Coordinated Kitchen

I have a little dog who loves to spend the day watching the street from the windows, tracking everyone's comings and goings (especially those of the neighborhood cat). Unfortunately, the windows in our new house are a bit too high for him to reach them without some assistance. So, I set out to find some sort of bench or window seat solution for our kitchen bay window, so Toby could sit in the window as much as he wants.

At IKEA, I found a TV unit that's low enough for Toby to jump onto but high enough that he can then see out the window. Since it's built to support a TV, it's more than capable of handling his weight, and the shelves underneath are perfect for storing my cookbooks. It was an added bonus that the TV unit is the exact same color as our kitchen table and chairs, also from IKEA. At only $39.99, the MOSJO TV unit is a lot more affordable than most benches and window seat solutions.

Next, I needed to find some sort of cushion to put on top of the unit, so Toby wouldn't slide right off the bench when he jumps up. Plus, a cushion would make the bench a more comfortable extra seat for people, too. At Marshalls, I found a great indoor/outdoor bench cushion for $29.99 that's the perfect size for the top of the TV unit. The blue and green pattern coordinates well with the rest of the accessories in our kitchen.

I secured the cushion to the TV unit with some heavy duty black Velcro (6 strips for a total of roughly $5.00), and we put the TV unit atop a carpet remnant to prevent it from scratching our tile floor. Total cost for the window seat: $75.00

A week or two after I found the cushion for the unit, I spotted a matching tablecloth at TJMaxx for $3.00. What a steal! So now we have a fully coordinated kitchen table and window seat: