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A Reading by RosaWindow Seat Cushions

A taupe corduroy window seat by a bookcase, and the mistakes it quietly avoids

Pull up a chair. This nook gets five things right that I have watched families get wrong on porches and in parlors for twenty years.

Read by

The Porch Keeper of SavannahPublished Updated 5 min read

Taupe corduroy window seat cushion on a white bench beside built-in shelves, with ivory and dusty blue pillowsSave
A taupe pad links a garden window to a built-in bookcase, with a dusty blue pillow adding a cool accent.

The quick answer

A window seat cushion that runs into a bookcase should be measured to the shelf upright and cut slightly under size so it slides in without buckling. Measure depth from the face of the trim, not the glass, choose a mid-tone like taupe so the seat looks anchored, and stack pillows at the bookcase end to make a backrest.

Buyer questions

  1. A common question

    Will my cushions be made to the exact size I give, or rounded off? My window frame also sticks out a little.

    The workshop's answer

    Exactly as written. Seats of 22 x 99.5 in (56 x 253 cm) and 22 x 98.5 in (56 x 250 cm) were produced to those numbers, not rounded. For a frame that juts out about 3/4 in (2 cm), send a photo; a notch or an angled edge is no trouble with a drawing that shows the measurements.

  2. A common question

    Could I send you my own fabric for the cushion, and would that cost less?

    The workshop's answer

    Yes. Once your fabric is at the workshop, making the cushion is easy and the quote comes down, but sending fabric in carries shipping of its own that can eat the saving. About 4 3/8 yd (4 m) was enough for a 21 x 109 x 4 in (53 x 277 x 10 cm) tufted cushion. The workshop can also try to find the same or a similar fabric from a photo.

  3. A common question

    Can the L-shaped backrest work by itself as a reading chair? How big is it?

    The workshop's answer

    It measures 39 x 39 in (99 x 99 cm). For a compact reading chair, the workshop points people to its corduroy pouf chair instead. Backrests can be bought alone, for example two L-shaped cushions to turn a twin daybed into a sofa, but that is the top cushion only; the bars are sold separately.

Now, the reading

A real project

Fourteen feet of window and a family who didn't mind seams

A family in the US was building a window nook from scratch and wrote to the workshop while the framing was still going up. They wanted cushions 36 in (91 cm) deep running 14 ft (4.3 m) in all, in a color called smoke, and they said right away they were happy to have it split into pieces.

Smart people. Fourteen feet of foam in one piece is not a cushion, it's a canoe. Very wide nooks are made in several sections that butt together, so each piece is one you can lift, turn and carry through a door.

Plan the joints away from the spot everybody fights over, and settle the numbers with the window seat measuring guide before the paint is dry.

What the photo gets right that most of us get wrong

Most window seat mistakes happen with a tape measure, not a fabric chart.

Here's a white window seat running straight into a built-in bookcase, garden beyond the casements, oak floor below. The window seat cushion is taupe corduroy with self piping, and it sits there like it grew in place. Look closer and you can see why.

It meets the shelf upright snug but not jammed. The cushion was cut a hair under size, so it slid in without the front edge bowing up. Measure a seat like this to the upright, not to the wall behind the books, and say how you want it to fit.

The color is a mid-tone. Taupe sits between the white paint and the oak floor, so the seat looks anchored instead of floating. A white cushion here would melt into the bench; a very dark one would look like a hole.

The pillows sit at the bookcase end, ivory linen and dusty blue linen, leaning on the upright. That turns the corner into a backrest and the seat into a reading chair facing the light. The blue is the only cool color, and it picks up the gray-green garden outside.

And on the sill, one small succulent in a cream ceramic pot. Not a jungle. A low plant keeps the light coming in, which is the whole point of sitting in a window, neighbor. Where does your window seat end? More cozy corners live under reading nook cushions.

