We like to see pieces of furniture used in unconventional ways, not only because it's creative and interesting, but because it often makes use of a piece of furniture we already have. One favorite idea we've seen pop up all over uses a chair as a nightstand in place of a traditional table. Works for us!
(Images: 1. Design*Sponge; 2. Design*Sponge; 3. Kim Vallee; 4. It's All a Matter of Design; 5. The Style Files)
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This is exactly what I did in college. I didn't have a nightstand. I had a chair.
That's what I did throughout most of my childhood and a few years in University. I'm about to move into a new place and my nightstand will be my bass guitar amp. It takes up a lot of space, but I'm going to utilize it (for more than kicking out the jams).
We did this when my husband and I were first married. It was an old beat up metal folding chair we had found in his parents garage. It was functionally ugly and we knew it but it was what we could afford (free).
Mine is still a chair. Perfect height for a fan in the summer, too.