Desperately Seeking Nightstand

April 13, 2023 10:21 PM

I don't have a lot of space but I need a lot of bedside storage. I've been searching far and wide for a nightstand that's narrow enough (17.5" max) but still deep and tall enough to store things. Ikea Malm was a perfect depth (17 inches deep, and 15 inches wide) but too short at 21 inches and only two drawers. I'm open to having something custom made; I'm in California. I've been searching for at least a year! I'm desperate!
posted by Threeve to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

Best answer: Ikea's best kept nightstand secret is the Alex, which is in the office section. It's 14 inches wide, 23 deep and 27 inches high, so it comes up to bed height. It's got five drawers, which is a great way to store a lot of stuff neatly but have it accessible when you're in bed. The downside is that it's not a trad looking nightstand, but I love mine.
posted by Superilla at 11:02 PM on April 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

I have a Nordli 3-drawer setup. It's 15 3/4 wide, 29 7/8 tall and 18 1/2 deep in inches.
posted by lulu68 at 11:08 PM on April 13, 2023

Best answer: 2nding the Alex.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:34 AM on April 14, 2023

Any good local joinery firm should be able to custom make this for you pretty quickly, although if things are similar to my local area, there's about a 3 month wait time before they can start new projects?
Certainly more expensive than an off-the-shelf mass produced furniture, but it should also be made better.

So maybe otherwise local independent home woodworker with a few comparatively 'basic' woodworking tools (table saw or rail saw) could do this. Or maybe reach out through some woodworking groups or local technical college?
posted by many-things at 12:36 AM on April 14, 2023

Best answer: The form factor of Alex is great but you should just look carefully at the dimensions of the larger drawers and make sure they’re tall enough for your intended use. It really is made for office stuff and you might not be happy trying to keep, like, linens in there.
posted by staggernation at 4:05 AM on April 14, 2023

I use the Ikea Lack wall shelf unit as a night stand. Works particularly well if you have a corner to stick it in so you don't have to worry about pushing things off the side and putting some baskets can let you store a ton of stuff.
posted by platypus of the universe at 6:39 AM on April 14, 2023

Yeah the Ikea Alex with the filing cabinet drawer is the one I used for this!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:35 AM on April 14, 2023

Ikea used to make a tall narrow malm chest that was only as wide as the nightstand. You could recreate it with two malm nightstands stacked on top of each other (appropriately bolted to each other and the wall).
posted by jello at 8:18 AM on April 14, 2023

wayfair has a search engine that lets you search by max dimensions
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:49 AM on April 14, 2023

A friend of mine went the Alex route while remodeling a pretty compact kid's room into a tween's room, and mounted a countertop organizer sort of like this at the back of it for even more room, and it ended up making a pretty tidy charging station/plant ledge/tchotchke spot.

With the unit being pretty deep, something with 5-7" shelves is mostly going to eat the space even with your headboard and pillow, so you're not losing your direct arms-reach area. IKEA has a surprising number of decent clamp lamps that you could also use on those backing shelves to save more nightstand surface space.

She did repaint/craft the whole thing including adding drawer pulls, which went a long way to making it more furniture-y. While she had the drill out she added extra bits to use as jewelry organizers.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:17 AM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Is the table surface sufficient or do you also need drawers? These are very slim tables that look nice in a variety of woods. They are only 8" wide.
posted by mcgsa at 9:52 AM on April 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Levenger's "No Room for a Table" end table is 11 1/4W x 24D x 24H with four drawers. But note the actual drawer space:
- Top 3 drawers are 6 7/8 w x 9 1/4 D x 2 1/2 H inside
- Bottom drawer is 6 7/8 w x 9 1/4 D x 4 1/2 H inside
- Back shelf can hold books and magazines
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:37 PM on April 14, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you, going to try the Alex! And yes, Wayfair's filters are great, just never surfaces the perfect thing.
posted by Threeve at 9:32 PM on April 15, 2023