Would You Like a Booth?

Recently the Dusty Hammer’s team of pariah bloggers were given a rare moment of respite to give our overtaxed minds a break from trying to come up with clever anecdotes for construction projects – plus we had used up all the cereal bowls and were resorting to pots and pans to eat our fruit loops out of.

 

Our brief taste of freedom took us to a local eatery where a pleasant young waitress asked the question that those who frequent restaurants have often pondered, “Would you like to wait for a booth?”  As if the fate of the world hinged upon our decision, we deliberated (already knowing what our answer would be). Our heads lifted from our makeshift huddle as we answered “Of course,” in techie geek unison!

What makes these upholstered nooks so desirable that many of us are, in fact, willing to wait for the coveted booth?  And how is it able to be both a great location for casual meals as well as the perfect setting for intimate dining?  Besides often being much easier on the posterior than the typical bistro chairs, a booth provides privacy (even in a crowded restaurant) and, more importantly, a feeling of closeness that’s hard to beat.  Wanna bring that cozy feeling home - what better way to fill the awkward narrow spot at the end of a room than to install your very own banquette? 

Brief History

The beginnings of banquettes can be traced back to early 17^th century French royalty where the well-to-do could park their imperial keisters on the plushly upholstered window seats in their formal sitting rooms.  By the 1900s the derriere friendly benches had made their way to the homes of “the common man” who used them for a comfortable, space saving seating solution for their small dining rooms.  With such a diverse heritage it’s little wonder that we are so enamored by them. 

Select Your Seating Option

For a truly custom look it's hard to beat the quality you can get from a built in.  The beauty of going with a fully custom settee is that you are not limited in your choices of finishes or designs.  Hiring a professional to install your cool new privacy booth will cost you somewhere between $2,000 - $4,000.  But the envious looks you get from all your friends will be well worth the clams you shell out.  Think of how cool it would be to relax with your feet propped up on the bench in your very own booth as you peruse the "www" - perhaps the Dusty Hammer for example ;o). 

Of course the other option is to build it yourself.  Building a booth will require some planning and elbow grease but doing it yourself can save you a significant amount - plus you get to brag about how clever you are.  

Depending on your level of comfort with building projects and the amount of tools you have at your disposal you can choose to either “A” build a booth entirely from scratch or "B" build a booth from stock cabinetry from the hardware supply store.  


Build-it-from-scratch option


There aren't a lot of free plans floating around on the internet for banquettes, primarily because they are fairly easy to build and honestly construction workers don't often think to document their progress.  But with enough digging you can find a few that may help you in your quest for dining booth bliss.  Take, for instance, Dianne's - offering close ups of design elements and material used on her corner banquette or This one from the DIY Network - (we've imbedded the video instructions below to help get you going in the right direction). 

Stock-cabinet-option
You can also build a banquette using cabinetry purchased "off the shelf" at your local hardware store in about a weekend with much less required tooling.  Mark Powers from thisoldhouse.com put together a nice one using 4 standard refrigerator cabinets, a little trim, and few cushions, and on another site Kyle Freeman briefly describes how he built one using IKEA cabinets here.  


***Note*** We've had the opportunity to do several built in banquettes over the years but haven't thus far built one with stock "off the shelf" cabinetry.   Since I can rarely back down from a challenge - especially when goaded by the rest of the office staff (double dog dares get me every time) - I have decided to build one from stuff we can pick up in a single trip to Home Depot.   Give us a couple of weeks and we'll post a walk through.   


Once you've built your seating, all you have to do is add some comfy padding then plan your next get together, cuz you've got yourself an awesome spot for chewing some grub or just "chewing the fat." 

One more option...


We almost forgot to mention the pre-made option.  Here's a list of a few vendor's that offer options that requiring little more than signing for delivery:


affordableseating.net - Competitively priced restaurant quality booths.  Has an interactive portal to help choose design style, fabric and color


dinerbooths.com - Commercial restaurant booths at fair prices.


seatingexpert.com - Yet another company in a similar price point vending their wares







For a more upscale look consider Ballard Design's Hampton 3 piece - you may want to steer clear of the stark white cushions however. 




For additional ideas or questions drop us a line, we'd love to hear your thoughts.