21 Window Seat Ideas for Every Room

A window seat is always the best seat in the room, made for soaking up the light, gazing out at the view, curling up with a book, snuggling with a loved one, or sneaking in a power nap.

The built-in, upholstered window seats common today are a modern evolution of the small free-standing benches that people began placing beneath their sash windows centuries ago. If you don't have the budget or the space for a built-in, you can improvise a window seat using a wood or upholstered bench or loveseat of any style or period. Just pay attention to proportion to make sure that the window seat fits seamlessly beneath your window of choice, and style it to suit your needs by adding throw pillows, a cozy blanket, or a reading light.

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Get Inspired by These Window Seat Ideas for Every Room

Let these window seats—located everywhere from the living room to the bedroom, dining room, mudroom, home office, and beyond—inspire you to install a window seat in your room(s) of choice that will become everyone's favorite spot.

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Leave the Windows Bare

Design by Cathie Hong Interiors / Photo by Christy Q. Photography

In this light-flooded Palo Alto, California home from Cathie Hong Interiors, a built-in, wood-topped window seat in the dining room creates an off-duty reading nook or extra bench seating when there's a crowd. Windows are curtain free to maximize functionality, while patterned throw pillows in neutral tones add softness.

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Maximize a Pass-Through Space

Design by Mindy Gayer Design Co.

This spacious upstairs landing from Mindy Gayer Design Co. is flooded with Southern California light, making the pass-through space an ideal location for a built-in window seat that runs beneath a wall of double windows. A natural-toned floor basket is a decorative way to store extra blankets or favorite reading material between uses to keep the space looking tidy.

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Cozy Up the Home Office

Design and Photo by Anita Yokota

One of the joys of working from home is having the option to stay focused—and take needed breaks—in any location or posture without having coworkers looking on. This cozy L-shaped home office from Anita Yokota includes a cozy and casual window seat daybed for reading drafts, brainstorming new ideas, or grabbing a power nap.

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Optimize the Mudroom

Design by Becca Interiors

This built-in mudroom window seat from Becca Interiors is located steps from the front door of a Hudson River view Colonial home in New York state, making it a convenient place to take off muddy boots or set down your sun hat and farmers market haul.

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Use a Vintage Love Seat

Design by Becca Interiors

Becca Interiors created an improvised window seat in the home library corner of this Hudson Valley, NY Colonial home by placing an upholstered vintage loveseat beneath the window that fits snugly between a pair of built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

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Create an Attic Perch

Design by Jersey Ice Cream Co.

This attic reading room from Jersey Ice Cream Co. is kid-friendly but fun for the whole family, with cozy floor rugs and pillows and wrap-around banquettes that include a built-in window seat that hides the AC and offers natural light and views.

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Supersize It

Design by Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

In this spacious bedroom from Emily Henderson Design, an extra-long window seat is built beneath a large bank of windows, hugging the irregular shape of the room's walls to maximize surface area and achieve a streamlined look. The extra bench space means that it's big enough to share or use to display plants, books, or decor objects. A reading light sconce in the corner and some throw pillows and blankets make it comfortable and functional.

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Accessorize the Dressing Room

Design by Britt Design Studio

This fully loaded dressing room from Britt Design Studio includes ample storage for clothes, accessories, and shoes, plus a built-in window seat under the arched window for gathering yourself before heading out to face the world.

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Use Warm Colors

Design by Becca Interiors

This kids room from Becca Interiors has vintage wallpaper and furniture, warm colors, and tons of homespun Colonial charm. But the focal point of the room is the charming double window seat that's all set up for story time.

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Add a Storage Bench

Design by Emily Bowser for Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

If you don't have the budget for a built-in, or your window is on the smaller side, try installing a bench instead. In this bedroom window seat hack designed by Emily Bowser for Emily Henderson Design, a simple upholstered bench with built-in hidden storage is wedged into the corner for extra stability, and runs to the edge of a small window to fill the space and create the impression that the window is larger than it is.

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Add Shelves

Design by Christina Kim Interior Design

Christina Kim Interior Design created a reading corner in this blue-and-white home office, complete with a comfortable window seat flanked by bookshelves for storing reading materials and displaying objects.

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Create a Way Station

Design by KG Designs

This long, rectangular combination laundry room mudroom from KG Designs has wall hooks for storing jackets and backpacks, bench seating for putting on shoes, and a pair of window seats where you can take a load off while you wait for the towels to finish drying.

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Maximize Light

Design by JK Interior Living

Not every window is possessed of a picturesque view. This window seat from JK Interior Living faces a brick wall, but lets plenty of natural light into the mudroom, and includes a place for plants on the windowsill. The bench is outfitted with a generous smattering of plump pillows, and dark navy wall paint defines the window seat area.

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Add a Spa-Like Feel

Design by Desiree Burns Interiors

This spacious bathroom from Desiree Burns Interiors has enough room for large twin vanities, with a generous window seat tucked in between them that adds a spa-like feel. The window seat is built in beneath a large arched window with a view of the outdoors, a perfect place to paint your toenails or share a moment with your partner while admiring the leafy view.

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Create a Kids Reading Corner

Design by Mindy Gayer Design Co.

This kid-friendly corner window seat from Mindy Gayer Design Co. is decorated in keeping with the blue, white, and red theme of the room. Built-in drawers add storage, a thick upholstered seat provides comfort, and plenty of throw pillows and a spare blanket invite quiet time and encourage reading.

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Add Bench Seating

Design by Emily Henderson Design / Photo by Sara Ligorria-Tramp

In this roomy bedroom from Emily Henderson Design, the closets on either side of the far window make it impossible to install a built-in window seat. But there's room enough for a small wood bench that can serve as a perch for putting on shoes, sipping morning coffee, or daydreaming by the light of the window on a cold winter's day. Light billowy curtains scrape the floor and help fill in the empty space around the bench without looking heavy or encroaching on the closet doors.

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Fill a Dead Space

Design by KG Designs

This built-in window seat with under-bench storage from KG Designs turns the dead space of an empty hallway into a dedicated zone for reading, chilling, or seating waiting clients just outside of the home office.

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Add Wall to Ceiling Shelving

Ursula Carmona of Home Made by Carmona

Blogger Ursula Carmona of Home Made by Carmona gave her parents' rustic and traditional mountain home library a modern refresh with white paint, floor-to-ceiling shelving, and a built-in window seat for whiling the hours away reading, hanging out, and playing music in the shadow of the wood-burning stove.

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Add Charm to the Nursery

Design by Becca Interiors

It may be true that every nursery needs a rocking chair, but this baby room from Becca Interiors makes the case that window seats are another flexible seating option for everything from burping the baby to supervising toddlers playing on the floor.

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Spice Up an Eat-In Kitchen

Design by Jessica Nelson Design / Photo by Carina Skrobecki Photography

This eat-in kitchen dining area from Jessica Nelson Design gets an extra kick with the addition of a cozy corner window seat banquette outfitted with comfy throw pillows and a small round cafe table to preserve flow.

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Embellish the Bay Window

Design by Kate Marker Interiors / Photo by Stoffer Photography

The dark green paint on the walls of this home library from Kate Marker Interior has a calming effect that invites relaxation and gives definition to a cozy window seat that is built into a recessed bay window providing views and natural light.