Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Richmond upon Thames · London
Strawberry Hill Window Seats
Window seats for your home in Strawberry Hill: window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside. We visit to measure and talk through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- Wanting a seat without blocking the radiator
- Off-the-shelf pieces that never quite fit the window
- Looking for a reading spot by the window
Need window seats in Strawberry Hill?
Window seats in Strawberry Hill: what you get
The storage under a window seat is often as useful as the seat itself. A lift-up lid opens the whole space beneath the seat, while drawers are easier to reach if there’s a cushion on top. We’ll talk through which suits the way you use the room. 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 unused space below a sash window and standard furniture leaving gaps in a bay.
Older homes like many around Strawberry Hill have floors and ceilings that slope, and a large share of the homes around Strawberry Hill date from then. Window seats are scribed to the walls and levelled on site so doors, lids and drawers run true. Picture rails, skirting and cornices are worked around rather than removed.
Once you’ve read the quote and decided to go ahead, the furniture is made at our workshop. The quote sets out the agreed design, materials and finish, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- Strawberry Hill (TW1, TW11, TW2)
- Area
- Richmond upon Thames
- Cost
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a quote in writing
- Where it is made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Caring for painted furniture
A little care keeps the finish looking good, whether it was spray painted or hand painted. Here are our suggestions:
- Move furniture away from the window so we can measure
- Let us know about parking during the design visit
- Bring paint colours you like to the design visit
- Check whether there is a radiator under the window
If you’re having a cushion made, we will give you the exact size of the seat. Let the paint cure before the cushion goes on, so the fabric does not stick or mark the finish.
Wipe away condensation from the window before it runs onto the seat. Keep the window ventilated in cold weather. Dry any water on the paint promptly.
Where other trades come in
It is useful to know what’s outside our work before you plan:
- Plumbing work on the radiator under the window
- Painting the walls of the bay
- Fabric covers and cushions
Not sure whether your space suits window seats? You can use our contact form and we’ll tell you. How a job runs, step by step.
Materials and parts
- Lift-up lids or drawers
- Birch plywood
- Radiator grilles
- Hand-painted finish
- Spray-painted finish
- Moisture-resistant MDF
FAQs: window seats in Strawberry Hill
I live near Strawberry Hill station. Is that in your area?
Yes. We cover all of Richmond upon Thames and the rest of London. To get started, you can use our contact form with a few details about the room.
Does a conservation area in or near Strawberry Hill affect fitted furniture?
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 require listed building consent, so check with the council first. The council’s planning or conservation team can tell you if in doubt.
Do I need to be in when you fit?
We need someone to let us in. It is good to have someone there at the end to look over the work with us.
Do you work on Saturdays?
Yes, by prior arrangement. If a Saturday works better for you, say so when you get in touch.
What does a bespoke window seat cost?
We quote each job for the room it’s going into, after the design visit. It depends on the size and shape of the window, the storage you want and the finish. To get a quote, send us a few details through our contact form and we will arrange a design visit.
Can a window seat go over the radiator?
Yes. Many windows have a radiator beneath, and we design the seat around it. The front includes a grille so the radiator keeps working. Storage above a radiator stays warm, so it suits things that don’t mind that.
Is bespoke worth it?
With a ready-made bench, the colour is the maker’s choice. Ours is spray-painted or hand-painted in a colour agreed with you, so it can match the woodwork or the walls. Ready-made pieces are proportioned for newer homes and can look lost in an older one, whereas fitted pieces can pick up the room’s height and mouldings.
Parking is part of the price picture in London. 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. Let us know about parking at the design visit, so we can plan for it.
Why choose Bespoke Carpentry in Strawberry Hill
- Saturday visits and fitting by arrangement
- Edges scribed to follow your walls
- Over 300 projects completed
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
See how bespoke compares with ready-made and what a quote should include.
Fitted storage in Strawberry Hill
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Strawberry Hill were built before 1919 (about 47%) and between 1919 and 1939 (about 18%), on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. That matters for window seats, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. 21 conservation areas have at least part of their area within a mile of central Strawberry Hill. Historic England says England has around 10,000, and the controls mainly cover the outside of buildings, so fitted furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need planning permission. Controlled parking zones are common across London, and Richmond upon Thames sets its own rules. If parking near you is controlled, a visitor permit or a bay suspension may be needed, and the council arranges suspensions, often with notice. We ask about parking at the design visit, and we’ll plan around it.
Near listed buildings like Chapel in the Wood, less than half a mile south-west of the centre of Strawberry Hill, older homes may keep original joinery that window seats can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can need listed building consent. For families living near Kneller Hall Senior School, window seats can be planned around what a family needs to keep, from coats and bags to sports kit. Strawberry Hill House, about 0.1 miles south-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. If your own home is a period one, window seats can be scribed to follow a bay that’s rarely square.
Strawberry Hill is within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, about 1 mile north of Twickenham. Whether your home in Strawberry Hill is a terraced house, a flat or a newer build, we measure the room as it is and design around it. Across Richmond upon Thames, we cover Strawberry Hill and the places around it.
Every home in TW1, TW11 and TW2 is within our area for window seats. You will find streets here such as Tower Road, Heath Road and Clive Road, and homes on each of them are within our area for window seats. Close by, we also work in Fulwell (1 mile south-west), Eel Pie Island (1 mile north-east), Twickenham (1 mile north), Teddington (1 mile south) and Whitton (1 mile north-west). Other parts of Richmond upon Thames we cover include Richmond (2 miles north-east), Richmond upon Thames (2 miles north-east), Hampton (2 miles south-west), Barnes (5 miles north-east), Kew (4 miles north-east) and Hanworth (2 miles west).
What’s near Strawberry Hill
Around Strawberry Hill, we cover homes near Pope's Grotto pub, St Richard Reynolds Catholic High School and Archdeacon Cambridge's Church of England Primary School and the streets around them. Strawberry Hill has its own railway station: Strawberry Hill station. A little further out are Teddington Memorial Hospital (0.9 miles south) and Eel Pie Island Museum (0.8 miles north-east). For a walk, there’s Ham Lands.
Could you do it yourself?
What you pay for with bespoke is mainly the fit: edges scribed to the wall, a level base on a sloping floor and a neat line where the furniture meets the ceiling. Off-the-shelf furniture can’t normally do that in an older room.
It is worth being honest about cost: flat-pack is typically cheaper to buy. Bespoke makes more sense where the room is awkward, the space is valuable or you want the furniture to look built in.
Also near Strawberry Hill
More for homes in Strawberry Hill
From workshop to your room
At the end, we tidy up and take up the floor coverings. Before we go, we look over the finished furniture with you. How long fitting takes depends on the shape of the bay or recess and what goes under the seat, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Where a period house has been split into flats, the way in often goes through shared parts, so neighbours may appreciate a note before fitting day. Each section is sized for the tightest door or turn. Saturday fitting is possible by prior arrangement.
- To begin, tell us about the room on our contact form; a brief note on the bay or sash window is enough.
- At the design visit we measure the window and the radiator, and plan a grille or open front so heat isn’t trapped.
- Your written quote sets out the seat, the grille, the materials and the finish.
- 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.
Preparing the room
- Clear the walls of pictures and shelves
- Leave a clear route from the front door to the room
- Move furniture and belongings away from the wall
Arranging a design visit
It is useful to see the room before we come. A few pictures showing the walls, the corners and where the ceiling meets them tell us a lot about the space. To share them, send us a few details through our contact form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.