Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Richmond upon Thames · London
Window seats in Kew, Richmond upon Thames
For homes in Kew, we make window seats from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. The finish is spray painted or hand painted, in a colour agreed with you.
- A ready-made bench that doesn’t fit the bay
- A radiator under the window getting in the way
- Nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books
Window seats for your home in Kew
Window seats in Kew
A window seat can be part of a larger piece of furniture. Shelving on each side, with the seat in the middle, makes a natural reading spot. We design the seat and the surrounding units together, so the lines and the finish match. We can discuss the options when we visit in Kew. If you are living with a ready-made bench that doesn’t fit the bay and a room with shutters and sashes that deserves a proper seat, window seats made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
A Victorian or Edwardian terrace usually has a long, narrow hall leading to the stairs. Around Kew, a large share of homes date from before 1919, so depth matters as much as width wherever storage goes. Even shallow storage can hold a lot without narrowing the way through.
A quote in writing follows the design visit. It sets out the design we have talked through, the materials and the finish, so it is clear what’s included.
- Place
- Kew (W4, TW9, TW8)
- Borough
- Richmond upon Thames
- Prices
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Making
- In our workshop, then fitted in your home
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke window seats or ready-made?
Ready-made benches are made in fixed widths and depths. A seat made for your window can use the full width and depth of the bay or recess, with drawers, a lift-up lid or a mix below. Standard furniture is drawn for modern rooms, so its proportions can look odd in a tall period room, whereas fitted pieces can pick up the room’s height and mouldings, with panels and details to suit the house.
The finish affects the cost: spray painting is done in the workshop, while hand painting can be done on site. Your choice, along with the size and the fittings, is reflected in the written quote.
What you get with us
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Built from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Finished by spray or by hand
- 300+ projects completed
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made and how to compare quotes.
Nearby places to Kew
Also in Kew
How we price window seats
The price for your room depends on:
- The internal fittings
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- Access to the room, such as stairs, lifts and narrow halls
- Doors and drawers, and how many
No two rooms cost the same to furnish, because size, layout and finish change from job to job. Spray painting and hand painting are different processes, which affects the cost. You will see the figure in your written quote, after the design visit.
What to send when you contact us
Some details help us understand the job before we visit. When you contact us, it helps to send:
- Anything in the way, such as radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- Pictures of styles you like, if you have any
- Your postcode and the borough
Photos help us understand the room before we visit. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space, along with rough measurements. To send them over, fill in our short enquiry form, and we’ll suggest a time for a design visit.
How fitting day works
Every fitting follows the same order: floors are protected, the sections come in, everything is levelled, scribed to the walls, fixed and finished. Then the room is tidied and we look over the work with you. The time the fitting takes depends on whether the seat has drawers, a lift-up lid or a radiator grille, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Terraced streets in London are often lined with parked cars, so it’s useful to tell us at the measuring visit what’s outside. The van is unloaded quickly, with the sections carried straight in. Saturday fitting can be arranged.
- You contact us with some details about the bay or recess.
- We visit to measure the angles of the bay and the floor, and go through the design.
- A written quote follows, setting out the design, materials and finish.
- In our workshop we make each section of the seat from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit the seat in your home, trimming the edges to meet the walls and cill.
Preparing the room
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
Getting a quote
If you know what you want, say so; if you don’t, that’s fine, and we can work it out together. At the design visit, we measure up and talk the design through with you, and the written quote that follows sets it out. To start, message us from the contact page.
Related advice
Kew homes and window seats
Homes built before 1919 make up about 48% of the housing in the streets around Kew, with about 15% built between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. There are 73 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Kew. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and window seats can be designed to work around them. More than a third of the homes in the streets around Kew (about 48%) were built before 1919, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. Sash and bay windows are common in houses of that age, and they’re natural places for a window seat.
If you live near Kew Green, living near green space often means muddy boots, bikes and outdoor kit, and window seats can give those things a place. For a family home near Grove Park Primary School, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up. The wider area includes historic houses such as Kew Palace, about 0.7 miles west. For a period home anywhere nearby, a radiator under the window just needs a grille in the seat front.
Kew is about 4 miles south-west of Twickenham, within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Design visits and fitting in Kew can be on a Saturday, by arrangement. In Richmond upon Thames, Kew is one of the places we cover.
Postcode districts we cover here for window seats: W4, TW9 and TW8. Streets in the area include Kew Road, Maze Road and Kent Road, and homes on each of them are within our area for window seats. The A3000 run close to Kew, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. Other places close to Kew include Strand-on-the-Green (1 mile north), Grove Park (1 mile east), North Sheen (1 mile south), Gunnersbury (1 mile north) and Turnham Green (1 mile east). Elsewhere in Richmond upon Thames, we also cover Twickenham (4 miles south-west), Richmond (2 miles south-west), Richmond upon Thames (2 miles south-west), Teddington (5 miles south-west), Hampton (6 miles south-west) and Barnes (2 miles south-east).
Around Kew
Around Kew, we cover homes near Library for Iranian Studies, Chiswick School and Bull's Head pub and the streets around them. Kew’s nearest station is Chiswick station, roughly 0.5 miles south-east of the centre. Nearby you’ll also find Barnes Hospital (1.5 miles south-east) and Museum No. 2. Monocotyledons and Cryptogams (0.6 miles west). Not far away are Kew Gardens Lake and Duke's Hollow.
Flat-pack or bespoke?
Where bespoke earns its keep is in rooms that are not square. Older London rooms tend to have leaning walls, sloping floors and alcoves of different widths.
Flat-pack and off-the-shelf furniture has its place. If the walls are straight and the space suits standard sizes, it often does the job, and it’s quick to buy.
What window seats cannot fix
It helps to know what’s outside our work before you plan:
- Any wiring, which needs an electrician
- Moving or replacing a radiator, which is for your plumber
- Seat cushions, which you source separately
If in doubt, you can fill in our short enquiry form and describe the room before you arrange a visit. How it works.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Birch plywood
- Radiator grilles
- Lift-up lids or drawers
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
Questions we’re often asked
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Kew?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. Depending on the street, a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension through the council may be needed, and suspensions often need notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit, so we can plan the day around it.
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Not normally. Conservation area controls are mainly about 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 can need listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
What is a window seat made from?
Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, with a spray-painted or hand-painted finish. Next to a window, the moisture-resistant grade is a sensible choice. The materials and finish are agreed in your quote.
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. If there are working shutters, we leave room for them to fold back. These details are measured when we visit.
Does someone need to be home during the fitting?
Someone needs to let us in at the start of the day. It’s good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
Can you build a window seat over a radiator?
Yes. The seat has a grille or open front, so the warmth can reach the room. We also leave space around the radiator. Moving the radiator is for your plumber, if you’d prefer it elsewhere.