When we picked our house (See my House to Home: Third Time Lucky post here) I said I wanted an under the stairs seat where we can sit and read books, because that’s what I’d seen on Pinterest.
After lots of searching and wondering what to do and what colour we wanted to decorate I saw a Bay Window Seat on Pinterest. I LOVED it. It was bright, airy, great for storage and it looked so comfortable. You can have a look at my inspiration here. I sent pictures of it to my dad asking him whether it would be possible for our Bay window and how much it would cost.
He said that he could probably do it and get the materials. Bonus!
What it looked like before
This was the front room before we bought the house!
We arranged a weekend for my Mum and Dad to come down, they brought with them the materials they needed and the plans that my dad had for the window seat with the measurements I gave him.
Building work, including drilling and cutting worktops, is not an environment I’d suggest being in with a toddler. So, conveniently for me and mum, we had to go out, therefore we had to go shopping. I hate it when that happens (said no woman ever!)
We did have the tricky task of getting some foam to make a cushion for the seat, which actually proved more difficult than first thought! Big thumbs up to Dunelm for having MASSIVE pieces of foam that we were able to buy.
Dan and my Dad worked for most of the day, the seat was pretty much in but they had to cut the top piece to create a lid that we are able to lift up, to make it a storage unit too.
What it looks like now…
Bay Window Seat building complete!The Bay Window Seat is Alfie’s favourite place in our house!
Shortly after my dad had built the window seat, Dan’s brother Matt came round and stripped the horrible wallpaper off the walls, filled holes in the wall, painted and glossed the whole front room and dining room!
The Bay Window Seat, and quite frankly the whole room, went from still being dark and dingy to blue, bright, bold and looked so much bigger, all because of a much lighter colour and a change around of furniture!
Cushions are from Next, Curtains from Ikea and the Foam is from Dunelm
A big thank you to my Dad and Matt for being awesome and being so awesome at DIY-y things!
The best of a bay window seat
We love the bay window seat! It’s so much better than I imagined it was going to be! It has a huge amount of storage underneath where we put all of Alfie’s toys. It means that we no longer have toys all over the front room, unless he’s playing with them and we can keep it a bit tidier.
The best part of the window seat for me is that Alfie thinks it’s a little play area for him. He can climb up on the seat himself, sometimes on the windowsill too, and he uses the windowsill to line up his cars, tractors and Peppa Pig toys. He will lie down on the cushions and fake snore, pretending he’s asleep, and we’ll all sit up there and have lots of cuddles!
I love sitting on the seat first thing in the morning. It’s a little sun trap, and I can sit and enjoy my coffee and normally a bit of sun. It’s also ideal for piling up the cushions and facing the TV of an evening. It mean you can lie down and chill out. I have fallen asleep on the bay window seat a couple of times too, it’s that comfortable!
Now we have curtains up it is looking much better! We would like to have blinds up of some sort as our neighbours don’t have a bay window. That means they can see straight in when we were sat up there.
What blinds can I put up that will still let lots of light in?
I’ve also got some fairy lights I’m considering putting up, yay or nay?
Mummy Fox xx
