Bedside Table

I was just reminded that most people think minimalists live in places where all the walls are painted white and there is nothing to beautify the space; that minimalists have only the minimum number of things we need to survive. While that may be true of some, it is not true of me. As an example here is my bedside table.

It is actually a 3-drawer chest of drawers. I don’t own an official nightstand. This dresser serves that purpose just fine.

The wall behind the chest is a light tan. The building management painted the apartment that color before we moved in but it suits me well. I like it much better than plain white; it feels cozier to me.

The lamp is one I have saved through many moves including into and out of our RVs. It is a touch lamp; it turns on and off just by touching it anywhere so there is no fumbling in the dark for a switch. I have two of these; the other one is by my chair in the living room where I often sleep the first part of the night.

In the other corner is a candle which will burn for many hours in case of a power outage. If you look closely you will see I already used it for that purpose once. I also have a solar powered flashlight that lives on the window sill on the other side of the bed where it’s power gets refreshed every day.

In front of the lamp is a bag of cough drops. I had the flu in February; the one that makes you cough a lot. I still cough sometimes at night so these cough drops need to be in reach. If I ever stop coughing, they will go back into the medicine bin that lives in a bathroom cupboard.

In the front corner, looking like a flip phone, is my clock. I don’t like having a clock staring at me all night but I do like to be able to check the time. So this travel clock stays by my bed wherever that bed is. It has an alarm that starts beeping softly then gets louder if I don’t turn it off. With my reduced hearing it wakes up everyone else before it wakes me but I eventually hear it. If Dave didn’t already turn it off then shake me awake. 🙂

On the wall is a painting of a curved road leading to a covered bridge. It’s done all in browns. My Mom painted it. She gave me other paintings but this is the one I like best so I hung where I see it every day.

No, there’s no phone at my bedside. I sleep odd hours and prefer not to be awakened by sales calls. So my phone spends the night in the bathroom where I can easily get to it if a weather alert goes off.

The only other furniture, besides the bed, in this room is a chair I can sit on when getting dressed or when supervising whatever project Dave might be doing–like cleaning out the closet. Which needs doing again.

TTYL,

Linda