The Christmas Present I Happily Waited 11 Months to Receive

Last year my brother David had my name for the sibling gift exchange.  He didn't give me anything. . . just kidding. Well, sort of.  He gave me a promise that he would build me a window seat in my bay window in my kitchen. All I had to do was pay for the materials and do the finishing work of sanding and painting.  But, he was busy and wouldn't be able to do it until the Summer time.  I was okay with that.  The long awaited day came, late in July, and David was going to come the next day. 

And then his wife went into labor.

Fast forward 3 months or so. He was able to come and with the help of his wife and me, but mostly him, the bay window area was transformed. A week and a half later, it's ready to use. Here is the story of my window seat's creation, in photos.

Once I had a perfectly fine bay window.  It usually housed one or two chairs next to the table.  

But it wanted to be so much more.

David was careful to secure the 2X4's through the grout so he wouldn't break the tile.  He also had to reroute the heat vent.

My brother is awesome and he has some sweet power tools.

He worked really hard and pretty fast and had this done in just a few hours. 

All done with the construction. To get to this point cost about $105. That included buying a new vent cover and a big box of screws.


It has storage inside! I decided to go with white and had a 5 gallon bucket of paint made up to match the white that is already in my house which I haven't touched up in the 10 years we have lived here, cause I didn't have the paint. 


I bought a foam camp pad for $20 and cut it to the exact size. Then I topped it with one inch of up-cycled memory foam. This involved making a paper template, which was a huge pain in the back, and lots of cutting.  I also sewed a cover for it. It took me 6 hours to make the template, cut the foam, and sew the cover.  I used some purple cotton fabric I inherited from my grandmother's stash. My back was really sore from bending over for so long.

My mom let me raid HER fabric stash for the outer cover and I found some beautiful corduroy.  I washed it in case of shrinking because I expect that I might need to wash it again.


I then very carefully cut out the pieces for the outer cover.  It took me 2 hours!  I had to line it up perfectly with the fabric and this was tricky. But, I did a pretty good job. My mom did ALL of the sewing for this outer cover, including putting in two zippers that meet in the middle of the back.  It looks so good!


My mom's machine is really old and solid metal and very beautiful. They just don't make stuff like it anymore.  

This part was fun!



We didn't realize how big it was until it was on my mom's couch.


A well earned break.


And, finally, after caulking, painting, cutting, sewing, and even shortening the curtains, it is finished!


I also borrowed my brother's sander and refinished the table.  I couldn't stand how gross it looked next to the nice new window seat.


I think this is going to be a well loved spot.


Thank you David and Laura and Mom for the gift of your time, your materials, and your machines and this beautiful window seat! 
I LOVE IT!