This is the only picture I have of the dining room end of the bonus room/dining room off the kitchen. If you look closely you can see the light fixture peeking out from either side of the column in the middle of the doorway. There is a set of windows in the back that you can see in this picture, and another set of windows plus a sliding door on the right side wall.
Its not the biggest space, and around that corner to the left is the playroom space. I think the best possible use of space would be to make that far corner a banquette. We have a round dining table we could use, or our long rectangular table.
The challenge is to do it inexpensively and non-permanently. There are lots of diy tutorials about building banquettes out of kitchen cabinets. However, I need a non-permanent option, as this is a rental and I don't want to hang cabinets that will have to be removed in a year.
The average seat height is 18-20 inches, and the average seat depth is 16-18 inches. What if I used two
single Ikea Expedit shelf units, one along each wall? The Expedit measures 17 inches high by 15 inches deep. If I built a base for the bottom, that would raise it to over 18 inches. I could do the same for the back to extend the depth. Then I just need cushions. I think this could be done fairly inexpensively, and its not permanently affixed to the wall, so that when we move again it would just lift right out.
Here's some banquette inspiration:
Two things I notice about my inspiration pictures--one, many of these banquettes have shelves with pictures above them (love that! must have been why I pinned them), and two, nearly all of the round table banquettes only fit two chairs around the rest of the table.
Does anyone have a banquette and care to share how they like it/dislike it?
love, love, LOVE me a good banquette!! I repinned a couple of those inspiration shots Lisa- and I think that your expidet solution is a great one. I partucularly like the idea of upholstering cushions in laminated cotton so they are wipeable with little ones!!
ReplyDeleteHope you are adjusting to life out west!
I don't have a banquette but I think I'd love one. I just don't have the correct space for one. However, the idea of using ikea shelves as seating is pure genius!!! I am definitely going to store that one in my head for future use.
ReplyDeleteI love the banquette idea, but Ikea stuff won't hold the weight of many people, it's just particleboard. Ikea doesn't recommend using it for seating. I'm sure it would be easy to DIY something like that with plywood and paint it, I was actually planning to make something like this for the baby's room, if we have time!
ReplyDeleteI love the looks of banquettes - you can check little house blog (aubrey and lindsay) for their banquette out of Ikea stuff...
ReplyDeleteI used to have a banquet made out of short upper kitchen cabinets (the height of the kind that go over a fridge but not as deep) with a piece of plywood on top. I put Crate and Barrel floor cushions on top and they held up pretty well.
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