Building a Better Bedroom for Books

I never had a nightstand in college. The dorm rooms were simply too narrow to accommodate anything beside my sky-high bed. Even when I moved off-campus, I didn’t think to pick one up. It would have been one more thing to move, and in the throes of my nomadic lifestyle (six moves in less than three years), the burden outweighed the benefits. 

During those dark times, I’d often wake up to find my bed strewn with books and the lights still on. (Since I didn’t have a bedside lamp handy, I lost the battle of tired versus cold toes more times than I can count.) It took until February of senior year for the arrangement to wear me down. I bought myself my timber table and never looked back. It took until this last move to get everything exactly how I wanted it, but the results are so worth it:

In my younger years, I’d sometimes watch silly MTV shows. One of my favorites was Cribs, where celebrities took camera crews through their extravagant homes. There were two things every athlete/actress invariably did: show the contents of their refrigerator and say “this is where the magic happens” when they reached their bedroom. So, um, “this is where the magic happens.”

My desk is actually where the magic happens. Ever since I lovingly acquired it from IKEA, it’s been my faithful writing companion as well as the home of my favorite knickknacks. Just this past week, it became the new site of my Super-Scientific Library Book Organizational System (SSLBOS). First though, the knickknacks.

Flowers are a known mood enhancer, especially if they’re surprise tulips from your housemates (who know that red is your accent color of choice).

I adore mugs as decoration, but it’s also handy to have my most special at the ready for a late-night cup of tea. A range of sizes is essential.

My elephant collection sits right next to my mugs. (The white one’s actually a teapot! The silvery pair are salt/pepper shakers.)

Here’s the aforementioned SSLBOS. The books in the left-hand pile (closest to the bed) have been renewed 3-4 times, and the ones in the middle have been renewed 0-2 times. The book on the far right is in the “read and ready to return” stack. (As you can see, I have some work to do.)

Let’s enhance! A close-up of my to-read list.

Moving over a bit, these books are the ones I need to reach before bed. (Thank goodness for my nightstand!) My clip-on lamp ensures that I never have to get out of bed to turn off the lights. (Through the window is the porch mentioned here.)

My divinely comfortable bed. To borrow a quote from an Apartment Therapy commenter, it’s “like sleeping on ground up angel wings suspended in meringue.” My blue-footed booby Sebastian (named by a wonderful guy) keeps me company when I’m knee-deep in a novel.

The last part of the picture is this side table, waiting patiently for a bedroom large enough to accommodate it in its rightful place. (If you look closely, you can see my fuzzy technicolor slippers in the mirror.)





...And there you have it! My beautiful bedroom, built for a bounty of books. There’s no place like home.