How to Create a Beautifully Organized Nightstand

Nightstand organization can be a total game changer! Create a beautifully organized nightstand that holds everything you need in one neat and tidy spot!

Organizing my nightstand has been on my to-do list for a while now. I knew that taking the time to create well thought out systems would be beneficial, but it was a smaller project and the nightstand wasn’t too terribly disorganized, so I just kept putting it off.

But when I walked into our room one day and was met with this…

…I knew it was time to create some order out of the chaos!

Smart Nightstand Organization Ideas

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

My Nightstand Before

We’ve had these nightstands for about a year now, but I never really took the time to decide what I wanted to keep in mine. I just ended up throwing random items (which I would inevitably forget about) in the drawers.

Books, notebooks, electronics, papers… The drawers were a random assortment of everything, and I knew I could be smarter about how I used the space.

I hadn’t even taken the time to clear out all of the remnants of the styrofoam that the nightstand had come packed in!

Step 1- Take everything out.

The first thing I did was take everything out of the nightstand drawers and remove all of the items from the top surface.

I like to start with a blank slate whenever possible so I can come up with the best configuration for the items I want to store.

Step 2- Sort by type.

As I cleared everything out of the nightstand, I began putting like items together. I kept all of my notebooks together, books together, electronics together, etc.

Step 3- Discard and relocate.

Along with grouping together the items I wanted to keep, I also made piles of items that I wanted to get rid of or move somewhere else.

I had a lot of random papers in my drawers that I didn’t need anymore. There were tons of writing utensils that would be put to better use in my office. I had books that I was finished reading that could be re-shelved.

And I’m currently using my phone alarm, so I decided to put my alarm clock away for a bit to see if I came back to it or not. (I am a terrible waker-upper, so I’m always changing up my wake up routine to try to make it easier!)

Step 4- Make a plan.

When I was left with only the items I wanted to keep, I realized I was going to have some extra space. I was able to grab some random items that I had been storing in my closet temporarily to give them a permanent home in the nightstand.

Once I had gathered all of the items I wanted to keep in my nightstand and had them separated by type, I grabbed my notebook and sketched out a quick organization plan. (Please don’t judge my artistic ability… or lack thereof! 😉 )

I realized that the items I wanted to store fell into three basic categories: electronics, toiletries, and books/notebooks.

Since I have three drawers in my nightstand, this ended up working out perfectly! I decided to create a charging station for my electronics in the top drawer, house my toiletries in the middle drawer, and keep books and notebooks in the bottom drawer.

Step 5- Refill the space.

Now that I had a basic plan mapped out, it was time to execute it!

I first wiped down all of the drawers so they were nice and clean.

I then added a pretty drawer liner in each drawer for a nice pop of pattern. This also helped protect the bottom of the drawers a little bit.

Organized Nightstand Top Drawer- Charging Station

I had to grab Donnie for assistance to create the charging station in the top drawer since it involved drilling some holes in the back of the drawer and nightstand itself.

I actually wrote a whole separate post about how to turn a drawer into a charging station, so you can head here if you’re thinking of doing something similar!

In this drawer, I decided to use small bins so each device had its own designated spot. The bins also helped to corral and hide the cords a bit better.

Here’s how the top drawer of the nightstand looked before and after…

Organized Nightstand Middle Drawer- Toiletries

Since I was putting a bunch of smaller items in the toiletries drawer, bins were a must.

As i did with the top drawer, I used my Cricut cutting machine + adhesive vinyl to label the bottoms of the bins. That way, if something gets taken out, it’s easy to see where it’s supposed to go to put it back.

(I shared a tutorial for creating vinyl labels with a Cricut machine here and a Silhouette machine here.)

Once my bins were labeled, it was time to fill them up. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I was able to fit in this drawer. It is so nice to have these pampering items close by when I need them!

In the middle drawer I ended up storing…

• Tissues
• Jade roller
• Hair ties
• Chapstick
• Teeth whitening strips
• Ear plugs
• Tan towels
• Makeup remover wipes
• Lotion
• Sunscreen

Here’s a little before and after:

Organized Nightstand Bottom Drawer- Books and Notebooks

The bottom drawer was practically empty when I started, so it wasn’t too hard to pop a few things in here!

I just added one bin to corral the writing utensils. I also kept my devotional materials, notebooks, and planners in this drawer for easy access.

Here’s the before and after…

Step 6- Enjoy your beautifully organized nightstand!

So that’s it! The nightstand went from an afterthought to a neatly organized space that is both functional and beautiful. I love it when every single item has a designated home!

The top of the nightstand got a little transformation too!

I hope this post gave you some ideas for organizing your own nightstand! No matter what shape or size nightstand you have, implementing some simple systems can really make it work hard for you.

If you’re looking for some other bedroom organization ideas, these posts can help:

DIY Charging Station in a Nightstand

Organized Master Closet Tour

How to Organize a Small Closet

Organizing Clothes with the KonMari Method

[Psssttt… Don’t miss our top 100 tips for organizing every single room in your house!]

Want to save this post so you can come back to it later? Be sure to pin the image below!

What’s your favorite tip for keeping your nightstand organized? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you so much for following along! Have a wonderful day!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.