I’ve never had a banquette area for seating, but I love the look and practicality they offer. I DID have a friend who had … not really a banquette, but an entire booth in her kitchen. Like straight out of Burger King. Two big molded plastic benches and a table on a pole. Like this:
Ha! It was totally strange and out of place, but the kids loved it, of course.
But anyway. We are talking about banquettes, and Brit at House Updated had one that not even a child could love. The cushions were so matted down and uncomfortable that the kids didn’t even try jumping on them. It was also weirdly short, more of a step-stool than sitting-height.
So, she ripped it right out and built a new one! Raised it up and scrapped the cushions altogether for a solid wood seat: stained and shiny and easily wiped.
She still wanted to offer a little comfort, so she added pillows in to soften things up. “Gasp! The stains!!” you are thinking. But fear not. She hand-painted the designs on washable pillow-covers and reports that they are holding up just fine.
3 Comments
Brit [House Updated]
October 24, 2013 at 7:08 AMThanks so much for sharing our new banquette Lindsey!
Marci
October 24, 2013 at 10:25 AMThis banquette is beautiful. I love the dark stained wood against the white painted wood, and the washable pillows are a nice touch. This is much better than the booth that I grew up with.
When I was a kid, our family moved into a house that had a booth built into one end of the kitchen. It was shaped like a fat “U” and the table was on a pole, so it could swivel back and forth a bit, but couldn’t be moved in or out. The back and seat were upholstered in beige vinyl, so it really was just like the booths at the fast food restaurants we enjoyed so much as kids. We were so excited. We thought it would feel like we were eating out every day.
The excitement quickly faded when we realized that the kids on the ends of the “U” had to move any time the kids in the middle wanted to get out. We eventually learned that it was easier to just crawl under the table. Any time we needed to clean the booth, we’d have to crawl around the seat because the table couldn’t be moved. At least the vinyl was easy to clean, except for the area where the back met the seat. That was where the crumbs would go to hide, and the more we wiped, the further they became trapped.
I’m sharing this in case anyone is reading this and thinking they might want a booth in their house. Don’t do it. This banquette is nice because it’s “L” shaped and not “U” shaped, and it isn’t upholstered and the table isn’t mounted on a stationary pole. Banquette = Good; Booth = Bad.
Lindsey @ Better After
October 24, 2013 at 11:19 AMMan, that sounds like a pain! I get that same feeling at restaurants too, and I’m always the one in the middle who needs to go to the bathroom. There should be some kind of trap door option. 😉