Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
City of London · London
Temple Window Seats
Window seats for your home in Temple: window seats for bays and under sash windows, with storage inside. We visit to measure and go through the design, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it.
- A radiator that makes the space hard to use
- A child’s room that needs storage and seating
- An empty bay that does not get used
Window seats designed for your room
Window seats in Temple
A well-made window seat gives you a place to sit in the best light in the room. We design and make window seats for bays, sash windows and recesses, often with storage underneath behind a lift-up lid or drawers. In Temple, as everywhere we work, it begins with a visit to measure and plan. If you are living with no comfortable place to sit in the light and a sash window with space beneath it going to waste, that’s what window seats are for, made from birch ply and moisture-resistant MDF, painted by hand or sprayed.
In streets where many homes were built before 1919, as they were around Temple, under-stairs cupboards in older terraces often house the meters or the fuse board. Meter readers and engineers need to get to them, so the design keeps them accessible. Sash and bay windows are common in houses of that age too, and good places for seating with storage below.
A written quote is the clearest record of what we have agreed. It describes the window seat we have designed for the room, its materials and its finish, and it is what the workshop builds to.
- Location
- Temple (SE1, WC2H, WC2B)
- Area
- City of London
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- We visit, measure, then quote
- Made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Boards and paint
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- When we fit
- Weekdays, and Saturdays by prior arrangement
- Get in touch
- The contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Fitting day, step by step
With the carcasses fixed and level, we hang any doors and fit any drawers or lids. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. How long the fitting takes depends on whether the seat has drawers, a lift-up lid or a radiator grille, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. Hallways in period houses are often narrow, and the stairs turn sharply, so window seats are made in sections sized to get through. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through, and the sections are joined and scribed in the room.
- You get in touch and describe the window.
- At the design visit we measure each side of the bay, because walls in older houses are rarely square.
- We send a written quote.
- 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.
Before fitting day
- Take anything hanging off the wall we are fitting to
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
- Make sure pets are kept safely away
Getting a quote
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, especially with rough measurements. To share them, fill in our short enquiry form, and we will suggest a time for a design visit.
Related advice
How we price window seats
Not every room costs the same, for these reasons:
- The finish: spray painted or hand painted
- Stairs, lifts and the route to the room
- How big the furniture is
- How many doors and drawers there are
Because every job is different, the cost is set out in a written quote after the visit. Size, the number of doors and drawers and the internal fittings make the biggest difference to the price.
Helping us understand the room
You do not need exact measurements or a plan. It is enough to send:
- The postcode, so we can plan the visit
- What you’d like to store or use the space for
- Anything in the way, like radiators, sockets, switches, a boiler or meters
- Examples of the look you are after
We quote once we have 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 book a design visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Bespoke window seats or ready-made?
Standard storage benches come in set sizes. A seat made for your window can use the full width and depth of the bay or recess, 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 ready-made units rarely fill them properly. Furniture made for the space fills it.
There’s no price list, because each job is designed for a single room. We measure up, discuss the design and send a quote in writing. To start, fill in our short enquiry form.
Why us?
- 300+ projects completed
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Fitted tight to walls that are not straight
Read how bespoke compares with ready-made or what a quote should include.
Neighbourhoods near Temple
More for homes in Temple
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
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.
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.
Boards, parts and paint
Pull-out drawers
Drawers let you see everything at once. They’re often easier for children than a lid. We make the boxes from birch plywood for strength.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish can be done in your home after fitting. Small marks are simple to touch in later. That helps on a well-used seat.
Common questions about window seats
Does a conservation area in or near Temple affect fitted furniture?
Usually not: conservation area rules mainly cover the outside of buildings, and fitted furniture inside a house does not 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.
Will parking be an issue for fitting furniture in Temple?
It can be, as controlled parking zones cover much of inner London. A van may need a visitor permit, a pay-and-display bay or a suspended bay, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the measuring visit, so we can plan the day around it. The City is inside the Congestion Charge zone too, and the ULEZ covers all of London.
Do photos help?
Yes. They give us a feel for the space before we visit. It is useful to show radiators, sockets and anything else on the wall.
Is a lid or drawers better for a window seat?
Many seats use both. Drawers suit things you use often, and a lid suits bulky items. For children’s rooms, drawers are usually easier to manage. We talk it through when we visit.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
An outside wall can be colder and damper than an inside one, so ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps, which helps avoid condensation and mould. If there’s damp, it should be sorted before anything is fitted.
What happens at the design visit?
We take full measurements, look at the walls and floors and work through the design together. We will also ask about access and parking.
Storage in Temple homes: local notes
The biggest shares of homes in the area around Temple were built before 1919 (about 48%) and since 2000 (about 22%), 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. Near the centre of Temple, Historic England’s list includes Middle Temple Hall (Grade I), under half a mile north-west, and Chambers on West Side of New Court (Grade I), under half a mile north-west. For a listed home, works inside that affect its character can need listed building consent from the council, for instance removing or fixing into original panelling. It’s worth speaking to the council’s conservation officer before the design is final. About 76% of households in the area around Temple live in purpose-built flats, the 2021 Census shows. In a block, each section is sized to get up the stairs or into the lift and through the door. Many blocks have rules on lift booking and working hours, so check with the managing agent before fitting day.
Dr Johnson's House, about 0.2 miles north-east, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, window seats can be scribed to follow a bay that’s rarely square. If your children go to St Clement Danes CofE Primary School or a school nearby, window seats can be planned around what a family needs to keep, from coats and bags to sports kit. If you live in a flat close to London Blackfriars station, the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Temple is about 1 mile east of City of London, in the City of London. We cover Temple as part of our work across the City of London. We cover places right across the City of London.
Every address in SE1, WC2H and WC2B is covered for window seats, from the main roads to the quieter streets. Streets in the area include Shoe Lane, Drury Lane and New Square, and homes on each of them are within our area for window seats. Temple sits close to the A4 and A40. If your home is on one of them, tell us at the design visit, as some main roads have strict stopping rules. We also cover Temple Bar (1 mile north), Blackfriars (1 mile east), Aldwych (1 mile west), Clare Market (1 mile north-west) and Covent Garden (1 mile west).
Around Temple
The streets we cover here include those near British Library of Political and Economic Science, Mercers' School and St Mary-at-Hill and the streets around them. You’ll also find The Devereux pub (less than half a mile north-west) and London Nautical School (a few minutes’ walk south). Temple has its own railway station: London Blackfriars station. Other landmarks nearby include St Philip's Hospital (a few minutes’ walk north-west) and Twinings Museum (within half a mile north-west). Green spaces nearby include St. James's Park Lake and Ludgate Hill.