Having the muntins or grid over the new window will be very traditional, and I find it appealing. Not so much a gaping black hole at night then.

How high above the floor does your window sill come? If there is only a small amount of wall behind the windowseat/banquette, a round long pillow roll will look good, or some lumbar pillows which are longer than tall. A couple of those in the chenille would be okay. However, the pattern of the fabric is not an all-over design, so you'd have to make some choices, which could give a totally different look to the pillows.

What will your summer fabric be? Is it a canvas heavy duty fabric in cream or something? Even if it is not used a lot, I'd make sure it had stain treatment in the fabric.

Love such a setup. Please give an update when you finish your project.

quandary, I am posting a picture of my banquette, and altho it is a corner banquette you might use it to get an idea of pillows. The banquette is 6 ft long when measuring one side and 25" deep. The pillows are 20"square. I would like to suggest that you consider doing a solid color for the banquette cushion it would allow for much more flexibilty with pillows and such. Hope this helps

Thanks, moccasinlanding and amylville for responding. It's settled now that I won't get just a plain fixed window -- I hadn't even thought about the black hole appearance at night. However, amylville's double windows look really nice. Maybe I need to rethink getting an operable window. My current double window has storm windows and I hate the look and hate cleaning them. Without the storm windows, the double windows would look much better, and it would be nice to open them for the breeze.

The top of the bench will be 8.25" below the window, but the cushion will obscure 4" of that. There is 14.5" of wall on either side of the window above the bench. My window will be 5' high, so I think tall pillows would look nice, but because my seat is only 20" deep, I couldn't put as many pillows as amylville has in her beautiful arrangement. Maybe a combination of square and lumbar pillows? My inclination would be to arrange them symmetrically (i.e. lumbar pillows flanked by square pillows on either end), but I know that wouldn't be pleasing to the eye.

Amylville, you are so right that a solid color cushion would be the better choice -- adding color and textures with the throw pillows. I've been admiring the striped chenille, and when it was $7.85/yd during a Labor Day sale, I got excited and ordered 6 yards for a self-welting cushion and extra for pillows which, as moccasinlanding points out, could only feature a portion of the fabric design. Oh well, because of the sale, this wasn't a terribly expensive mistake. I haven't chosen a fabric for the summer cushion yet, but was thinking about narrow multicolor stripes. I'm glad I didn't order that, too!

In addition to this breakfast nook remodel (lowering the window seat to chair height, stripping wallpaper and adding texture and paint) we're painting the exterior of the house and replacing all of the windows. I'm just really having problems making decisions, and keep getting stuck. I can appreciate beautiful decorating, but I can't generate the ideas.

I'm so glad amylville posted the picture of her banquette. It's beautiful and makes me more excited to get mine completed. I'm curious about the diameter of her round table. I've been debating between round, oval, drop leaf, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sorry, I forgot to answer some of your questions. The window on the side is RIGHT above the seat cushion. Obviously, that's not ideal. I guess if I could pick anything and had nothing else to factor in, I'd have the bottom of the window 12-18" above the seat cushion.

I used mostly easy-care fabrics. The seat cushion is microsuede (bought at a HUGE discount at fabric.com). That's been awesome. In fact, the cat puked on it the first day I had it and it cleaned right up no problem. I also used some indoor/outdoor fabrics too, and those are great as well.
HTH

Oh wow -- I should have posted to this forum sooner! All of these posts are so helpful. I've looked at tons of pictures of banquettes on the internet, but it's great to be able to get more information to determine what ideas can translate to my banquette.

Wi-sailorgirl, how deep is your cushion? My window seat is in a bumpout or cantilever wall, so construction dictates that the 14.75" high bench will be 8.25" below the bottom of the window and the seat will be 20" deep.

My cushion is 20 inches deep.