Five mistakes this nook sidesteps

  • Measuring to the wall instead of the shelf upright, then fighting a cushion that buckles.
  • Measuring depth from the glass instead of the face of the window trim.
  • Matching the cushion to the paint, so it floats like a sheet of paper.
  • Scattering pillows along the whole seat instead of building a backrest where something can hold them up.
  • Crowding the sill with tall plants that steal the light you came to sit in.

Pinned by Rosa, from the window end

Five pins, from the taupe cord seat to the little succulent keeping the sill clear.

Pinned: Taupe corduroy window seat cushion on a white bench beside built-in shelves, with ivory and dusty blue pillows
  1. Taupe cord seat

    A mid-tone between white paint and oak floor, so it looks anchored.

  2. Ivory pillow

    Pillows sit at the bookcase end to form a reading backrest.

  3. Dusty blue pillow

    The one cool color, repeating the gray-green garden outside.

  4. Built-in shelves

    Cushion is cut slightly under size to slide in against the upright.

  5. Succulent

    A small, low plant keeps the sill clear for light.

  1. Taupe cord seatA mid-tone between white paint and oak floor, so it looks anchored.
  2. Ivory pillowPillows sit at the bookcase end to form a reading backrest.
  3. Dusty blue pillowThe one cool color, repeating the gray-green garden outside.
  4. Built-in shelvesCushion is cut slightly under size to slide in against the upright.
  5. SucculentA small, low plant keeps the sill clear for light.

Cut list for a nook like this

CushionWindow seat cushion, box edge, self piping
FabricTaupe corduroy
FitSlightly under size to slide in against the shelf upright
DepthFrom the face of the trim, not the glass
PillowsIvory linen and dusty blue linen at the bookcase end
SillOne low succulent, light left clear
Long runsSections that butt together, as in a 14 ft (4.3 m) nook
Best forReading nooks where a seat meets shelving

Order this cushion

Have it made

Have this made — ask Rosa’s workshop

Swings sway, rockers rock, dogs circle three times. Tell the workshop what your seat goes through, and they will plan for it. — Rosa

Leave your details and the workshop will call you to confirm measurements, fabric, foam and piping. No prices, dates or payment on this page: it is a request, not an order.

Fabric · Foam · Pipingwhat the workshop will confirm with you

Fabric
Taupe corduroy
Foam
The core: its density and thickness set the feel.
Piping
Self piping
Only for this request: no marketing calls or texts. Outside the US, add the country code.
In inches: length × depth × thickness, plus any angles or cut corners.

* Required. A member of the workshop team will call you to talk it through; nothing is charged and nothing is made until you have agreed on every detail with them.

We use these details only to answer this request and make your cushion: your name and contact details, the cushion details and photos you send, the page you came from and the ad or link that brought you, if any. The workshop that makes the cushions receives them. We don't sell them or share them for advertising, and we delete requests after 24 months. Privacy notice for requests.

Nothing is made or charged until you approve the details.

Want to pick the shape and add photos? Use the full quote form

When a window seat runs into a bookcase, measure to the shelf upright and order the cushion a hair under size so it slides in without buckling.

Rosa
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Questions buyers ask next

How much smaller than the opening should a window seat cushion be?

That depends on the fit you want. Advice runs from about 1/4 in (6 mm) per free edge to nothing at all where a cushion should fill the space. Give the maker the exact opening, wall or upright to upright, and say whether you want it snug or easy.

Does corduroy shade on a sunny window seat?

Yes, gently. Corduroy has a pile, so it looks lighter or darker depending on which way the ribs are brushed and how the light falls. Every panel should be cut with the nap running the same way, and a quick brush by hand evens it out.

What color keeps a window seat cushion from looking like it floats?

A mid-tone between the bench paint and the floor. Taupe does it here, between white paint and oak. A cushion that matches the paint disappears, and one much darker than the floor can look like a hole in the room.

Can a very long window seat cushion be split into sections?

Yes. Wide nooks are made in several pieces that butt together, which makes each one easy to lift, turn and carry. Decide where the joints fall before ordering, and keep them away from the spot everyone sits.

Porch light's on — Rosa

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