This Is How You Can Balance A Bedroom With A Nightstand

A bedroom should feel like a relaxing haven away from the world’s rush. But if you only have one nightstand and think that the décor looks a little lopsided, take heart. You can use many tactics to perfectly balance out the effect and make every part of the room practically useful while maintaining symmetry in the décor.

It is possible to balance a bedroom with one nightstand by using one of these methods:

1. Reposition the bed
2. Make the nightstand a feature item
3. Counterbalance it
4. Create an unexpected feature
5. Position cushions cleverly
6. Add a rug
7. Match an art piece
8. Create a matching feature wall

If you are redecorating your bedroom, you may feel that the vacant side of the bed looks too bare without a matching nightstand. This décor challenge can easily be overcome with some creativity and practical know-how.

8 Ways To Balance A Bedroom With Only One Nightstand

Keep in mind that there are no rigid rules for bedroom décor. It is a highly personal space where you will spend most of your time, so the room must appeal to you. Besides being a functional area for rest and grooming, it must feel welcoming, attractive, and comfortable. 

Typically, when you enter any bedroom, the first thing that you notice is, of course, the bed. This is usually the most prominent item that takes up the most space compared to other furniture items. The bed is the visual anchor of a bedroom. How furniture is arranged on either side of the bed will either give a feeling of balance or make the room look heavy on one side. 

In bedrooms with two identical nightstands, these counter each other on either side of the bed. However, you may not want, need, or have two nightstands, so it can be tricky to figure out how to arrange the bedroom in an aesthetically appealing way. 

Creating a calming feeling of balance in a bedroom has more to do with the mindful placement of furniture items than matching each piece. Feng Shui is the art of finding balance to allow energy to flow freely. A lot of information is available about arranging bedroom furniture using this approach. 

Before springing into action to rearrange your room, take some time to think about the practicalities of the bedroom. For example, if space is challenging and you use your bedroom as a mini office and a sleeping area, the solution to the one-nightstand dilemma will differ greatly from decorating a guest room. 

Next, list the items you absolutely must keep in your bedroom. Most of us don’t have the budget to throw out and replace bedroom furniture, but small changes can often change a room’s look. You need to keep your bed, the nightstand, and the dresser, but do you need the desk, chair, bookshelf, etc? Does the bedroom currently feel empty or cluttered? 

By placing furniture evenly around the bedroom, one may hardly notice that there is only one nightstand. Once you know what you need to keep and what can be moved or stored, you will have options regarding the best arrangement of the remaining items to balance the single nightstand challenge. Let’s go through 8 practical ways to balance a room and only use one nightstand. 

1. Position The Bed Differently To Balance A Bedroom

Most bedrooms have the bed against a center wall, so you see the bed and two usually identical balancing nightstands as you enter the bedroom. This is what gives the feeling of balance. But if you only have one nightstand, you can create a pleasing aura by moving the bed off-center. Moving it into a corner against a side wall is even better for creating a cozy sleeping nook with plenty of open space. 

You will immediately change the bedroom’s look and feel by moving the bed. The fact that only one nightstand is more likely to look like part of a total décor picture created intentionally. 

Place the nightstand between the two beds if you have more than one, like in a children’s room. The nightstand will then become the mid-point of the bedroom, with the beds balancing the look. Keep the beds close to the nightstand on each side, with other furniture items further away from the grouping. That way, it will give the appearance of an intentional, cozy placement while making clever use of space. 

2. Make The Nightstand A Feature In The Bedroom

One prominent feature item placed on the nightstand can be charming and eye-catching. Instead of trying to hide the fact that there is only one nightstand, show it off. This advice may have some reverse psychological aspect, but often accenting an item can take the focus off another. 

Nightstands tend to be fairly humble, functional items about the same height as the top of the bed. Most bedrooms don’t lend themselves to having two large feature items, which would look overwhelming. But if you add a large feature lamp or a large, healthy plant like a ZZ plant on the nightstand, one’s eye will immediately move to that area.

Accentuating a single nightstand by elevating it from having a purely functional purpose and making it into a decorative feature piece will make it seem less noticeable. It won’t look like something is missing from the opposite side of the bed.

3. Counter Balance A Single Nightstand Using Another Piece 

It may look haphazard and messy if you try to create the same look on both sides of the bed unless you have an exact matching nightstand. But if you use a different item, like an end table or thin-legged coffee table like this one from Bambloom, for the opposite side, it can give the room a lighter feel while still looking balanced. 

Last update on 2023-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

A nightstand is a functional item of furniture to hold things like a glass of water, a clock, a book, etc. It is usually a chunky item with drawers. If you only have one nightstand, a good tip is to balance it using another functional yet completely different-looking piece. Place the lighter piece on the side closest to the door where you enter so your eye flows from the lightest to the heaviest pieces. 

