The Ultimate Guide to Nightstand Organization in Your Bedroom

Does anyone else feel like their nightstands are overflowing and constantly a place where you’re shoving all those “I don’t know where to put this” items? That’s 100% what was happening with our nightstands. It was a black hole of endless junk collected throughout the year & I was ready for a change! The first change I needed to make was entirely new nightstands. I found these adorable nightstands from Wayfair & we haven’t looked back since!

The current nightstands we had were about 10 years old, the bottoms of the drawers were sagging and catching on the bottom when trying to close and I also knew we needed a third drawer for some extra storage. For reference, here are the old nightstands we were working with:

Here are some of my tips and tricks to transform your cluttered nightstand into a stylish and functional space in your master bedroom.

Assess Your Needs and Declutter

The first thing I did was go through all of our drawers and clear out all the wrappers, broken items, cords, old electronics, or anything I knew we didn’t need in our nightstands. And boy, you’d be surprised at just how much we had crammed into those drawers. When there is no organization system in place, it’s so easy to continue to just shove and fill drawers to the point where they become completely useless, which is exactly what had happened to our nightstand drawers over the years.

So to prevent that from happening again, I ordered some containers to keep things tidy and in their place. These are my some of my favorite drawer containers! Which leads me to my second tip:

Keep Your Bedside Essentials Within Reach

Once I got all the containers in it was time to get organizing! I planned out all the items I wanted in the drawers and then placed the container sizes accordingly. I knew the top drawer was going to be most used so I made that a kind of ‘personal hygiene/self care’ type drawer. I wanted to have all my eye masks, chapsticks, lotions, medicines, gum, mints, etc. I did this on both mine & my husbands top drawers as these are the items we both use most often. His also has some space for items he bring home from work frequently – such as: office keys, pens, and loose change. I also store the TV remote in his drawer.

Maximize Storage with Smart Solutions

The second drawer became my “entertainment” type drawer. This is where I keep my iPad, a small notebook, the book I’m currently reading, and all the little gadgets to go along with those items. Some pens, highlighters, screen cleaner & wipes, extra chargers, and my book lights! The second drawer for my husbands nightstand could be classified as an entertainment drawer as well… if you know, you know. We’ll skip a photo of that one. 😉

The third drawer doesn’t really have a category for me — I keep my heating pad in there and some of our more random items. I have a mini flashlight, and box cutter, my bluetooth speaker, and my portable charger! My husband’s bottom drawer is where he keeps his laptop, charger, bluetooth speaker, iPad, the books he is reading that week, his screen cleaners, portable charger, and extra headphones.

Create a Stylish Aesthetic with Decorative Elements

Once I got all the items I wanted in each of our nightstands it was time to get the tops cleaned up! I wanted to keep them as clutter free as possible but still be realistic about what we typically set on the nightstands daily. The first item was water. We both are always bringing in cups of water or water bottles so I found these adorable bedside carafe’s for each of us instead. (Here is the carafe from my nightstand, and this is the one on my husbands). The tops flip over & become the glass to drink out of so that way we’re not constantly bringing in and leaving glasses and water bottles all over our nightstands. The water will last 2-3 days and then all I do is bring them out, wash them, and refill it!

I also bought the Hatch alarm clock and my mornings haven’t been the same since! It is such a pretty alarm clock & I love all the features it comes with. There are sunrise options so the light gradually comes on to whatever sunset or sunrise setting you pick, plus all the different sounds you can choose to wake up too. The calming birds chirping or flutes playing is SO much better than the obnoxious phone alarms blasting in my face every morning! It’s made me wake up in such a better mood every day and was totally worth it, in my opinion! I know a lot of people get upset that it’s an expensive alarm clock and then they also have a monthly subscription but you can certainly use the alarm clock without the monthly subscription options, there are so many free choices available. I haven’t used the paid version yet and its been going just fine!

With these nightstand organization tips & tricks, you can create a peaceful and organized atmosphere in your master bedroom. Say goodbye to clutter and hello to a functional and stylish nightstand setup. Make sure to check out all my favorite nightstand essentials below!