I love the look of banquette seating in the kitchen and our galley style kitchen was the perfect configuration for it. Of course, we were hoping to accomplish our new kitchen banquette on a tight budget which often leads to creative thinking and reusing materials. We decided a twin captains bed frame would be the perfect solution for size, storage needs and budget restraints. We found a bed frame at our local Salvation Army store for $30.00. By using a captains bed the drawers were already in place and eliminated a lot of work right off the bat. We created the bench by cutting off the back aft of the bed (the side without the drawers) to the desired depth. We (now know that when I say we, I mean my husband) then built a frame on the floor that the seat would sit on. The frame was built the same height as the kick plate under the kitchen cupboards. We also added bead board that would run the length of the wall behind the seat and took it to counter height to create a uniform look.

This is similar to what we started with.

This is what we were finished with.

This project turned out great and we were able to keep costs way down by staying away from a custom build. To complete the job, we purchased a piece of foam and had it covered in a durable material that could be wiped down daily, as we have two children and this bench would see it all, from glitter glue to Play Doh to red wine on card night. The extra storage is perfect to hold craft supplies that are easily accessible. We purchased new hardware to match the rest of the kitchen and threw in a few throw pillows.

We were so happy with the way this banquette turned out that we decided to buy another used captains bed frame and build a window seat in our office/spare room. The bed itself was too short for the space we needed so my husband built little side tables on either end to sandwich between the wall and the bed frame. Again, the bed was cut to the desired width to create a bench and a frame was built for the bench to sit on. We chose a durable material that could be machine washed in the washer, but this seat did not require the constant wiping as did the one in the kitchen.

The beds were less than 50 bucks each and the material covered foam seats were less than 100 dollars each for all the materials and professional sewing job. The sewing job included piping all around on both sides and a zipper on one side to remove cover completely for washing. We painted the seats with existing paint. Kitchen banquette was painted in Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover to match the kitchen cupboards and the window seat and side tables in the home office/spare room were painted in Benjamin Moore Cloud White.

Extremely happy with the end result!