A Dream Realized

So you may have read that title and came here to read thinking this post was something BIG. Like dreams normal people have…a vacation overseas. Or a new car. World peace. (Um, me too.) My dream? It’s always been a window seat. Every since I was a wee one at 20 years of age – I’ve looked at them in magazines and on TV and I. loved. them.

I have a couple spots in our house where we could potentially build a seat one day, but when we changed things around during our family room reno last year I found a spot that would work even better. I knew it would be perfect and would be extra seating and would look like it was always meant to be there.

Our bay window in the kitchen was that perfect spot. The first phase was to remove the old back door that used to be in between the windows. While they were at it I had some lights added since that area can get really dark:

It sat like that for the past three months. I didn’t even paint the trim because I was so busy. I lie…I knew it was going to take forever so I ignored it. :)

But last week I finally started the painting and then at the end of the week this started as well:

If you remember I mentioned last week that our plans for the kitchen island changed a bit. Those changes resulted in a HUGE savings – the budget for the island was cut in about a third.

So when the handymen said they would build the seat for $300, I said DO IT:

And yes, I paid them on the last day of the no spend month. :)

I planned to do this myself but I am hosting a shower this weekend (the extra seating will be wonderful!!), I don’t have a table saw and it would take me about a month to do this on my own. And goodness…sometimes it’s nice to have help. So I hired this part out. They framed it and put the face on – and were done in less than a day.

We used scrap two by fours that I had for the frame and some other scrap wood I had for the inside of the seat. I also had them extend the outlet so we could still use it.

Most of it wasn’t too complex – but the top piece did take some precise cutting. I was impressed that they got the front perfectly flush with the wall so the baseboard flows seamlessly. And they had to build up the inside of the bench so the lid would support a few human beings. :)

When they left my work started. Here’s how it looked (I had already started all the trim and painting on the walls last week:

I added the beefed up baseboard first – I do it this way so the vertical boards (the board and batten around the room) have something flush to sit on. I also added a board across the top on the front of the bench:

Next up came quarter round and primer:

It was starting to come together!

I finished up the NINE coats of paint on the windows (three per window – I actually need to do one more quick coat on the fronts of the trim):

Next I sanded and caulked everything and did a coat of semi gloss white all over the seat. The last step was to add the rest of the trim to the front and along the top of the white on the walls:

I actually have one more coat to do on everything and a little more caulking but I was pooped at midnight last night and had to stop. I threw some pillows on here just to show how GREAT that white will look with some color!:

Oh, and I still need to put some trim around the edges on top to hide the small gap along the walls. I am making myself finish all these details before I can start on the island. :)

And of course eventually there will be a big cushion on here as well! It will take me some time to figure out what fabric and colors I want to go with here so that won’t happen for a bit:

It will definitely include some color though! Because this area gets so much sun I’m thinking I’ll have to go with an outdoor fabric.

But for now…isn’t it lovely?? Sing it to yourself:

Every night this past weekend I would stand here before going to bed and just stare at it. I’m not gonna lie, I got a little teary at one point. Goofy I know, but sometimes it hits me hard that I get to do this stuff in our house. Better than I deserve.

Here is it is at night with the lights on:

One more thing to add to my list – a dimmer. Oh yes.

Of course in this house I need things to be functional as well as pretty, so the best part is hiding under that top:

BOOM. (Fist pump and explode):

I’ve had my supplies in here for now but finally a spot for all of the basketballs!! Is this heaven?? 

Actually I don’t know what we’ll keep in here. It may very well be the basketballs. I can also see keeping the big kitchen stuff like the crock pot and drink dispensers in here. Oh my goodness…the possibilities. I do need to add some hinges that will hold up the heavy door though – I think I may have to get something online because nothing I’ve found at the store is strong enough.

There you go…a dream realized. It doesn’t take much for me folks. :) As I mentioned, I hope to get all the little stuff done on the seat this week and then I will start on the island. I will be building the extension for that myself and I’m so excited about my last minute addition! Crossing my fingers it all works out.

After the island is done I’ll be taking a break from the kitchen to save up for the next phase, building an enclosure for the fridge. Thanks again for coming along for my house projects! It’s fun to share this with you all. :)

Linking up to Beth’s party here!