For the past few months I've been agonizing over my bedside situation. Namely, I lacked a bedside table: A place to rest my glasses, a book, or even my iPhone. I started Googling and Pinning in a frenzy — how tall should it be? How much storage do I really need? Should there be drawers? Doors? Ikea hacks?
And then it dawned on me, thanks to some extensive snooping through our home archives, that maybe I didn't actually need a bedside table at all. Maybe I could use a chair, put some books on it, place a tray on top, and call it a day. It'd be a perfect perch for a plant or a lamp, and I could swap them out depending on my mood.
I gave it a shot — and the novelty quickly wore off. A chair is a cute solution in theory (and, thanks to some luck with street finds, a thrifty one to boot), but I needed more storage and versatility. That's when I had my second epiphany.
Continuing in the vein of repurposing things that aren't bedside tables (or even tables at all) as nightstands, I put an antique chest that I already had elsewhere in the apartment to the side of my bed. It provides the extra storage I need, and although it's a tad shorter than I really want, a stack of books (or two) takes care of any height problems — and a jauntily placed tray or two provides a nesting spot for a glass of water and my iPhone.
Have you ever repurposed an item of furniture you already own in lieu of buying a home item you need? How did it work out? Tell us in the comments.