Last Updated on February 15, 2022 by Kravelv
Aside from giving your home sufficient natural lighting and a classic vibe, bow and bay windows also offer more room for decorating and customizing. One way to beautify and make practical use of the spacious sill is to make a window seat out of it.
In this post, I will give you a closer look at how you can make optimal use and benefit of a window seat and how you can style it to become more aesthetically pleasing.
Window Seat: More than just a seat
Window seats are not just an ideal place for relaxation — they also serve a number of other purposes.
For Sitting
If the room is lacking couches and sofas or if it is a high-traffic area in the house, window seats can make for a space-saving, additional seating place. By adding a table, the window seat can also replace ordinary chairs at one side of the table. Cover your window seat with statement fabrics and everyone will be attracted to sit on it.
For Sleeping
Making a window seat to be used as a bed is ideal for small rooms. It can also become an automatic extra bed for when you have guests sleeping over. Can you just imagine lying by your window, enjoying the warmth of the sun or the view of the sunset or the stars until you fall asleep?
For Storage
A practical function that window seats can serve is offering storage without occupying additional floor space. You can either add built-in drawers or open cubbies. You can also choose to install overhead and wall cabinets to make absolute use of the carved in space.
How to Style Your Window Seat
A window seat is usually created out of extra or leftover spaces. While it may only exist to fill an awkward space or provide extra storage, you can still liven it up so that the window seat becomes part of the room or even its primary point of attraction, especially if the view outside the window is superb. Here are some ways to style your window seat.
Bring attention to it
Instead of hanging a basic roman shade on the windows, you can opt for a more elaborate curtain. You can also install a pretty chandelier. Don’t forget to add cozy and inviting decorative cushions and maybe some pillows, too.
Complement your home’s style
A window seat can powerfully highlight the architecture of your home or a room just like how the bow or bay window that it is adjacent to does. Make the window seat an actual part of the room, not as an extra, by choosing cushion covers similar, if not the same as the other ones in the room (such as what is on the couch or bed). You can also put a small table near the window seat to introduce it as a sitting place for everyone.
Add trims and details
You can make your window seat look more like furniture by adding turned legs instead of the typical storage base. However, if you want to maintain the storage, you can incorporate trim details like baseboards and wainscoting around the window seat. Just make sure you blend the structural elements and paint colors very well.
I hope these ideas help spark your creativity as you try styling your window seat — or finally decide to create one by your bay or bow window if you haven’t yet! Here’s to enjoying the views outside without having to actually go out!
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About the Author
Jim Jones is President and Owner of Seamless Exterior. Aside from working hard to reach out to more homeowners who are looking for excellent home improvement advice, Jim also enjoys sharing what he has learned from his hundreds of clients and home improvement projects.
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