16 Smart Ways To Repurpose A Nightstand Around Your Home

Nightstands are a fundamental piece of furniture in the bedroom. Not only are they essential for keeping water glasses, books, and your phone within easy reach of your bed, but they also can really tie a bedroom together stylistically. Some nightstands even have handy little cabinets underneath for extra storage. If you're looking to replace your current nightstand to up your bedroom style game, consider repurposing it around your home rather than tossing it out. There are a surprising amount of smart ways to repurpose a nightstand, including turning it into a coffee bar, using it as a record player stand, or even converting it into a terrarium!

Before diving headfirst into one of these nightstand upcycles, consider the type of piece you're working with. Some of these projects require nightstands with more shelving, while others will work with even a simple single-shelf unit. If your heart is set on one of these DIYs, but you're not ready to part with your current nightstand, take a look at garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets in your area. You may be able to snag an old nightstand to fix up and breathe new life into with one of these unique projects.

There's no need to spend a fortune on a kid's play kitchen when you can DIY one yourself out of an old nightstand! For this project, you'll need a nightstand, bowl, faucet, hooks, paint, and fabric for the curtains. Odds are most of these items can be found at your local thrift store or flea market too. For the play kitchen's curtain, one option is to repurpose unwanted pillowcases you have around the home. You don't need to be a woodworking expert for this project, but you will need to be somewhat comfortable with a drill and saw.

Our furry friends really do deserve the best, and what better way to treat them than to build them a posh pet bed out of an old nightstand? An open nightstand will work best here, so you have a little nook to place a pillow into for the bed's cushioning. Since you'll most likely want to sand down the wood and paint it, an old nightstand will work fine for your pet bed, but it does need to be sturdy enough to support the weight of your little dog or cat.

If you love hosting people in your home, or fancy making yourself a creative cocktail every now and then, consider transforming your old nightstand into a minibar. The bottom shelf of the nightstand works great for taller bottles, and the upper shelf is a great place for cocktail making supplies like cocktail glasses, shakers, jiggers, and muddlers. All you really need is a fresh coat of paint for this DIY, but you can always take it to the next level by adding new hardware or finishes to the nightstand.

A super adorable way to repurpose an old nightstand is to turn it into a kids' reading chair. This project is a little more complex than some of the others, because you will need tools to sand down the wood and remove the top of the nightstand. You'll also need some pillows or a foam cushion for the seat. Nightstands with lower drawers work wonderfully for this project, as you'll want somewhere to store the books. Similar to the pet bed, it's important to use a sturdy nightstand to support the weight of seated kiddos.

One of the more unique ways to repurpose an old nightstand is to transform it into a terrarium to show off all your cool plants. For this project, you'll want to use a nightstand that is either very open, or remove some of the walls or drawers so there is space to place the tank and have it on display. Then, have fun building your own terrarium with your choices of moss, terrarium plants, and potting mix. Once it's all ready to go, get ready to enjoy incorporating your terrarium table into your home.

Do you own a gorgeous, taller nightstand that you love, but doesn't quite fit the aesthetic in your bedroom? Consider using it in your bathroom instead by repurposing it into a vanity. All you need is a bowl for the sink, some fresh paint, and a mirror, and you can transform your nightstand into a completely different piece of furniture. Love the idea but not feeling too keen on installing the sink? Keep it simple and just place a mirror above it and use it as a surface for getting ready.

True plant lovers know exactly how expensive it is to buy enough stands for all of your beautiful houseplants. And if you own a lot of houseplants (no judgment here!) then the price for plant stands stacks up even higher. Fortunately, if you have an old nightstand lying around it can easily be used as a stylish plant stand with pretty minimal work. If the nightstand is in good shape, simply place your plants on it and call it a day! Feel free to also get creative by painting and finishing it to achieve your desired look.

Furniture for kids can be expensive, especially considering they'll likely outgrow it in a few years. So why not DIY a kids' desk from an old nightstand instead of buying one? You will need a longer piece of wood to function as the desktop itself, and some support pieces to stand it up. Minor woodworking skills will also come in handy for attaching it all together. Nightstands with drawers work particularly well for this project, because they provide a place to store pencils, paper, and other desk supplies.

Very few things make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside like walking past a little free library in your neighborhood. With an old nightstand, a piece of glass, wood, and a few tools, you can be that neighbor who provides joy to everyone else by installing a DIY free library in front of your home. This isn't the easiest old nightstand DIY because you'll also have to build a stand for the library, but if you have the time and tools, but it's worth it for all the joy you'll bring to your block.

There are so many benefits to growing herbs in your backyard garden. You'll save money on greens, and your food will taste that much better knowing those delicious herbs you're using come from your own hard work! To transform a nightstand into an herb garden, all you really need is to open up the drawers and place your fresh cilantro, basil, chives, or whatever suits your palate inside. To give it an extra flare, paint the nightstand and give it some cute placards to dictate which herb is which.

Looking for an adorable DIY that simultaneously caters to your inner child and your love for interior design? Try converting your nightstand into a beautiful, intricate dollhouse. The best part of this project is that you're able to customize the dollhouse however you want, decorate it for the holidays, and really just let your imagination run wild. Doll furniture can be found at craft stores or online, but it's also fun to try repurposing things you already have around the house to use in the dollhouse. Ideally, you'll use a nightstand with a cabinet door for this project.

Do you need a cool way to display your record player and all your vintage records? Try repurposing an old nightstand into a record player stand. Place your record player on the top, and use the lower shelves to store the records themselves. Some plants or other pieces of decor can help spruce up the look and tie it all together. The cool thing about this hack is you can paint and fix up the nightstand to fit whatever aesthetic you're trying to match, whether it's the record player itself or other furniture pieces in your home.

For many, enjoying a morning cup of coffee is a very treasured, if not crucial, part of their morning routine. However, coffee pots, pour-overs, electric kettles, espresso machines, and other coffee brewing essentials can take up a ton of valuable kitchen space. By repurposing a nightstand into a dedicated coffee bar, you'll maximize your kitchen counter space while also keeping all your coffee essentials neat and organized. With everything in one place, you'll never have to fumble through all your different kitchen drawers searching for that last K-Cup ever again.

With a little effort, nightstands can be upcycled into compact, organized sewing tables. Their drawers and shelves are ideal for storing all of your thimbles, needles, seam guides, and other sewing accessories. Since nightstands are usually shorter than you'd want a sewing table to be for ergonomics, you may want to add bed risers or replace the legs of the nightstand to make it taller. While it's clever and saves space to build a chair into the nightstand, a more open nightstand with a separate chair can achieve the same purpose with much less effort.

Up your game night style by transforming an old nightstand into a sleek board game table. To achieve a look like this one, you'll need to build up the sides of the nightstand to create space for the board game and slots to slide in a piece of tempered glass. However, you can also take some creative liberties here, like painting the top of the nightstand into a checkers or backgammon board. Any drawers or shelves on the nightstand can also be used to store your other board games.

Nightstands with open shelving are already the perfect shape to convert into a mini bookshelf! Just slide your books onto the shelf, and you're ready to go. An extra shelf for books can easily be added by placing bookends on the top of the nightstand. If your nightstand has cabinet doors or drawers instead of open shelving, removing the drawers or doors will make room for your favorite books. Some nightstand shapes will work better for this DIY than others, but you can always add wider shelving or brackets to support additional levels.