How To Incorporate A Breakfast Nook Into Your Kitchenset – Watch!! Another fun sneak peek before my apartment goes live!! Today I’m showing you one of my favorite corners of my 500 square foot apartment (of course, you’ll have to come back for full disclosure for all the gorgeous photos…except for the one above!!). This is my almost no effort, renter friendly DIY dining nook!! I see so many incredible custom, built-in dining nooks on Instagram and in design magazines, but I wanted to make one that was renter-friendly that we could take with us and reuse from house to house. (Because we won’t be doing that in this studio apartment forever). This DIY is in stark contrast to my bed wall (which took a lot of work and days) and it made my small space look bigger than I can tell you. I spend most of my time sitting on this corner whether it’s working from home or hosting a dinner party (we’ve fit 7 people at this table before lol). It’s customizable, cool, and hopefully, it inspires you to try something similar if you have an empty corner that needs to be maximized!!
Now I would like to point out that this food tip is on the splurge side because I got to work with some incredible brands that I wouldn’t have been able to work with if it wasn’t for this incredible job. I am is lucky. Because of this, I’m also going to link some more affordable options and some more budget DIY versions if you want to stab it at your place for less cheddar. Also, note that I don’t have room to cut wood / use a real saw / etc. so this tutorial is a no-mess, fairly hands-off approach without having to build a custom bench in your apartment. A dining nook can be found. It also has storage. Ok, enough spoilers, let’s just get down to the nitty gritty!!!!
How To Incorporate A Breakfast Nook Into Your Kitchenset
One of my favorite places in LA is Gracias Madre and when I first moved here we went to eat and instantly fell in love with the back cushions (check them out in the back of this photo above). The subtle gray pinstripe with the cognac leather contrast spoke to me. We didn’t have a dining table in our apartment at the time, so we dreamed of bringing home a version of this setup. Spoiler: That’s exactly what we did and here’s how we did it!!!
Build A Bench Seat For The Kitchen Table
Let’s see step by step how I made this corner. It’s so easy you guys check it out!!! (Just wait for the ad to play)
So first I made a rendering (I love Photoshop moment) so I show you the vision:
When shopping for base benches, I wanted to find something that A. had storage B. came in 2 different sizes (more square and not too long on one side) and C. was strong enough to hold people and D. Looked cute. , Of course. The laundry list was long and the search took some time but once I found these line benches from within reach of design I knew they were perfect!!!!
I ordered a small and a large bench in black and the quality is insane. They have a ton of storage space (important for my 500 square foot apartment with only one closet) and a soft close (who doesn’t like a soft close). You might be thinking: wait, aren’t the benches at different heights? How did you know what height to achieve? Why yes Kathy, it is true. These benches are 15.5 inches high, which is much shorter than a dining chair should ideally be. That’s why I wanted to find cushions that were at least 3-4 inches thick and I knew I wanted to pair them with comfortable cushions. I am lucky to have found the perfect company to make my cushions…that takes us to step two!!
Stunning Breakfast Nook Ideas
Before we get there, here’s a more affordable storage bench option if you need another rack! It is paintable which is great ?
After the benches arrived, I posted in my trusty linkup how to DIY custom cushions or where to find someone who can make them. The next day I received an incredible email from the lovely Taylor, who set me up with the company Stitchroom. Y’all this company is IT (just check out their work on their IG!!!) I was instantly blown away and was lucky enough to be able to create the perfect cushion with pre-attached leather straps. Stay!! They sent me some incredible fabric choices and I ended up going with this Schumacher Ticking Stripe fabric (far left in the photo below):
And then for the leather strap, we went with the saddle color shown below. Here are our options if you want to know!
The next step was to figure out the size of the cushion. We wanted it to be comfortable and high enough where the bar wouldn’t hit the middle of your back, so we went pretty high with the back cushion. I don’t regret it at all because when you’re in that corner you really feel wrapped up in it and it’s very comfortable. If you want to know the specific dimensions, I will attach exactly what I sent to the stitcher room below!!
Small Breakfast Nooks
One thing I didn’t consider beforehand was the depth of the seat – it’s important to remember that you lose 4 inches of your seat when you put cushions on top, so we built our benches one from the wall. Removed the hair when we installed the cushions (which you don’t even notice) and it makes it a little easier to lean back and get really comfortable. I also work from home at this place and like to sit criss-cross applesauce sometimes so it’s really nice to have a deep seat here. It’s honestly been great to have freestanding benches so we have the flexibility to move everything around (just make sure if you’re a “build a bench in the wall kind of person” you remember that (Cushions will make you lose seat depth!).
I like these if you’re looking for some affordable cushion options (they come in like 25 colors and you can cut them to one side and remake them if you need them to fit perfectly) or if You want to go with them. Strip moment like I did. Or if you want to go the custom route, etsy has a bunch of great options like this! Then give it a try if you want to recreate leather straps or DIY them with it! Finally, if you want to get crafty, here’s an easy DIY tutorial that doesn’t even require sewing!
This is honestly the easiest part!! To start, I took some velcro and secured it to the bench and then attached it to the bottom of the cushion. It holds quite well and makes it so the cushions don’t slip!
Then for the top, I found this $18 adjustable curtain rod from Target and hung the top cushions (for a moment) with command strips to make sure the placement was just right. was Once we were happy with the placement, I ordered these cheap U-shaped brackets to hang the curtain rods. Now if you want to go custom and have someone cut a black metal pole to exact size so it looks clean in every way, be my guest!! I chose to go the easy and cheap route and I love the way it turned out. Note that the pole is much thinner than the hole in the bracket but literally no one notices and I don’t mind, but if you want to find one that fits perfectly, that’s great too! ! Just wanted to give you all the dates ?
Breakfast Nook Ideas
And then finish it off with a fun gallery wall, a pendant light, a table, and a cool chair and that’s what you’re left with!!
VOILA!!!! The best thing about it is that I can copy and paste it to different apartments over the years or I can separate the benches and use one or two in the entryway, or at the base of the bed. I am Then the top cushions can be turned into a headboard in the right place or I’m sure we can find another use for them. The main concept I tried to stick to throughout the apartment is that everything is flexible and can move and grow with us (which is a concept everyone should adopt for large investment pieces. !!)
I’m excited to share more about how this mission was accomplished in this space in the reveal (next Monday!!) but for now, leave any questions you have in the comments and I’ll answer them. Will be ready to give!! Thanks for coming along on this journey, I can’t wait to show you the rest of the place!!!
Want more about where he came from.