Definitely scratch the banquette. As a budget replacement, use pre-fab cushions bought from a patio store on clearance and build your own banquette seat to fit the cushions.

You could DIY that for under $300 plus cushions.

Search for DIY Banquette on Pinterest or Houzz and you will come up with dozens of plans and ideas.

A DIY built unit like that would require about 3 sheets of plywood.

Finding a plan that included building in storage space under the top(for storing the cushions or whatever) should not be difficult.

Building it will require several powertools. Minimum would be a good circular saw(not the $30 Black and Decker variety), a good sander(random orbit type---not a belt type), a drill(doubling as a screw driver), and a straight line guide for the circ. saw. Those would cost in the neighborhood of between $150 and $400.

Or have a shop or woodworker build the unit---probably $400 to $600. You paint and install it.

a how-to article, should you want to tackle it yourself

Here is a link that might be useful: Breakfast booth construction series

Upholstery doesn't need to be that expensive, either.

That's a free-standing cushion--it's not attached to the banquette.

I'm having an entire barrel-back chair with deep tufted channels in it redone, new springs, new padding, and it's going to cost me only $600 plus fabric. This should be WAY easier.

So you pick a nice fabric for $35 a yard (2 to 3 yards) in a brick-and-mortar store (or find one online for $6 the way I did at fabricguru.com) and have foam cut to fit. I would think a single long cushion would be $100, plus the fabric.

EDITED TO ADD CORRECTION: Foam that's 3"x24"x108" is $60 online; 2" is $40; so maybe $50 for them to cut the foam to a specific size, then $125 for sewing, then fabric. And if you want, you can make the cushion covers out of a sturdy denim or twill, which would make it very washable and be much less expensive (like $8-$10/yard).

It would sure be worth asking a slipcover place or reupholsterer near you for a ballpark!

You can also completely add the cushion later, too, thereby moving that cost somewhere else.

The thing that makes this look built in is the molding at the bottom. Have your builder leave you a bunch of extra molding (you probably should anyway), and then give that to whoever builds the bench. Then, use caulk to cover the joints, and paint!!
(Have him leave you extra paint as well.)

There's also a vent in the bottom, but that's easily retrofitted.

This post was edited by talley_sue_nyc on Mon, Jul 29, 13 at 11:48