You want a side table for the bedroom. But the last of your card’s credit limit went to that NES Controller Table you impulse-purchased during a drunken haze last week. Don’t worry, your nighttime stash don’t have to be strewn across the floor night after night. You can get a functional side table without an actual side table with the Urban Shelf.
A three-panel foldable shelf designed to install by your bed, you simply unfold the whole thing and slip the base panel right under your mattress. That’s it — no nails, no screws and no complicated installation. It can be put in place and removed any time you want, so you can install it anywhere on the bed where it feels most comfortable at any given time.
When folded flat, the Urban Shelf measures just half an inch thick, so you can slip it in a drawer for out of the way storage. When unfolded, the table surface measures 6.5 x 9.35 inches, which should be enough to let you fit in a cellphone, reading glasses, your Napper alarm clock and whatever small gear you like to keep by your side during bedtime. It can hold as much as 4 pounds of stash, with built-in edge lips keeping the items from rolling off.
Not awesome enough? It gets better. The shelf doesn’t just play nice with your bed, it should work well setting up in your couches, too. It also comes with a pair of cord holders that you can use to keep the cables in place when you charge your phone during sleep.
The Urban Shelf is available from Thinkgeek, priced at $14.99.