Nightstand Styling Tips

While styling a nightstand can seem a little silly to some, others will completely understand the desire to have this be something that is visually pleasing. It can be the first thing you see when you wake up and the last thing you see as you go to sleep, as well as an anchor for the bedroom, so for those who understand the want for this to be a meaningfully decorated space, but haven't yet been able to create that feeling in their room, you're in the right spot!

Before I landed with the styling I have now, I played with different combinations of items for quite a while and nothing felt right. I finally changed my actual nightstand (found it on the side of the road!!) and things started to click. For one, it was a little larger so I was able to make a group of 3 (lamp, trinkets tray, books) instead of 2 (lamp and books) and usually groups of 3 feel more grounding than a pairing of 2. The plain pine wood also felt more grounding than the solid white painted night stand (although my heart still holds a special spot for how sweet the OG night stand was). I played with different lamps, different trinkets, vases, and the amount of times I typed "night stand styling" into TikTok and Pinterest and scoured my home decor books for inspo was tiring. There didn't seem to be a whole lot out there for nightstand styling the way I wanted mine too look/feel.

I really liked how my dresser top looked so I pulled apart what I liked there and decided I'd try to recreate that grouping on my nightstand. And finally, voila, I'd done it! After 4 lamps, many thrift store trips, some newly framed art, and a couple more nail holes, I finally had a night stand situation I loved.

Sooooooo, anywaaaay, here's the part you're looking for: my go-to tabletop formula:

1. First step is to make a list (mental or physical) of the things you actually need/use and want to have in/on your nightstand. Having a pretty spot to look at is all well and good, but if it doesn't function the way you need it to then it's ultimately poor design/decor.

2. Take a look at your list and see whats in there thats functional and beautiful and whats functional but maybe not something you want to rest your eyes on all the time. These are going to be two categories: functional (not the most beautiful, but useful) and FUNctional (pretty and useful or just pretty). For example, maybe you put on hand lotion every night but the lotion you use has a semi ugly bottle, that would go into the functional category, but if it's a beautiful bottle that's FUNctional. Another example, maybe you use a clip on reading light every night but it's super old and grimy, that goes into functional. You get the idea. Gather up all your functional items and organize them into your top nightstand drawer. If you don't have a drawer, find a beautiful basket or box and put them under your night stand, this way they're completely accessible, but aren't visually cluttering your space. Next take all your FUNctional items and lay them out on your bed.

3. Now you're going to make 3 groups: lamp, trinkets, and books (or your equivalent of these groupings; let's say you have a sconce, then maybe it's big vase, trinkets, and books; or alarm clock, notebooks, and trinkets, etc). I'm going to stick with lamp, trinkets, and books for this example, but sub in the items you have as you see fit. Lamp and book stacks are already complete groupings, so we're going to focus on the grouping of trinkets next (this grouping is what really makes the styling part come to life)!

4. Let's say you have a hand lotion, candle, flowers, and catchall for rings/etc. that you want to style. Step one is to ground these items by using a tray. If your nightstand is plain wood, I'd opt for a contrasting/alt texture like marble, bamboo, something painted, or a contrasting color of wood. By creating a zone for all the trinkets you've now grouped them all together which will ultimately give our nightstand top those three categories/groups. Within this zone you can style your trinkets, maybe you find a little dish for your hand lotions (the more textures the more interesting, maybe find a beautiful metal or ceramic option to throw in here), add in your vase (again, another opportunity for another material/texture, maybe glass or ceramic), and complete with your catch all (another chance for a new texture, maybe a shell or tiny wicker bowl or porcelain bowl). Find materials that will compliment each other, they don't necessarily need to match, but they should all live well together (similar how blues and greens aren't the same color, but live harmoniously in a color palette).

5. The final step will be to hang some art! Choose something that is meaningful to you in one way or another, I have a framed note and a framed piece of art I found on a day trip with my friend. I've mixed materials here with the frames as well (one metal, one wood that has a fabric matting on it as well). My lamp is layered in front of the art a little, and I personally am not bothered by that as I think it adds a little depth to the space.

And that's it! In summary, make a group of three "zones" and add loads of various textures that compliment each other. You can repeat this for pretty much any table top grouping! I'm by no means the first person to do this/share this method, (groups of three have been a thing since the dawn of nature haha) but I'm just sharing it in case someone hasn't come across this method before! This is what worked for me and I hope its helpful for you too!

Let me know if there are other topics you'd like me to chat about. Until then, happy decorating!

xx,

Rose