Free Plan: Burlap-Covered Window Seat
A 1912 cedar chest that works as a bench, a linen store, and a moth-proof box.
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- Cedar carcase cut list
- Burlap and oak strip pattern
- Safe hinged lid with stay
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Download didn't start? Get the plan here.Your next project is already drawn up
Ted's Woodworking is a library of 16,000 woodworking plans with cut lists, measurements, and step-by-step instructions — from small side tables to full furniture projects like this one. It fits builders who finish one piece and want the next one waiting. If you only ever wanted this window seat, the plan above is all you need.
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This one is from 1912, and it does three jobs at once. It is a bench under a window, a chest for linens, and a cedar-lined box — cedar being the traditional answer to moths long before anyone sold a spray for it.
The construction is honest carpentry. A cedar box, inner posts at the corners, feet, a padded hinged lid, then burlap stretched over the outside with mitered oak strips laid on top in a diamond pattern. It looks like upholstery. Underneath, it is a box.
The plan covers the reinforced cedar carcase, the inner posts and floor cleats, the fabric direction and both strip widths for the lattice, the padded lid, and the lid stay that keeps it from slamming shut.
Project at a Glance
- Difficulty
- Beginner to intermediate (carcase work plus simple upholstery)
- Main materials
- Cedar boards for the box, pine or oak inner posts and cleats, oak strips for the lattice, burlap, brass screws, glue, finish
- Build time
- Two weekends
- Tools needed
- Table saw or miter saw, drill and driver, chisels, clamps, staple gun, sandpaper and finish supplies
- Safety
- Hinged lid — fit positive lid stays; see the lid note below
- Source
- Popular Mechanics Handbooks, 1912 (public domain)
Before the glue sets:
Run a tape from corner to corner both ways across the clamped carcase. Equal diagonals means square. If one reads long, ease the clamps and push that long corner in until the two numbers match, then let it cure exactly there. A box out of square by an eighth of an inch is invisible on the bench and obvious the day the lid stands proud at one corner — or the day a straight oak strip has to cross a face that has quietly turned into a parallelogram.
A piece like this is a full furniture build rather than a weekend project: a carcase, a lid, a mechanism, and a decorative surface, all in one. Finishing one changes what you think you are capable of.
What usually follows is a bigger appetite than the plan pile can feed. Having the next project already drawn up is how one build becomes many.
Recommended Next Step
Your next project is already drawn up
Ted's Woodworking is a library of 16,000 woodworking plans with cut lists, measurements, and step-by-step instructions — from small side tables to full furniture projects like this one. It fits builders who finish one piece and want the next one waiting. If you only ever wanted this window seat, the plan above is all you need.
Ted's Woodworking
16,000 woodworking plans with cut lists and step-by-step instructions.
Disclosure: I may earn a commission if you buy through this link. It doesn't cost you extra.
Start with the window seat plan
Download the window seat plan and build at your own pace. The plan is yours whether or not the library ends up on your bench.