Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Richmond upon Thames · London
Mortlake Window Seats
Window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside, designed for your room in Mortlake. After a design visit and a written quote, it is made in our workshop and fitted in your home.
- Wanting a quiet place to read
- Wanting a seat without blocking the radiator
- An empty bay that does not get used
Need window seats in Mortlake?
Questions we are often asked
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Mortlake?
It can be, depending on whether your street is in a controlled parking zone. 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.
Will a conservation area stop me having window seats fitted in Mortlake?
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 need listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Will a window seat work below 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. These details are measured when we visit.
What do you do at the measuring visit?
We measure the space and discuss the design, materials and finish. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, then send a quote in writing.
Do I need to be at home on fitting day?
We need access, so someone has to let us in. You do not need to watch us work, though we like to go over the furniture with you at the end.
How is a window seat priced?
The price comes in a written quote, worked out from the measurements and the design you choose. A bay with angled sides involves more work than a straight recess, and drawers more than a lid. Everything is set out in a quote in writing after the visit.
Window seats in Mortlake
A seat under a bedroom or nursery window can store toys, bedding or books. With deep drawers or a lift-up lid, it becomes useful storage as well as a place to sit. For children’s rooms, drawers are often easier for small hands than a heavy lid. Whatever the room, the process for a home in Mortlake is the same. Most enquiries start with a ready-made bench that doesn’t fit the bay and nowhere to keep blankets, toys or books; the furniture is made from MDF made to resist moisture and birch plywood, then spray-painted or hand-painted.
Ceilings and floors in homes built before 1919 are rarely level, and a large share of the homes around Mortlake date from then. Each piece is scribed and levelled on site so it looks straight in a room that is not. Picture rails, skirting and cornices are worked around rather than removed.
Everything we agree during 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
- Mortlake (SW14, SW13, SW15)
- Borough
- Richmond upon Thames
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Send us a message
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
What we do not do
We make and fit furniture, and we don’t do electrics, plumbing, gas, plastering or structural work. There are a few other points to bear in mind:
- Plastering and decorating around the seat
- Any wiring, which needs an electrician
- Fixing the window itself
Not sure whether your space suits window seats? You can message us from the contact page and we’ll tell you before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
Boards, parts and finishes
- Spray-painted finish
- Lift-up lids or drawers
- Hand-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Radiator grilles
- Moisture-resistant MDF
Also near Mortlake
More for homes in Mortlake
Elsewhere in Richmond upon Thames
Window Seats across all 19 places in Richmond upon Thames
Everything we make in Richmond upon Thames
Areas we cover
About window seats
How we price window seats
We quote each job after the design visit, because no two rooms are the same. This is what makes the difference:
- How many doors and drawers there are
- Where a van can park, such as a permit bay or a bay suspension
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Access to the room, like stairs, lifts and narrow halls
We don’t publish set prices, because each job is designed for a single room. Instead, we measure, go through the design and then quote in writing, naming the materials and finish. To start, send us a few details through our contact form.
Getting in touch
To help us picture the room, please include:
- Any ideas or images you have saved
- Whether it’s a house or a flat, and if there are stairs or a lift
- Rough measurements, even if they’re only to the nearest few centimetres
- Pictures showing the full wall, from floor to ceiling
We quote once we’ve seen the room. We measure the space, check the walls and floors and discuss what you’d like, then send a written quote. Every piece is quoted for your room after the design visit. To arrange a visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Fitting day, step by step
In older rooms, the furniture normally has to meet skirting, picture rails, cornice or coving. We cut and scribe the furniture around them on site, so it sits neatly against the room. How long the fitting takes depends on the size of the window and the design, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. Parking on terraced streets can be tight, especially in a controlled parking zone, so details of permits, bays and any loading restrictions help. Unloading is kept short, with sections taken straight inside. Saturday fitting can be arranged.
- First we hear about your bay or window and what you’d like, with a note of any radiator or shutters.
- At the design visit, every side of the window is measured.
- The design is agreed and a written quote follows. Take your time with it.
- The seat is made in our workshop and painted in your colour. The materials are moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- We fit it in your home and check every lid and drawer with you.
How to prepare
- Tell us about any meters, fuse boards or boilers in the area
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Let us know about parking near your home
Starting with a design visit
Rough measurements are fine at the start. We measure everything properly during the design visit. To get started, get in touch through our contact form and let us know about the room. The written quote follows the visit.
Related advice
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them at the design visit, and we’ll plan the fitting around them.
Some blocks ask for notice before trades arrive, often through a building manager or concierge. Lifts sometimes need to be booked, and the lift size helps decide how big each section can be. Mention it when you contact us.
Bespoke window seats or ready-made?
Ready-made benches are made in fixed widths and depths. Bespoke seats are made to the size of the space, so nothing is wasted, and the storage below can be drawers, a lid or both. 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.
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. You’ll see the figure in your written quote, after the design visit.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Mortlake
- Built around your room
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Saturday visits and fitting by arrangement
- Over 300 projects completed
Take a look at how bespoke compares with ready-made or how to compare quotes.
Window seats in Mortlake: local notes
In the streets around Mortlake, the largest groups of homes date from before 1919 (about 58%) and between 1945 and 1972 (about 15%), based on the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax data. 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. There are 23 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Mortlake. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and window seats can be designed to work around them. Around Mortlake, about 58% of homes date from before 1919, well above the figure for Richmond upon Thames as a whole, about 38%, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. So older-house details are more likely to come into the design of window seats.
If you live near Palewell Park, window seats can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things. If your children go to Thomson House School or a school nearby, a place for each person’s coat and shoes stops the hallway filling up. The wider area includes historic houses such as Chiswick House, about 1.3 miles north. If your own home is a period one, a radiator under the window just needs a grille in the seat front.
Mortlake is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, about 3 miles west of Twickenham. We cover Mortlake as part of our work across Richmond upon Thames. Across Richmond upon Thames, we cover Mortlake and the places around it.
We work across SW14, SW13 and SW15. Whether you live on a street like Elm Road, Well Lane and Coval Road or on one nearby, we can arrange a design visit for window seats. Main roads around Mortlake include the A3003, and we plan where the van can stop before fitting day. If you’re just outside Mortlake, we also cover East Sheen (1 mile south-west), North Sheen (1 mile north-west), Barnes (1 mile north-east), Grove Park (1 mile north) and Roehampton (1 mile south-east). We also make window seats in nearby places such as Twickenham (3 miles west), Richmond (2 miles south-west), Teddington (4 miles south-west), Hampton (6 miles south-west), Hanworth (6 miles south-west) and St Margarets (2 miles west).
Landmarks near Mortlake
Around Mortlake, we cover homes near Richmond Park Academy, Ibstock Place School and Hare and Hounds pub and the streets around them. Mortlake has its own railway station: Mortlake station. Nearby you’ll also find Barnes Hospital (less than half a mile east) and Ubuntu Museum: African Museum of Humanity (1.1 miles south-east). Open spaces near Mortlake include Duke's Hollow.