Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Bexley · London
Longlands Window Seats
Window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside, for homes in Longlands. We make each piece in our workshop and fit it in your home, with a spray or hand-painted finish.
- Nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books
- Toys spread across a bedroom floor
- A radiator under the window getting in the way
Window seats in Longlands
Storage in Longlands homes: local notes
About 39% of the homes in the streets around Longlands went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 22% between 1945 and 1972, based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. Each era brings its own kind of wall, ceiling height and floor, so it shapes the design from the first measurement. 7 conservation areas have at least part of their area less than a mile from the middle of Longlands. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house does not normally need planning permission. The ULEZ, run by TfL, takes in all of London, so Bexley is inside it. It applies to every van that comes to fit furniture in Longlands. Parking and access are planned at the measuring visit.
For families living near Longlands Primary School, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up. If you live in a period home close to Christ Church, the deep reveals of an older window can frame a seat neatly. Eltham Palace, about 2 miles north-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, a bay or a sash window is a natural place for a window seat.
Longlands is about 1 mile east of Sidcup, within the London Borough of Bexley. Design visits and fitting in Longlands can be on a Saturday, by arrangement. Our Bexley coverage includes Longlands, along with the rest of the borough.
In DA15, DA14 and SE9, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. Whether you live on a street such as Main Road, Alder Road and Sidcup Road or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for window seats. Longlands is near the A211, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you get in touch. Neighbouring places we cover for window seats include Foxbury (1 mile south), New Eltham (1 mile north-west), Chislehurst (1 mile south-west), Coldharbour (1 mile west) and Blackfen (1 mile north). Across the rest of Bexley, our area takes in Welling (2 miles north-east), Erith (5 miles north-east), Bexley (2 miles east), Belvedere (5 miles north-east), Northumberland Heath (5 miles north-east) and Lessness Heath (5 miles north-east).
Around Longlands
Our area takes in the homes around Chislehurst School for Girls and Ye Olde Black Horse Inn. For rail, the closest station is New Eltham station, roughly 0.8 miles north-west of the centre. A little further out are Metropolitan Police Museum (0.8 miles east) and Queen Mary's Hospital (1 mile south-east). Not far away are The Tarn.
About our window seats in Longlands
Window seats work in bedrooms and children’s rooms as well as living rooms. Drawers or a lift-up lid turn it into storage as well as seating. Drawers can be easier than a lid for children to use. In Longlands, the design visit is where the details are settled. People usually come to us about wanting new furniture to sit well in an older room and a bay window that’s hard to furnish; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and strong birch plywood, with a painted finish.
An interwar house typically has a proper landing, sometimes with a recess or an airing cupboard, and that space can take shallow fitted storage. Around Longlands, where interwar homes and semis are a big part of the housing, the landing is worth a look as well as the hall. Any boiler or hot water cylinder keeps the access and ventilation its maker asks for.
Everything we agree at the measuring visit goes into the written quote: the layout, what goes inside, the materials used and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Where
- Longlands (DA15, DA14, SE9)
- Area
- Bexley
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Fitting days
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
Common questions about window seats
Do I need permission for fitted furniture in a conservation area?
Typically not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Listed buildings are different, as works inside that affect their character can require listed building consent from the council. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
I live near New Eltham station. Is that in your area?
Yes, homes across Bexley and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can get in touch through our contact form with a few details about the room, and let us know about parking and access at the same time.
What materials do you use for window seats?
Our window seats are made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, then painted. A moisture-resistant grade suits a spot by a window, where condensation can form. Your quote confirms the materials and finish.
What finishes do you offer?
There are two options: a spray finish from the workshop, which is smooth and even, or hand painting, which can be done in your home. Your quote sets out which you’ve chosen.
Should I send photos?
Yes, they help. A few pictures of the room, from floor to ceiling, tell us a lot. To send them, tell us about the room on our contact form.
Can you fit a window seat under a sash window?
Yes. We set the seat below the cill, so the sash still works. If there are working shutters, we leave room for them to fold back. We check all of this during the design visit.
What affects the cost of window seats
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. This is what makes the difference:
- Doors and drawers, and how many
- Spray painting or hand painting
- Awkward walls, sloping ceilings and uneven floors
- How big the furniture is
In London, parking can affect the price. The boroughs run controlled parking zones across much of the city, 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 it can be planned.
What we need to know
Getting some details early makes the visit more useful. If you can, send:
- Rough sizes, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
If you already have something in mind, tell us; 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.
Nearby places to Longlands
Also in Longlands
Why bespoke in Longlands?
A standalone bench can be moved, which is useful if you rent or plan to move soon. Fitted seats stay with the house, and they make more of the window. Which suits you depends on your plans. Ready-made furniture rarely suits a bay, a box room or a bulkhead over the stairs, and interwar homes often have all three. Built-in pieces are designed to fit them.
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 during the design visit, and the quote follows.
Why work with us in Longlands
- Designed for the room you have
- Scribed to uneven walls
- Saturday work by arrangement
- A spray or hand-painted finish
See bespoke vs off-the-shelf and what a quote should include.
When is bespoke worth it?
Bespoke work comes into its own in rooms that aren’t square. Older London rooms tend to have leaning walls, sloping floors and alcoves of different widths, which leaves standard units with gaps at the sides and top.
A confident DIYer can manage simple shelves or a standard wardrobe in a square room. It gets harder with sloping ceilings, out-of-level floors and lath-and-plaster walls, because scribing and the right fixings start to matter.
How fitting day works
If anything comes up on the day, just ask. Most of the decisions were made at the measuring visit and set out in your quote, so fitting day is about putting it in place carefully and leaving the room tidy. How long the fitting takes depends on the size of the window and the design, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. Loft stairs in an interwar house can be tight, with a low ceiling at the top, so pieces for a loft room are sized for the narrowest point. Elsewhere in the house, the route is typically more generous. Each section is assembled and fixed in the room.
- You tell us about the window and the room, with a note of any radiator or shutters.
- At the design visit, every side of the window is measured. Then we go through the seat height and storage.
- We agree the seat, the storage and the finish, and send a written quote.
- The seat is built in our workshop and painted in your colour.
- We fit it in your home and check every lid and drawer with you.
Getting ready for fitting day
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Clear the area where the furniture is going
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
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. To arrange a visit, tell us about the room on our contact form.
Read more
Before and after fitting day
A little care keeps the finish looking good, whether it was spray painted or hand painted. These practical tips help:
- Let us know about parking during the design visit
- Clear the bay or window area before the design visit
- Decide whether you’d like a lid, drawers or both
- Decide if the seat is part of a larger piece
Once the seat is fitted, it’s ready to use. Paint needs time to cure fully, so treat the new finish gently at first. Avoid placing heavy objects on the painted surfaces while it hardens.
Check now and then that hinges and handles are tight. Tightening early stops a small looseness getting worse. If a lid or drawer starts to catch, use our contact form and describe what’s happening.