Mum makes impressive DIY window seat for less than £30 – using an old wooden pallet!

Do you have a bay window and wonder how to utilise the space better? Take inspiration from this savvy homeowner who has creatively made her own DIY window seat – complete with concealed storage!

A job very well done, and even more so because it only cost her £29.

Courtney Gallears, 27, a hairdresser and mum of two from Staffordshire, creatively used an old wooden pallet, furniture paint and a cot mattress to make her winning window seat.

More with pallets: DIY fan creates bespoke coat rack from an old wooden pallet

Courtney's bay window before

'Since I was a little girl, I have wanted a window seat' Courtney tells Latest Deals. 'I was looking on Pinterest for ideas and I saw that you could make a lot of things out of pallets.'

'The space in front of the window was perfect to build a simple storage window seat' she says.

When adding the built-in storage element she remarks, 'my flat is small and both of my daughters have a lot of toys,' so building a clever concealed storage space was a no-brainer.

DIY window seat

Courtney explains how she went about the transformation: 'I used one pallet, one length of 2x2 timber, one length of 2x4 and a small sheet of 15m plywood. All the wood was salvaged.’

She then skilfully fixed the 2x2 timber to the wall, using raw plugs and screws, before screwing the two pieces of 2x4 to the front.

'I cut the short length of pallet wood and screwed it to the 2x4 with a 5m gap in between each piece.' Next she used the remaining pallet wood to frame the front panels, filling the screw holes and sanded it – ready for painting.

'I painted it with Wilko satin finish wood paint. Once this was done, then I cut the board for the top and laid it over a cot mattress which I then cut to size.'

Buy now: Calm White One Coat Satin Paint, £9, Wilko

'I covered the mattress with a grey bed sheet and stapled it to the board. The total cost was £29 - £9 for the paint and £20 for the mattress.'

'It took five hours of work spread over five days,' she adds. 'I'm very happy with the finished product.'

'This project was great for myself during lockdown as it gave me something to do. It has created a beautiful bright seating area and some much needed storage!’.

Related: What not to do when choosing curtains – from measuring to styling

Totally inspiring, thank you for sharing Courtney. Our guide to how to dress a bay window has even more inspiration to make the most of these beautiful spaces.