening the window for a while helps. If anything isn’t right with the seat, drop us a line using the contact form and we’ll talk it through.
Every so often, look at the hinges and any handles. A loose screw is easy to tighten before it works loose. If something stops working smoothly, get in touch through our contact form and tell us.
Flat-pack or bespoke?
Cost matters, and it’s fair to say so: off-the-shelf furniture normally costs less up front. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is awkward, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Off-the-shelf furniture can be a sensible choice. If the walls are straight and the space suits standard sizes, it often does the job.
How fitting works for window seats
Every fitting follows the same order: floors are protected, the sections come in, everything is levelled, scribed to the walls, fixed and finished. At the end, we tidy up and go over the work with you. How long the 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 it is useful to let neighbours know about fitting day. The sections are sized for the narrowest point on the route. Saturdays can be arranged.
- You let us know about the window and the room, with a note of any radiator or shutters.
- We measure the window, the cill and any radiator or shutters. Then we talk through the seat height and storage.
- We agree the seat, the storage and the finish, and send a written quote. Take your time with it.
- The seat is made at our workshop and painted in your colour.
- The seat is fitted, scribed to the walls and checked with you.
Before we arrive
- Keep pets in another room while we work
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician beforehand
Ask for a quote
Photos help us understand the room before we visit. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them tell us a lot about the space, along with rough sizes. To share them, get in touch through our contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Advice
Questions from Kensington
I live near Kensington Olympia station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Kensington and Chelsea and the rest of London. You can send us a few details through our contact form to arrange a design visit, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Will a conservation area stop me having window seats fitted in Kensington?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mostly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. If your home is listed, changes inside that alter its character may need listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Should I choose a lift-up lid or drawers?
Many seats use both. Drawers suit things you use often, and a lid suits bulky items. For children’s rooms, drawers are typically easier to manage. We talk it through when we visit.
What if the wall is cold or damp?
It can be done with some care: leaving ventilation behind and inside helps stop condensation. Damp treatment is not something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
Can I send pictures ahead of the visit?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot, especially with rough sizes. You can send them when you message us from the contact page.
Is the furniture spray painted or hand painted?
You can choose between two finishes: spray painted or hand painted. Spray painting gives a smooth, even finish, and hand painting is easy to touch up.
Fitted storage in Kensington
About 69% of the homes in the streets around Kensington went up before 1919, and about 10% between 1973 and 1999, according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). We take that into account during the design visit, since older and newer walls take different fixings. Entries on the National Heritage List near the centre of Kensington include The Tower House (Grade I), under half a mile south-west, and Holland House (Grade I), less than half a mile north. Listing covers the inside of a building as well as the outside, so works that affect a listed home’s character, like removing original joinery, may need listed building consent. The council’s conservation officer is the person to ask before work starts. More than half of the homes in the area around Kensington (about 69%) were built before 1919, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Bays and sash windows in period houses suit a seat with drawers or a lift-up lid, with a grille where there is a radiator below.
If you live in a flat close to Kensington Olympia station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in. For an older house near Church of St Barnabas, the deep reveals of an older window can frame a seat neatly. The wider area includes historic houses like Leighton House, about 0.1 miles south. If your own home is a period one, a bay or a sash window is a natural place for a window seat.
Kensington is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. From period terraces to newer flats in Kensington, the furniture is designed around the room as we find it. Kensington is one of the places in Kensington and Chelsea where we make window seats, and the borough has 13 places on our list.
Every address in W11, W8, W14 and SW7 is within our area for window seats. You will find streets here such as Kensington High Street, Edwardes Square and Somerset Square, and homes on each of them are within our area for window seats. Kensington sits close to the A402 and B316, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. If you are just outside Kensington, we also cover Holland Park (1 mile north), Notting Hill (1 mile north), Shepherd's Bush (1 mile west), Notting Dale (1 mile north) and White City (1 mile north-west). We also make window seats in nearby places like Brompton (2 miles east), Chelsea (2 miles south-east), World's End (2 miles south-east) and North Kensington (2 miles north-west).
Landmarks near Kensington
Our area takes in the homes around Kensington School, Holland Park School and Abdus Salam Library and the streets around them. There’s a railway station in Kensington itself: Kensington Olympia station. Other landmarks nearby include Kensington Arcade (a few minutes’ walk east) and St Mary Abbot's Hospital (0.5 miles east). Not far away are The Long Water and Campden Hill.