Simple DIY Nightstand Organizer

3 Materials
$1
20 Minutes
Easy
If you're anything like me, your wallet, keys and phone just get slung anywhere at night. Well, I decided to make a nightstand organizer. It is small, simple and cost less than a dollar!










This nightstand organizer is made using a yard stick. You can find these at Home Depot in the paint department. It happened that the one I grabbed had a broken end, so I asked if I could have it. They ended up giving me two for $0.50 each. I think they're regularly a dollar or so - they're cheap!


I plan to store my wallet and phone primarily, as well as my keys or something else. So I measured and cut my yard stick accordingly.











My cuts were:
  • Two 12" pieces
  • One 11 ½" piece
  • Two 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” square piece (width of yardstick, yours may be different)
  • Two 1 ¼” x 1″ piece (width of yardstick and less depth of yardstick)
  • One 1 ¼” square cut on a 45 degree angle


Materials:
  • Yard sticks
  • Stain
  • Super glue











Once your pieces are cut, stain or apply another finish t them. Make sure to get all the edges.











To assemble, we glue the end pieces, the 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” pieces, to the ends of the 11 ½” piece.











Once the glue is set, flip it on it's side and glue a 12" piece to the side.











Flip it and glue the other 12" piece to the other side.











Now we have a 3 sided box.











Use the two 1 ¼” x 1″ spacers and glue them into the box. Space them out wherever you need them. I'm using this for my phone and wallet, so I placed my phone and wallet into the box to see where I needed the spacers to go. Place the spacers wherever works best for your needs.











Finally, we'll attach the two 45 degree angled pieces to the back side for stability.









There you have it! A wicked simple DIY nightstand organizer for about a buck! Obviously this could be used for many different things, I just needed something to keep me from slinging my wallet down to get lost in the deep, dark depths behind my nightstand!


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Suggested materials:
  • Yard Stick   (Home Depot)
  • Glue   (Home Depot)
  • Stain   (Home Depot)
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • Elise Dee Beraru Elise Dee Beraru on Mar 08, 2017
    Based on the length of your cut pieces, you need more than one yardstick. Your long pieces come to 35.5" and a yardstick is 36". Is the stick you're buying actually a meter stick (just under 40") that is marked with millimeters and inches?
  • Tom4390973 Tom4390973 on Mar 08, 2017
    How did you cut the little triangle pieces?
  • Rjcintron Rjcintron on Mar 20, 2017
    Could you use left over molding for this project?
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  • Jan Coates-rayburn Jan Coates-rayburn on Feb 02, 2018

    This would be a perfect 4H project. 4H has something called create a project. This would be perfect. Anybody who wants info about 4H message me.

  • Michelle Michelle on Aug 06, 2020

    A variation on this idea.. I have old cheese boxes and was wondering what to do with them besides hold recipes!

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