Today's day and age are no more standard to have a metal frame and box spring support your mattress. Nowadays, people sleep on mattresses supported by adjustable bed frames, platforms, canopy bed frames, or if you're like some school students – straight on the ground.
This trend has evoked requirements for nightstands of many different sizes, shapes, and functionalities. Unfortunately, this can make it difficult for nightstand shoppers to decide, mainly if they are unsure what they're looking for.
Proper Nightstand Height
As a general guideline, the surface of your nightstand ought to be level with the surface of your mattress, or about 2-4″ taller. It's a lot easier for somebody to attain above to catch something when lying on the bed than to reach below.
A taller nightstand also stops you from bending over when you stand up and would like to catch something from its surface. The average height of a mattress and base is about 25″, so consequently, most commercial nightstands are approximately 24″-28″ tall.
Three Main Types of Nightstands
Like we mentioned above, nightstands are available in many different sizes, and we can go on forever if we wanted to list every particular kind of nightstand. Generally speaking. However, three types are most common.
Bedside Chest: All these nightstands are excellent for people looking for a little additional drawer space to maintain their socks, underwear, etc. because they are equipped with a couple of drawers for storage. Imagine a mini dresser that fits right at your bedside.
Bedside Cabinets – A bedside cabinet is much like a bedside chest since it includes additional storage, but it is split between a couple of drawers and… you guessed it – a cupboard. This space is useful when you need to keep bigger items such as an alarm clock out of vision but still close to your bedside.
Bedside Table: A bedside table is more for looks and aesthetic functions than performance, even though some may include a little drawer for additional storage space. However, for the most part, their primary aim is to look fine and hold small items such as a lamp or houseplant.
Take Proper Measurements
Before you initiate the search for your ideal nightstand (or two if you need a matching pair), you will first want to assess your mattress's height on its bed frame. Keep in mind, you need your next nightstand to be flat and or a couple of inches taller than your mattress.
Suppose your mattress is resting on a level platform base. In that case, your dimension may come out to be about the lower end around 18″. On the other hand, in case you've got a canopy bed or an adjustable bed frame, your dimension might come out to be higher –approximately 36″.
As you can see, there's a substantial gap between the two, so you should be sure that your next nightstand correctly steps up to your mattress.
When you're looking around for a new nightstand, you also wish to think about its width, thickness, and how its size compares to your mattress.
By way of instance, if you sleep on a king or California king mattress, you will probably be better off with a bigger chest or bedside cabinet to compliment your bigger-sized bed. However, those who sleep on a twin mattress may want to pair it with a slender bedside table instead.
You should also be careful of nightstands with a thickness larger than 24″ to stop yourself from bumping into them when you hop in and out of bed. There are not many things worse than unexpectedly ramming your shin to a solid surface, particularly if it is a sharp corner.
Other Considerations When Selecting a Nightstand
Storage Space: How significant is additional storage space to you? Do you want a few added drawers to keep newspapers, your sleeping mask, digital chords, etc.? If so, you may want to stay with a bedside chest or cupboard. A table might look really nice in your bedroom, but it won't certainly work how you want it to.
Surface Area of Tabletop: All this talks about how tall a nightstand should be. We have not even touched on the appropriate surface of a nightstand's tabletop. It all depends on the items you want on your nightstand.
If you simply keep a little bedside lamp and water bottle, most nightstands need to be able to accommodate that.
If you are like me (Slumber Yard member McKenzie) and keep an essential oil diffuser, decorative lamp, and wireless mobile charger rested on your nightstand. You will still want to make sure the one you find has a shirt with an appropriately sized surface area.
The fashion of the Nightstand: The kind of your bedroom should help you decide the look you want on your nightstand to have, and you need to choose one which flows nicely with the rest of the furniture in your area.
By way of instance, you probably would not need a classic, classic-looking bedside stand on your modern-styled master bedroom.
There are exactly hundreds of nightstands in the marketplace, both online and in-store, so the best one for you is out there! It just may take a little study to find it.
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