Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Richmond upon Thames · London
Richmond Window Seats
In Richmond, we design window seats around the room you actually have. Your window seat is designed at a visit to your home and made in our workshop.
- A sash window with space beneath it going to waste
- A period room that needs furniture to suit it
- A bay with no furniture that fits
Window seats for your home in Richmond
Window seats in Richmond: what you get
A window seat turns the light by a window into a place to sit. Our window seats are made for bays, sash windows and the recesses beside them, typically with storage below, under a lift-up lid or in drawers. For a home in Richmond, it starts with a design visit to measure the window and talk through the design. Most enquiries start with a bay window that’s hard to furnish and a room with shutters and sashes that deserves a proper seat, and the answer is made in our workshop from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
Original features like shutters, cupboard doors and panelling are worth keeping where they survive. With a large share of the homes around Richmond 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, and painted to match. If your home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original joinery.
The written quote puts the design visit in writing: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If something is not quite right, tell us before anything is made.
- Place
- Richmond (TW9, TW1, TW10)
- Borough
- Richmond upon Thames
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- How it starts
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Where it is made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Updated
- 27 October 2026
What prompts window seats in Richmond
A window seat fits well with the sash windows and bays of many older houses. Painted to suit the room, it can sit with the original features. That appeals to people restoring or updating an older home.
These come up often when people first get in touch:
- An empty bay that does not get used
- A ready-made bench that doesn’t fit the bay
- Wanting new furniture to sit well in an older room
- Wanting a seat without blocking the radiator
If your home is one of the older houses near The Vineyard Church, window seats can be scribed to follow a bay that is rarely square.
What to check before you book
- Can you see real work of theirs?
- Whether they measure the room themselves
- A written quote that sets out the job
- How doors and drawers are fitted
Also near Richmond
More for homes in Richmond
How fitting day works
Finishing comes last. If the furniture was spray painted in the workshop, we fill the fixing holes and touch up on site; hand painting, if that’s what you chose, can be done in place once everything is fitted. The finish is always the one agreed in your quote. Older London houses often have narrow hallways and tight turns on the stairs, so the furniture comes in sections sized for the route in. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through, and the sections are joined and scribed in the room.
- To begin, use our contact form; a brief note on the bay or sash window is enough.
- We visit to measure up and work out how warm air from the radiator will reach the room.
- A quote in writing follows, covering the seat and the grille.
- We make the seat and grille in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The seat is fitted with the radiator grille in place, so the heat keeps moving.
Before fitting day
- Check the building’s rules for trades and lift bookings
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
- Let us know about parking near your home
Ask for a quote
It helps to see the room before we come. Pictures of the whole wall, the corners and the ceiling line give us a good feel for the space, along with rough sizes. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we’ll arrange a design visit.
Advice
Making use of tricky spaces in Richmond
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Richmond were built before 1919 (about 54%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 17%), 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. Near the centre of Richmond, Historic England’s list includes The Wick and Wick Cottage (Grade I), less than half a mile south, and The Trumpeters' House (Grade I), about 0.5 miles north-west. Where a home is listed, listed building consent can be needed for inside works that affect its character, like fixing into original panelling. Check with the council’s conservation officer first. Flats in converted or shared houses account for about 22% of households in the neighbourhood around Richmond, the 2021 Census shows. Conversions often leave rooms in unusual shapes, with partition walls, boxed-in pipes and chimney breasts in odd places, and the way in often goes up shared stairs. If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before anything is fixed to the walls.
For families living near The Vineyard School, deep drawers suit the bulky things families collect, from scooters to swimming kit. Close to Terrace and Buccleuch Gardens? Window seats can be designed to hold outdoor kit, from walking boots to picnic things.
Richmond is about 2 miles west of Twickenham, part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. We design and make window seats for homes in Richmond and across Richmond upon Thames. Richmond is one of 19 places on our list for Richmond upon Thames.
Postcode districts we cover here for window seats: TW9, TW1 and TW10. Streets in the area include Kew Road, Dee Road and Park Road, and we cover homes on all of them for window seats. Nearby, we also make window seats in Petersham (1 mile south), St Margarets (1 mile west), Eel Pie Island (1 mile south-west), Ham (1 mile south) and Isleworth (2 miles north-west). Across the rest of Richmond upon Thames, our area takes in Twickenham (2 miles west), Teddington (2 miles south-west), Hampton (4 miles south-west), Barnes (3 miles north-east), Kew (2 miles north-east) and Hanworth (4 miles south-west). Richmond is among the bigger places we cover in Richmond upon Thames.
What’s near Richmond
The streets we cover here include those near The Victoria pub, Kneller Hall Junior School and Christ's Church of England Comprehensive Secondary School and the streets around them. The closest station to Richmond is Richmond station, roughly 0.5 miles north. Nearby you’ll also find South Middlesex Hospital (1.6 miles west) and Eel Pie Island Museum (1.2 miles south-west). Open spaces near Richmond include Richmond Hill and Kew Gardens Lake.
When you need someone else
We design, make and fit the furniture. That means:
- Seat cushions, which you source separately
- Repairs to sash windows, cills or shutters
- Painting the walls of the bay
If you’re not sure what’s possible in your room, you can tell us about the room on our contact form and we will give you a straight answer. How a job runs, step by step.
What it is made from
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Hand-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Spray-painted finish
- Lift-up lids or drawers
- Radiator grilles
Boards, parts and paint
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish can be applied once the seat is in place. It is easy to touch up later. Like any new paint, it needs time to cure fully.
Birch plywood
We use birch plywood where strength matters. It suits the frame and the seat top, which take weight every day. Its layered edge can be shown or painted.
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, 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.
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. At the design visit, we work out what you need inside, then set it out in the quote.
What you get with us
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- 300+ projects completed
- Every quote follows a design visit
- Made in moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
Read bespoke vs off-the-shelf or what to look for in a quote.
Questions we are often asked
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Richmond?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a parking bay suspension, which the council arranges, often with notice. It is useful to tell us about parking during the design visit.
My home in Richmond is a period house with walls that aren’t straight. Is that a problem?
Yes. Walls in older houses are rarely flat or square, and floors are often out of level, so each piece is scribed to follow the wall and set level on a plinth or adjustable feet. We also work around skirting boards, picture rails and cornices. Fixings are chosen for the wall, whether solid brick or lath and plaster.
What happens at the design visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. Access and parking are worth talking about too, and afterwards we send a written quote.
Can a window seat go over the 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.
Can you come on a Saturday?
Yes, Saturdays are possible by prior arrangement. Just mention it when you contact us, and we’ll see what we can do.
How is the furniture painted?
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.