All these banquettes look amazing! I've been debating about a corner banquette with corner windows (like amylville) and now I think it would be beautiful. Great post quandry :)

Wi-sailorgirl, It's interesting what you said about the window height...I was wondering the same thing. Would it be better to have the windows a little higher up from the banquette? Also, I notice most of you have some window treatment, which I would need, since the windows are on the front of the house. I was thinking valances with maybe wooden blinds, but I like the cafe curtains, too. Any other ideas?

Quandry- I think both of these window styles look better than plain glass. I hope you go with your divided window panes.

Amylville- Are those windows original to your house? I just love them. What style would you say those are?

quandary,thanks for the compliments, the table is 36" round. I wanted it on the smaller side so as not to crowd the area. By the way this is the table kitchenkelly has in her kitchen (thanks Kelly) Dont you love gardenweb? This is not our main dining area, we use it to relax with a book or drink our morning coffee. I keep the cushion the same but change out the pillows for the seasons. Lavender lass the windows were part of a recent kitchen remodel. They are double hung. The dividers pop out, I forget what the style is called but they go well with our bungalow.

quandary - you've sure received a lot of great ideas here.

wi-sailor girl - I LOVE your beautiful space! I can't stop looking at it. Wow! It's so pretty and colorful. I love the woven shade too. Do you mind sharing where you got it?

This is ours right after we built it. I have a mostly solid cushion cover, actually it has a blend of reds and greens and a bit of gold in the chenille -- I had intended to have a summer and winter cover but 4 years later, I haven't changed it! We sit here a lot, so the banquette is used all the time. I have maybe 6-7 pillows -- not as many as shown in the picture here -- which is plenty. Not everyone wants to sit with a pillow behind their back. And it's never neatly arranged like the other pictures shown! I do change the pillows quite a bit, seasonally or just when I get tired of them. I like having the solid cushion so I have more options with the pillows. We have a different, larger table top now (still with the same base) and different chairs that match our maple table top.

I'm overwhelmed by all of your responses. This forum is really terrific.

The chenille I ordered impulsively (Labor Day sale) arrived today. The stripes are patterns (I don't know how to describe it), so it may be a little busy for the cushion, but it is beautiful. Have you ever noticed that when you shop for clothes this time of year the fall clothes look so much more appealing than the summer clothes that you loved in May? That's how I feel about this upholstery fabric. The colors are really warm and rich. I've already bought it and the labor for the cushion is only $30, so I'm going to have it made up.

Moccasinlanding was right that the chenille fabric is not an all-over design, so pillows could be tricky. The stripe patterns are of varying widths. Maybe I could cut out different stripes, splice them into solid fabrics and have pillows with bands which match my cushion.

I have much work left to do (carpentry on the bench, patching the damage from stripping wallpaper, texturing and painting, etc.), but just seeing all of your beautiful banquettes and discussing the finishing touches has really inspired me and gotten me excited about the final result.

Thanks a million!

quandary - you've sure received a lot of great ideas here.

wi-sailor girl - I LOVE your beautiful space! I can't stop looking at it. Wow! It's so pretty and colorful. I love the woven shade too. Do you mind sharing where you got it?

Hi jan (also in) wisconsin ....

Unfortunately the shade is the one thing in that picture that I can't tell you where I got it. It came with the house. They are very nicely lined too. I'm not sure where the previous owner got them, but the operation of them is quite smooth as well.

@ lavender lass: Yes, if I had a choice I'd definitely recommend a higher window height. You can't lean back on that end of the banquette becuase you're leaning into the screens or the windows.

For me vinyl windows for kitchen is a great way to shed some light on things. These types of windows provide tons of lighting and with a decorative appearance.

Here is a link that might be useful: replacement windows richmond va

Great pictures! We are having a window seat built. I will have the table pulled up to it for eating space. Was wondering how high to have the seat built. I've heard 4" high density foam is best. So should I have them build it 15" high? With the 4" foam it will be 18" when cushion is compressed from sitting on it. Also, do you think 24" deep is too much?

I know this is a long shot but where did u buy the table? What brand/model is it. We are in need of a pedestal table and I've been searching for a year