What height should my nightstand(s) be?

[Brian Lefort]

I am building a couple of nightstands, and I am wondering how high they should be. I am thinking that they should be level with the top of my mattress. Any thoughts? Insights?

[Matt Day]

I think ours are an inch or so lower than top of mattress. It helps keeping things on the nightstand (phones, Etc) if anything.

[johnny means]

Keep in mind, good night stands are likely to outlast several mattresses. I would look more at proportion and design to dictate the final specs. Typically, they are higher than the mattress.

[john davey]

I am currently building boxes to go on top of my night stands. Problem is that the night stands were the hight of my original bed. Now I have a new bed with a pillow top mattress that is so much higher than my old bed I cannot see the alarm clock. So I would build them the hight of the mattress or a little lower..... John.

[Michael Mahan]

Keep in mind, good night stands are likely to outlast several mattresses. I would look more at proportion and design to dictate the final specs. Typically, they are higher than the mattress.

I thought that as well Till one night I rolled over & smacked my face on the nightstand corner (it was up 2 inches over the mattress ), got a small cut & one heck of a black eye both top & below the eye , a pretty purple & black with red tints :)
Everyone at work thought I had gotten into fist fight , no one believed my story at all .

[william watts]

I am currently building a night stand and thought a lot about how tall it should be. The night stand we now have is 3 in. higher than the mattress so you have to extend your arm up to reach anything on the table, makes for an uncomfortable reach. After a little experimentation I am building the new stand 2 1/2 inches lower than the top of the mattress. You can google " furniture dimensions" and get charts and dimensions, doesn't seem to be any standard. It seems like beds are higher than they were a few years ago.

[Pat Barry]

I thought that as well Till one night I rolled over & smacked my face on the nightstand corner (it was up 2 inches over the mattress ), got a small cut & one heck of a black eye both top & below the eye , a pretty purple & black with red tints :)
Everyone at work thought I had gotten into fist fight , no one believed my story at all .
Ya sure, we all believe ya don't we folks? You don't need to provide a picture of your black eye as evidence for us.

[Danny Hamsley]

I build them at 24" finished height.

[Matt Meiser]

I prefer about level with the mattress.

[glenn bradley]

I go for dimensional appeal but, did end up at the height of the mattress with the pair I made for myself.

[David Eisenhauer]

I just started building a pair for my wife to replace the older too-low pair. The new nightstands will be 32" high (as per her directions) and I believe they will be fairly close to mattress height. Her criteria was to get her reading light base up to an elevation that would allow the light to shine down over her side of the bed as opposed to sideways light shining in her face.

[Ellen Benkin]

David --
Good point about getting the reading light higher as a rationale for a higher nightstand. I've built them both ways -- level with the mattress and higher than the mattress. I think it depends on what the user gets used to. Because of the light I prefer to have them a little higher than the mattress but maybe when I replace the mattress they will be level!

[johnny means]

I thought that as well Till one night I rolled over & smacked my face on the nightstand corner (it was up 2 inches over the mattress ), got a small cut & one heck of a black eye both top & below the eye , a pretty purple & black with red tints :)
Everyone at work thought I had gotten into fist fight , no one believed my story at all .

Do you butt the night stand right up against your bed?

[Jim Rimmer]

I just started building a pair for my wife to replace the older too-low pair. The new nightstands will be 32" high (as per her directions) and I believe they will be fairly close to mattress height. Her criteria was to get her reading light base up to an elevation that would allow the light to shine down over her side of the bed as opposed to sideways light shining in her face.

Bingo! My wife requested that I make nightstands higher than the existing ones so her light was high enough to read by. I did but I don't remember the height and I'm at work so I can measure them or look at my old drawing.

[John T Barker]

I thought that as well Till one night I rolled over & smacked my face on the nightstand corner (it was up 2 inches over the mattress ), got a small cut & one heck of a black eye both top & below the eye , a pretty purple & black with red tints :)
Everyone at work thought I had gotten into fist fight , no one believed my story at all .

Seriously, how strong is your wife and how often does she beat you?

[John T Barker]

Outfit I used to work for made them the same height as the mattress...easier to put down your whiskey glass. That's the height I used, I made a pencil post when I worked there and a pair of nightstands to go with them. Works pretty well.

