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Magazine Stack Nightstand

082208_magnight.jpgFile this under fantasy Sunday morning: lounging in bed reading the paper and enjoying breakfast in bed with an attractive British bloke. Push that aside, and we realize that this seemingly picture-perfect moment (brought to us by the film Imagine Me & You) could be marred by...what is that? A stack of magazines acting as a nightstand?

 
 

Upon further reflection, we admit that the idea is not too bad: we get a LOT of magazine; and for some reason, we hold on to them for the sake of...research...or something like that. In fact, we're looking at a stack of W Magazines dating all the way back to 2002 that we've lugged from our first bachelorette pad in Los Feliz to our current suburban soccer mom home in Pasadena. We'd be lucky to get something half as useful as a nightstand out of them for all the space they're taking up in our home office.

What do you think? Would you put your old magazines to use as a nightstand?

(And for the record, we're thinking Piper Perabo might want to add a few more magazines if she wants her bedside lamp to be put to optimal use. It's a bit low, don't you think?)

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Comments (20)

ha ha! well, it's a neater version of what's by my bed anyway. I don't have enough to stack nearly that high, though.

And yes, it's way too low. Meaning that mine would be way too lower. Oh well, maybe I need a real night stand.

posted by whytephoenix on August 22nd 2008 at 6:38am
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Oh I *adore* this movie. I recognized the screencap before even reading the post.

I think it's one of my partner's and my favourites, and the whole movie is full of interesting and fun design. :) I'd love to have their loft.

posted by pikku.sukka on August 22nd 2008 at 6:41am
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Um - No.

Get a table and put the magazines in a basket - or a shelf - or a drawer - or recycle...

posted by bepsf on August 22nd 2008 at 6:50am
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hah! it could ALSO be marred by the fact that she's about to leave him for their wedding florist... but hey, that's just me.

the gf and i do love the movie... but i don't think i'd stack up magazines for a nightstand...

posted by closertotheocean on August 22nd 2008 at 6:51am
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i dont get why people hold onto magazines. i have a friend who just downsized to a really small 1-br apt. he's got GREAT furniture and worked hard to fit it all in, and pared his belongings down a bit... BUT he has TONS of magazines to contend with: W's, domino's, a slew of men's fashion mags, italian vogues, etc. its too much, and it makes the place look a mess.
i say, tear out the articles or pictorial spreads you love, and recycle the rest. free yourself!

posted by Bobbycat5 on August 22nd 2008 at 6:56am
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I don't know about anyone else, but my magazines tend to vary slightly in size, and they certainly lack uniform white spines. So if I could get them to stack high enough without sliding over, it would still look super tacky.

I do like stacks of coffee table books as end/bedside tables though.

posted by BetterBombshell on August 22nd 2008 at 7:16am
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My husband doesn't understand why I hang on to magazines. You wouldn't throw out decorating books would you? I love having a stash of old magazines -- especially since I tend to move every few years and have entirely different decorating challenges (and architectural styles) each time. Something that wasn't of any interest 5 years ago is extremely helpful now.

posted by Lisa Hunter (Montreal) on August 22nd 2008 at 7:35am
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Um, my nightstand is a pile of house magazines. It kind of happened accidentally because I didn't have any furniture apart from my futon and a table and chairs when I moved in, but I'm actually quite happy with it. And because I have a futon so I'm very close to the ground. On the other side of the bed, I have a stack of dictionaries.

posted by El Jinx on August 22nd 2008 at 7:43am
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This is pure genius. I'm tossing my current nightstand tonight as a matter of fact. Simple and Brilliant. Gotta love this.

posted by DecorAddict on August 22nd 2008 at 7:49am
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eww. Too messy and all too easy to knock over while vacuuming.

posted by Monica on August 22nd 2008 at 7:54am
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Do you really think someone who has that many magazines vacuums on a regular basis???? Truly, my issue (pun intended) would be the stack would get too high!!

posted by whitexb on August 22nd 2008 at 8:20am
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It's also on a movie set. I don't think this is a real-life good idea, unless you only want to read the one that's on top or near the top, and think you might like them to all fall down occasionally, like when the cat tries to jump on the bed. Perhaps if you wanted the look, you could bolt a stack of magazines together, but I don't know why you would do that.

posted by K T G on August 22nd 2008 at 8:45am
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Looking at it further, I think it's ... just a stack of magazines. I don't see it acting as a nightstand whatsoever. I haven't seen the movie, so maybe it is featured better in another scene, but if it doesn't have an alarm clock or a lamp or a little bowl for taking off your jewelry at night, and it's way too low, it's not really acting like a nightstand. False alarm, people, it's just a stack of magazines for when you want to stay in bed and read magazines.

posted by K T G on August 22nd 2008 at 9:03am
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Quite frankly, if you put an attractive British bloke in my bed, I really couldn't care less what was stacked next to it.

posted by jennifer in sf on August 22nd 2008 at 9:11am
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magazine stack does not equal night stand. If you really like your magazines enough to hold on to them, then find a propers storage solution.

I keep mine on a Sapien-like spine bookcase. When the mags are neatly arranged by color and size it looks really modern.

posted by Yokie on August 22nd 2008 at 9:16am
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He will dump you if you have to many magazines---shows you are a high upkeep kind of girl!

posted by poptart on August 22nd 2008 at 9:29am
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K T G -- there is a lamp and an alarm clock on the nightstand. It's kind of hard to see from the photo (the silver lamp blends into the pillow).

Jennifer in SF -- so true. so, so true.

posted by grace on August 22nd 2008 at 9:40am
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do people actually lounge in bed reading the paper like this? it seems like one of those romanticized activities that everyone claims to do because it makes you sound cool and intellectual and town and country-ish, but no one actually does. why the bed? why not a couch? a table? really? you have to get up, cover-up, get the paper, come back inside, then make breakfast. no doubt most people would also brush their teeth and take care of other bathroom business as well. why, after doing all of that, would you want to get back into bed just to read and eat?

and is how do you keep the teapot and cups from tipping over?!

posted by Pistachio on August 22nd 2008 at 10:18am
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grace - you are right. The monitor on my computer at work shows everything much darker. At first I thought I saw a lamp on top, then I thought it was on the floor next to the stack. What I thought I saw in shapes doesn't match at all what lamp is there, and I couldn't see the clock. I still think it's a "movie" idea, or perhaps a "what can I improvise for a table until I find one?" Without having seen the movie, but speaking from a set design notion, this idea makes up the character to have not found a nightstand yet, so she made one up until she gets one. It's soft and bohemian (a little).

It's kind of "whatever": I needed a nightstand but all I had on hand was a stack of magazines, so I'm not that keen to put some IKEA junk in there just to have a real nightstand, so back off. It serves the purpose for now.

posted by K T G on August 22nd 2008 at 2:47pm
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at my house i would gladly do such a morning activity on my couch... but at my boyfriends absolutely not. its leather, nice leather if i must admit and not black, and i absolutely cannot stand leather couches. his bed on the other hand is comfy and he gets up early to run and gets the coffee and paper so by default i often end up in bed rather than the couch... and quite often alone as he takes the couch.

posted by art_brutale on August 22nd 2008 at 6:45pm
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