You don’t need any DIY carpentry skills to think up great, unique ideas for nightstands and to make them yourself. The DIY nightstand ideas for a bedroom on this list are mostly about using your imagination. With a little elbow grease and a minimum of expenditure, you’ll have results that you can be proud of.
1. Repurpose old-fashioned suitcases
Over the years, vintage chic has gained serious following. With this trend, it’s easy to pick up all kinds of discards to turn into stylish odds and ends. For instance, if you have a set of old, matched leather suitcases in reasonable shape or can find such a set at a flea market, they can function as a nightstand.
You simply need to stack one on top of the other next to your bed that’s all it takes to get your nightstand ready. You can try the same idea with other stackable objects old magazines, steamer trunks or shoeboxes. You can use anything that you can manage to make look chic and attractive.
2. Upcycle an old ladder
A nightstand doesn’t necessarily need to be a flat surface. If you’re imaginative enough, you’ll probably see that a set of rungs will hold most things that you need to put next to your bed a book, a couple of articles of clothing, glasses, a lamp and even a pillbox.
All you need to do is to get an old ladder, paint it to look nice and new, and lean it on a wall close to your bed. A clip-on lamp on a rung will give you the lighting you need and a hanging basket will take care of the pillbox.
3. Make a hanging nightstand
A flat section of wood (it can be as rustic or as finely polished as you choose) can make for a charming nightstand. You only need to buy four wood hooks to screw into the wood, tie a rope into each and use them to suspend the shelf off a ceiling hook or a bracket on the wall.
4. Wall-mount your nightstand
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While you can make a nightstand in any number of ways any shelf that you can hang off wall hooks will do the trick — a nightstand is supposed to have character.
Pick up a large, rough plank about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide with attractive grain, and a smaller section about 2 feet on each side. Hang the long plank off the wall and then attach the smaller piece on it with easily available angle brackets from the hardware store. Some sanding and staining is all you need then to get your charming little nightstand ready for use.
5. A stepladder nightstand
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Stepladders feature three or four steps each one of which can serve as a surface to place things on next to your bed. If you can find an attractive, vintage stepladder model at a flea market, you wouldn’t even need to paint it or polish it. It could directly go next to your bed after a thorough cleaning.
6. Find some wine boxes
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You can find wooden wine boxes in any supermarket dumpster. Two or three of these stacked one on top of the other can make for a beautiful nightstand. You only need to sand the boxes well to smooth over any rough parts. To hide the fact that these are wine boxes that used to live in a dumpster, use a little wood stain to color the wood a dark shade.
7. A tree stump nightstand
A simple tree trunk section straight from a recently felled tree can function very well as a nightstand. All you need is a 3-foot-tall section of tree trunk. You need to plane and sand the bottom so that it’s perfectly flat. It would be bring much character to your bedroom standing next to your bed.
8. A musical nightstand
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Flea markets are usually great places to find old, useless musical instruments. If you can find a bass drum, a bongo or even a floor tom, you wouldn’t need to do much more than to clean it up. It would make a great, ready-made nightstand with character all its own.
9. An old wooden chest
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If you see an old wooden trunk or chest going for very little at a yard sale, you should consider picking it up. With a little sanding and a lick of paint, a trunk could make an adorable nightstand. If you can find an old barrel, that would do very well, too. Trunks and chests, though, have storage space.
10. The nightstand that disappears into the wall
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If you simply found an old wooden chair to plop next to your bed, it wouldn’t look like a usable nightstand, at all. What you can do instead is to cut off the front half of the seat, along with the two front legs. What you will be left with is the back, the rear legs and half of the seat. This, you could affix to a wall next to your bed. If you do a good job fitting it there, it would make for a very clever nightstand, indeed.
The ideas on this list are so inexpensive and easy to try, you can have a different idea once every few months. Your friends will probably have no clue where you get your ideas from.