Although you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a small end table and may even be able to pick a suitable one up at a garage sale, there are two things you must keep in mind before using one to balance a single nightstand. 

• It must be made of a similar material that will blend with the other furniture in your bedroom—particular caution here about using different types of wood. The intention is that it balances the nightstand, so it needs to have some element that ties it to the bedroom’s overall look. 
• It must be the same height – The little side table needs to blend with the rest of the room, not just above the bed or looking like an afterthought.  

The small table should only hold something simple to be effective. Keep all the heavy items on the nightstand, like the lamp, clock, books, etc. A simple vase with flowers or one framed photograph will add a homely appeal to the bedroom and beautifully balance the nightstand. 

4. Do Something Unexpected To Balance A Bedroom

If you only have one nightstand and feel like the bedroom isn’t balanced, place another item of furniture on the opposite side of the bed. A comfortable rocking chair is a popular choice, but what about a tall decorative sculpture or another statement piece that will catch the eye? 

The only fundamental rule about a bedroom is that it must feel homely and welcoming. Of course, you want it to be an attractive, neat room for visitors. However, it is not a gathering space, so you can use unique pieces to create something visually unexpected and exciting to balance the single nightstand. You can use many things, so think out of the box – here is an idea below.

Last update on 2023-09-21 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

The only rules with doing this are that the item you use must be eye-catching, stand on the floor, and be much taller than the bed. Look around and find something that will complement the bedroom’s décor and balance the heavy-weighted look of the nightstand. Then make a bold statement with a tall, unique piece and give life to your whimsical, playful side while simultaneously balancing your bedroom.  

5. Use Cushions To Shift The Focus From The Nightstand

Two stacks of neatly puffed pillows on the top of a bed give the bed a balanced appearance. Pillows are usually arranged this way when the bed is made up daily. But if you only have one nightstand, this even arrangement can draw attention to it and make one side look heavy. 

The human eye looks for visual patterns in everything. By cleverly arranging some scatter cushions as features over the bed’s surface, the eye can be drawn away and distracted. The single nightstand will stand out less if there are other interesting items to balance it. 

A simple yet effective idea is to use four or five equally sized scatter cushions positioned in a lightest to darkest gradient pattern across the top of the bed. The darkest shade cushion placed furthest away from the nightstand should be as near as possible to the shade of the nightstand to give a feeling of flowing continuity. This trick works best if the rest of the linen is plain and doesn’t overwhelm the cushions.  

6. Add A Rug To Add Balance To A Bedroom Setting

Balancing out a bedroom with only one nightstand doesn’t only need to be about furniture. After all, one of the reasons you don’t have another nightstand might be because you like the extra space. 

A feature rug might balance the bedroom without cluttering the space, even if placed on top of existing wall-to-wall carpeting. A colorful or patterned carpet can give a luxurious fullness to a bedroom without claiming any space. 

7. Balance A Single Nightstand Using Art

The key to balance in a room is to repeat the same color or design elsewhere. Too many different colors or ornate designs can quickly make a space look cluttered. In the case of wooden nightstands, they can easily be painted.

An easy and effective way to balance a bedroom is to repeat a dominant color on a prominent piece of art displayed. So, for example, if you have a large color photo of the ocean that features tones of blue and green on the bedroom wall, grab a few paint swatches from your local hardware and match up a dominant shade in the picture. 

Give your single nightstand a coat of the correct color. Create a visual flow so the single nightstand blends with the rest of the décor. It will quickly look like a designer piece made especially for that particular bedroom rather than a random functional item. You can carry the color theme through to scatter cushions and towels if you have an ensuite bathroom. 

8. Create A Feature Wall To Balance A Bedroom

If your bedroom looks unbalanced because you only have space for one nightstand, you probably don’t want to add more furniture. However, you don’t want the room to feel lopsided and heavy on the nightstand. Creating a feature wall is an excellent way to get around this challenge.

Here are some tips when creating a feature wall in your bedroom to balance out a single nightstand:

• Keep the area you want to highlight well-defined – The items you use need to look like they belong together and fit in the space neat and ordered way. If you don’t want to commit to an entire wall, paint, or wallpaper, one strip to create a defined feature area.

• Repeat elements from the opposite side of the room on the feature area – Balance is about repetition. The room needs elements that tie it together to give it a harmonious feel. For example, if the nightstand is dark brown, use the same tone for picture frames in the feature area. 

• Think out of the box – If you have a tiffany lamp on your nightstand, then covering a feature wall on the opposite side of the room in a wallpaper that repeats the same geometric shapes like this gorgeous covering from DWC will perfectly balance the bedroom. 

Conclusion

Balancing a bedroom with only one nightstand can be done by cleverly positioning the bed or creating an item of visual interest elsewhere. One of the best ways to give a feeling of symmetry is to repeat a bold color or pattern that is prominent on the nightstand in another area, leading the eye around the bedroom rather than focusing on a single element.