Example photo by Franco Debartolo on Unsplash, not our project
Havering · London
Window Seats in Upminster
We make window seats for homes in Upminster, designed around the room you have. We design your window seat at a visit to your home, make it in our workshop and fit it.
- An empty bay that does not get used
- Wanting a seat without blocking the radiator
- No space for toys and games
Window seats designed for your room
Fitting day, step by step
However carefully a piece is made in the workshop, it still has to meet the room, and that happens on fitting day. Few walls in older London homes are truly flat or square, so each edge that meets a wall is scribed to follow it. How long the fitting itself takes depends on whether the seat has drawers, a lift-up lid or a radiator grille, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Semis and detached houses often have a front path or a side gate, which can make carrying in easier. Gates, paths and steps up to the door are part of the route we measure. Floors are covered from the door to the room.
- You let us know about the window and the room.
- We measure the window, the cill and any radiator or shutters. Then we discuss the seat height and storage.
- We agree the seat, the storage and the finish, and send a quote in writing.
- The seat is made at 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. A radiator grille, if there is one, lets the heat through.
Preparing the room
- Book any lift and let the concierge or building manager know
- Empty the space we’ll be working in
- Move anything in the hall or on the stairs out of the way
Ask for a quote
A quote begins with a few details from you: the room, rough measurements and some pictures if you have them. To send them, drop us a line using the contact form. We’ll then arrange a design visit and follow it with a quote in writing.
Advice
How we make window seats for Upminster
We make each window seat in our workshop from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. Birch plywood gives the seat its strength, as it is strong and holds screws firmly, while MDF takes paint well for the fronts and panels. It is then spray-painted or hand-painted and fitted in your home in Upminster. People typically come to us about a bay with no furniture that fits and wanting new furniture to sit well in an older room; the furniture is made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted.
Walls in houses from between the wars are usually straighter than in older ones, but seldom perfect. Around Upminster, interwar houses, semis and detached homes make up a big part of the housing, and every piece is still scribed where it meets the wall. Lids, doors and drawers are set level on site so they run true.
The written quote puts the design visit in writing: the layout and internal fittings, the materials and the finish. If you’d like to change anything, it’s easier before the furniture is made.
- Where
- Upminster (RM14, RM11)
- Area
- Havering
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Making
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Made from
- Painted MDF and birch ply
- Working days
- Monday to Friday; Saturdays by arrangement
- Contact
- The contact form
- Page updated
- 27 October 2026
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
Standard units come in set widths and heights, so there’s often a strip of wasted space at the side or above. Furniture we make is built to the room’s own sizes, so it can run to the ceiling and fill the width.
Shop-bought shelves can sag over a long span. How much a shelf bends depends on its span, depth and load, and long runs need a thicker shelf, a lip along the front or a support. We design shelves with that in mind.
Also near Upminster
Also in Upminster
Questions we are often asked
Is Upminster in the area you cover for window seats?
Yes, Upminster is within the area we cover, which takes in all of Havering and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit, where we measure and talk through the design, followed by a quote.
Do you cover homes near Upminster station?
Yes. We cover all of Havering and the rest of London. You can message us from the contact page to arrange a design visit.
What happens at the measuring visit?
It is a chance to measure properly and talk through what you’d like. We look at the walls, floors and anything the furniture has to work around, and the written quote comes afterwards.
How long is the fitting for a window seat?
How long the fitting takes depends on the shape of the bay or recess and what goes under the seat, and we confirm the fitting days in your quote. We make the seat in our workshop, so the time at your home is spent fitting. If you’d like the fitting on a Saturday, that can be arranged.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
It needs a little planning: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. We don’t treat damp, so any damp should be sorted before fitting day.
What materials do you use for window seats?
We use moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood. The frame and seat top are birch plywood, which is strong and holds screws well, and MDF takes paint well for the fronts and grilles. The finish is spray-painted or hand-painted.
Bespoke or off-the-shelf?
A standalone bench can be moved, which is useful if you rent or plan to move soon. A fitted seat is designed to stay, and it uses the space in a way a standalone piece can’t. Which suits you depends on your plans. Doors, windows and radiators rarely leave a gap that matches a standard width, so ready-made furniture often ends up in the wrong place. Built-in pieces are planned around those fixed points.
Rooms that aren’t square take more work: uneven walls, sloping floors and angled ceilings all add scribing and cutting on site. That’s reflected in the quote, which we write after seeing the room.
Why us?
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- A design visit, then a quote in writing
- Workshop-made and fitted by us
- Saturdays by arrangement
Read bespoke vs off-the-shelf or what to look for in a quote.
Boards, parts and paint
Spray-painted finish
Spraying gives a smooth, even surface. We spray in the workshop, so the finish is complete before the seat comes to you. The colour is agreed with you.
Moisture-resistant MDF
Because it cuts cleanly, MDF is ideal for angled panels and radiator grilles. We use a moisture-resistant grade, which is stable and takes paint well. It forms most of the visible parts.
Storage in Upminster homes: local notes
About 52% of the homes in the neighbourhood around Upminster went up between 1919 and 1939, and about 32% between 1945 and 1972, on the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax figures for 2025. Knowing roughly when a home was built helps, because walls and fixings change from one era to the next. There are 10 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Upminster. Being near listed buildings doesn’t make a home listed, and you can check any address on Historic England’s list. London’s red routes are run by TfL, and stopping on them is tightly controlled. If your home is on or just off a main road, it’s useful to mention it. Then we can work out where to load and unload.
Close to St. Andrew's Park? Living near green space often means muddy boots, bikes and outdoor kit, and window seats can give those things a place. If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, such as Church of St Laurence, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can require listed building consent. Living in a block of flats near Upminster station? Then the lift, the stair turns and the front door all set the largest piece that can come in.
Upminster is within the London Borough of Havering, about 3 miles west of Romford. We cover Upminster as part of our work across Havering. Upminster is one of the places in Havering where we make window seats, and the borough has 22 places on our list.
Design visits and fitting in RM14 and RM11 work the same way as everywhere else we cover. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Station Road, Latham Place and Deyncourt Gardens, along with the roads around them, for window seats and any of our other fitted furniture. Neighbouring places we cover for window seats include Upminster Bridge (1 mile west), Cranham (1 mile east), Emerson Park (1 mile north-west), Hornchurch (2 miles west) and Puddle Dock (2 miles east). Elsewhere in Havering, we also cover Romford (3 miles west), Gallows Corner (3 miles north-west), Heath Park (2 miles north-west), Elm Park (2 miles west), Collier Row (4 miles north-west) and Rainham (4 miles south-west).
Landmarks near Upminster
In Upminster, that includes homes near The Crumpled Horn pub and Eastbrook School and the streets around them. Upminster has its own railway station: Upminster station. Other landmarks nearby include St George's Hospital (1.7 miles south-west) and Upminster Tithe Barn Museum of Nostalgia (0.5 miles north). For a walk, there’s Cranham Marsh.
Flats, leases and landlords
For a rented home, access for the design visit and fitting day has to be agreed with the tenants, at times that suit them. An agent can arrange access for you, and the written quote can go to whoever needs it.
If your flat is leasehold, check your lease before fixing furniture to the walls. Some leases need the building owner’s consent for alterations, which is worth sorting early. We can’t advise on your lease.