[Larry Browning]

Over the years mattresses have gotten quit a bit thicker. So the night stand that used to be about even with the mattress is now 6 inches below it. I would make it even with your current mattress.

[Michael Mahan]

Do you butt the night stand right up against your bed?
small room had to

[Tim Fischer]

I must have very tall night stands (or a very low mattress lol). Ours are about 6" taller than the mattress (just guessing, don't have a tape handy). Height never bothered me at all, seems ideal actually.

[Brian Lefort]

Thanks. I think I'm going with my original plan of building them to the height of the bed I currently has, which is fairly tall since it is new with a pillow top and deep box spring.

My concerns were that of other replies here, that design standards are of utmost importance, but sometime function must have input equal to or greater to that of form.

Thanks again everybody!

[Larry Browning]

I measured my current night stand which is from a set built in the 50's that I refinished several years ago. It is 22", which at one point was almost even with the top of our old mattress, but now is a full 11" below our current mattress. It is still workable, but I would prefer it to be closer to the same height as the mattress, maybe 28" to 30".

[Mark Blatter]

I completed a set about three months ago and they finished almost exactly at the height of my mattress. After using it for a few months, I wish I had gone 2 - 3" taller and my wife feels the same way.

[Matt Meiser]

Sounds like the ideal design would be adjustable height.

[Larry Browning]

Sounds like the ideal design would be adjustable height.
This thread has got me to thinking about how I could raise mine. I was thinking about some sort of platform that was about the same footprint as the current one. I think it could be made to match the style and finish of the current ones.

Or, maybe a couple of rather thick phone books would also work!

[Brian D Anderson]

This thread has got me to thinking about how I could raise mine. I was thinking about some sort of platform that was about the same footprint as the current one. I think it could be made to match the style and finish of the current ones.

Or, maybe a couple of rather thick phone books would also work!

A couple things. I too have nightstands that were once the same height as my mattress. Then, with a new taller mattress, and pillow top, they ended up being 6" below. The thing I hated was I couldn't see my alarm clock while lying down. I actually just bought a new mattress set, and got the low profile box springs. My mattress is now back at the same height!

I also built risers for my neighbor's night stands. I basically just took plywood and made a box . . . think drawer with no bottom. It went inside the stands legs. A more elegant way to do it would be to have the box on the outside, with a profile on the top and have ledges on the inside for the nightstand to sit on.

-Brian

[Tim Fischer]

OK I measured my night stands - they are 29" high. Our bed is about 25" not counting poofy comforters that are sometimes on top. Ours are mission style and have a top drawer and lower cabinet.

You folks must have very tall beds or very low night stands compared to me :)

[Alan Bienlein]

That's easy. Just build them to what ever the wife specifies! Ours were not to be any higher than the window sill per her instructions so that's what I did.

[Brian Holcombe]

2" lower than the height of the mattress.

[Doug Hobkirk]

OK, if this thread is going to keep going on, I will add my experience.

I made the height so it was a little higher than the mattress. I want my clocks to be easily visible, whatever position my head. That's why I have a clock on both sides. I almost never use an alarm clock, so I want to be able to see the clock with the least amount of "waking up" to see it.

I did clunk my head once on the stand that's only slightly higher than the mattress, but never on the other which is about 6" higher.

[Kent A Bathurst]

........ I cannot see the alarm clock..........

Bingo. We have a winner.

For me, above all else, when I wake up in the middle off the night and open my eyes, I want to be looking at the alarm clock. That is the main function of a night stand, in my world.

Plus holding a cup of water, a book, and a box of kleenex. Everything else I can feel around to find, but the clock is the one that requires visual alignment.

[Andy Pratt]

I would make the top an inch or two lower than the mattress top. I also think it is a good idea to have a decent top overhang on the sides near the bed, since that lets you butt the table top up against the mattress and keeps stuff from falling in between them when someone is flailing for the alarm clock. Same for the back if you will be blocking the power outlets you need to use (which seems to always be the case). If you like small bedside lamps you could build a small raised portion on the top toward the rear of the nightstand to accommodate lamps and maybe a small drawer underneath that part.