7 Pieces of Furniture You Don’t Actually Need in Your Bedroom, According to Home Stagers

We’ve all been there: You get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom or get a drink of water, and you stub a toe on your dresser or stumble over your TV console. As much as you think you know the layout of your bedroom, excess furniture can obstruct the flow of a space and ruin its aesthetic.

You may look at your bedroom and wonder what could possibly be eliminated, but home stagers think you’ll be surprised at how many pieces can be edited out of a floor plan. Many traditional pieces have newer, sleeker alternatives that will visually and spatially clear up the space.

“Your bedroom should be your sanctuary — a peaceful place to retreat to,” says Joni Rentz, president and CCO of FØRM, a New York City-based interior staging and design company. “So clear out the clutter, and let the space breathe.”

Here, Rentz and three other professional home stagers share their advice on what seven bedroom elements you could definitely live without. After making these changes, you may even sleep a bit better at night.

Gone are the days of grand four-poster beds with canopies and frilly bed skirts, say Katie Hilbert and Kari George, owners of The Home Sanctuary, a home organizing, styling, and staging company in Louisville, Kentucky.

“People are gravitating towards sleek and simple beds. Bed skirts aren’t even necessary with most designs,” they explain.

While many big-box furniture stores still sell matching bedroom sets, they’re now passé, according to Brian Garcia of D&G Interiors and Design in Hoboken, New Jersey.

“While ‘matchy-matchy’ might seem easier and a smart idea, it is the ultimate bedroom vibe killer. Buying everything together as a matching set not only creates a space that is void of personality and style, but it also limits your options,” he says. “Life is all about options, and that holds true for curating the right furniture assortment.”

He suggests mixing different styles of pieces for a more eclectic and personal look.

“Place that modern dresser next to a more traditional upholstered headboard flanked by two mirrored nightstands. As long as you choose pieces that resonate with you and complement each other in scale, color, and texture, it’s all good.”

If space is an issue, eliminate bedside tables, says Rentz. Replace their functionality “by adding a floating shelf to the wall behind the bed, right above the headboard.” 

In place of lamps on the nightstands, add wall sconces for lighting — and be sure to include dimmers, too, she says.

Even if you have an expansive (and expensive) jewelry collection, a bulky jewelry armoire sitting on your dresser is outdated and unnecessary, say Hilbert and George.

“Large jewelry armoires are a thing of the past,” they say. “They take up too much space and are more of an eyesore.”

Instead, the duo recommends using acrylic jewelry drawers in a bathroom or bedroom closet.

Let’s face it: Most kinds of exercise equipment situated in bedrooms aren’t utilized the way they’re meant to, say Hilbert and George.

“Most often, these pieces end up being a catch-all or a clothes hamper and are not used for their actual purpose,” they explain.

Find space for those pieces elsewhere.

While having too many dressers is a waste of space, so is having a dresser that’s too large, say Hilbert and George. Think you truly need the storage space? Try doing a purge of everything in the drawers, they said.

“Chances are you don’t need or wear more than 30 percent of the items,” they argue.

Focus on the closet as the primary clothing storage space, says Rentz.

“Invest in a closet organizing system,” she says. “Even a small closet can be configured to accommodate hanging clothes along with shelving and drawers for sweaters, socks, and more.”

Just as bulky TV consoles are going by the wayside in living rooms, they’re not needed in bedrooms, say Hilbert and George.

“A TV console doesn’t belong in the bedroom. Hang a smart TV, hide the cords, and use an app (like Chromecast) to make it look like artwork,” by displaying a beautiful image on the screen when it’s not in use, they explain.