What’s on your bedside table? A table lamp, phone, tissues, vase or books? The principles of styling your bedside table are similar to styling a coffee table, bookshelf, or dining table. Which is essentially about curating a collection. So here are my top tips for styling your bedside table.
Style goal and colour scheme
The way you style your bedside table and the décor or items you use should be cohesive with the overall interior style goal trying to achieve and colour scheme. For example, if your style goal is Hamptons then your might have a small vase of chrysanthemums.
Depending on the type of bedside table you have you may only need one piece or pieces for the top and a shelf or two.
The key piece to get right in terms of your interior style goal and colour scheme is the bedside table lamp. This could be a traditional table lamp or a pendant or some other kind of lighting but it needs to be right from a style perspective.
Get the bedside table lamp wrong and it will be hard to make other decorative pieces work.
Balance and proportion
I think the key to any collection of décor (or vignette) working is balance and proportion. What this means is that all the pieces are the same or similar shape, size, height, width and depth. Any variation in shape or size of the pieces of your collection and you’ll need a piece that sits somewhere in the middle in terms of shape, size, height etc.
The pieces of décor for styling your bedside table also need to be in proportion to the table itself. So if you have small bedside table, that is anything less then 40cm wide I would most likely stick to one item and that could just be the bedside table lamp. Making it crucial to select the best bedside table lamp for your bedroom.
In the bedroom the focal piece remains the bed. So your bedside table styling needs to be in balance and proportion to the bed. For example, if you have a low bedhead avoid, tall decorative items on your bedside table.
Style for functionality
Personally I have two different bedside tables. The one on the side I sleep is minimally styled but the bedside table on the other side seems to be a bit of a dump zone. So it’s important to style your bedside tables for functionality.
Everyone’s functional requirements are different. You might like to read a night so you need space on your bedside table for a book and possibly a book reading light. You might like to wear an eye mask or have a separate alarm clock.
So while styling your bedside table to be cohesive with your interior style goal, it’s more important that the styling suits your functional needs.
The last tip for effortless styling your bedside table is to keep things simple. Because of the size of a bedside table I’m inclined to opt for one stand out piece of décor than a collection. The key function of a bedroom is rest and relaxation so by keeping your bedside table styling minimal and clutter free you’re closer to achieving this key functional trait of a bedroom.
