DIY Banquette = The Perfect Breakfast Nook

I recently finally finished my banquette project that I’ve been working on for almost a year!  It manifested itself because I lived in a bachelor with a long galley kitchen that had room for seating. I started by looking at pinterest for inspiration here, here & here, and then proceeded to ask my dad to make me one. I gave him all the measurements so that it would fit perfectly in the space. He even added storage space underneath, which ended up being a huge help!

He built it out of plywood and the seats have hinges on them so that they can fold up and be used for storage. It was built in two pieces, and thankfully, my boyfriend was able to carry it up the stairs of my apartment for me! After it was screwed together, I painted the seats and the bottom black and covered the top portion in cotton batting. And then it stayed like that for a while…. such a long while, in fact, that my cat started ripping holes in it and playing in there. I was annoyed, but she just looked so cute.

Once I had gotten it to this stage, I moved, and the project was put on hold. After getting settled into our new place, I wanted it to feel more like us, so I decided to finish the banquette. A big thanks to my mom who bought the fabric and foam for us as a house warming gift!

I started by putting a new layer of cotton batting on to replace the one my cat had so joyously ripped. Next came upholstering the back portion. I actually just used a stapler to adhere it to the plywood underneath, and to be honest, it has held surprisingly well. When upholstering it, I had to wrap the fabric around a portion of the backside because you can see it from the living room, but I was able to finish it well by sewing the opening closed (as seen in the third photo).

Next, came the cushions. I made the covers by lying the fabric on the floor, folded in half. I then placed the foam pieces on top of the fabric and cut a piece for each side. Each of the pieces is about 1/2 an inch wider and longer than it needs to be to account for seam allowance. After that, I sewed them all together and jammed the foam inside, praying that they would fit.

Thankfully, they did, and we now have a beautiful place for us to eat, read, and work! I finished it off with a 60’s style round table from ikea, some black throw pillows (also probably from ikea) and my hugging salt and pepper shakers. Here’s a look at the finished product:

Even though it took me a while to sit down and finish the banquette, I’m happy to finally have a place to sit and eat dinner that isn’t the couch! Hope this inspires your next D.I.Y project!

xo, tess.