apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't understand why anyone would scrimp on a frequently used item such as a night table - or why one would use a piece that doesn't have at least one drawer to keep "bedside necessities" out of sight.

Sometimes $100 is a lot of money, especially when you end up buying 2. But I guess that's why I've never bought a nightstand

You must really be fortunate to think $100 is "scrimping". Good for you. A lot of people can't afford to drop $500 on a night stand.

My beautiful vintage side table was $35 and is better than anything I could have found for 10 times the price. Its perfect. Just because something is expensive doesn't mean its better.

Also, "bedside necessities" are different for different people. All I have on my night table is a lamp, an alarm clock, and a glass of water.

Sorry - I got sidelined and didn't mean to hit "Submit" so soon...

...I was going to continue to state that if $100 is too much, then there's lots of pre-owned furniture (Craigslist, Flea Markets, etc) out there for under $100 that would be perfectly appropriate and have drawers, etc to hide stuff away - and probably be far better made than that pressboard thing from Target.

I would urge people not to buy any particleboard furniture from Target. It's not worth the $. I bought a TV console thing as a cheap solution and a few years later it is one sad, sagging piece of furniture and looks really ugly. Go to Ikea before you go to Target for furniture.

Some of us are also dealing with space issues and other personal reasons where buying from Craigslist might prove difficult; where I live it's tough to find small enough pieces second-hand. Sometimes I have to buy new just to get exactly what I need, and all I can afford is that piece of pressboard from Target and I'm grateful I have that option.

Craigslist isn't always an option for those of us who don't live on the coasts or in major cities. I live in a pretty large city and the local Craigslist is filled with poorly designed, oversized, overpriced furniture. Good antiques can be found here. However, they are often priced the same if not more than new furniture, which kinda defeats the purpose...

Here's an option that's cheaper than all of the nightstands listed above:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40107872
(In the storage furniture section of Ikea, not the nightstands section.)

I think it's a great little piece. We got one because we needed to stick a second nightstand into a very narrow space in our bedroom (btw the bed and an armchair in a small room). This piece is small, so it's good for city apartments, but it has drawers to hold any bedside items and it's big enough to stick a task lamp and/or alarm clock on top of it.

This is a good nightstand too, from Ikea. I have it and I've put a globe (Ikea) lamp on the higher level. For only 49.99 $, less than 100$ the pair.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20154591