Practical necessities vs. decor

17 years ago

How do you balance the need to have certain practical items in a room against their lack of esthetic appeal?

To be clear, I'm talking about bedrooms. The practical items I have in mind are clock and radio, or clock-radio, and telephone. (There is also such a thing as a combination clock, radio, and telephone, but in those that I've seen, all three functions were mediocre.)

This has been on my mind with respect to the country guest room, for which I've found a reproduction alarm clock (with modern quartz movement) and a reproduction radio.

But the problem is worse in my own room, the one that is trying to be British colonial. I use a clock radio that is from the 1980s, cube-shaped, and BRIGHT RED. It works perfectly as both clock and radio and is easy to use. The telephone is a newish Panasonic cordless phone, because the cordless handset is easy to use in bed and this is pretty much the only place I can plug it in.

Needless to say, they don't further the decorating scheme. I'm not really looking for a period telephone, because I don't know where I would plug in the cordless base unit anyway. As for clock-radios, something more sub-fusc than red would be an improvement, but the current ones seem to fall into two classes: decent clocks with lousy radios, and excellent high-tech radios with incredibly inconvenient clocks.

Now, in photographs and on TV, no bedside table ever seems to have anything like these on it. No, they decorate them with silver ice buckets full of flowers, crystal statuary, quaint little boxes, you name it - but you never see a clock, a radio, or a telephone (and heaven forfend that a box of tissues might be required)!

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Comments (10)

Oakley
17 years ago
I bought a really neat "retro" alarm clock, I believe it's called a moon clock, where the light in the clock gently flashes on and off to wake you up, and if that doesn't work, the alarm goes off.

I may have bought it at Crate and Barrel online, not really sure. But it comes in many retro colors and is shaped like an old fashioned radio, where it's curved on top. Mine is a pale pink, and I also bought a pale pink Princess Telephone to match!

Quilts also make a nice visual for a bedroom. I use them on all the beds instead of comforters. They're very inexpensive these days.
kgwlisa
17 years ago
You decide that you want to live in a home and not a magazine spread. Works for me ;).
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dilly_dally
17 years ago
The best way to shop for an item if aethetics are a great concern, is to Google for the item, then FIRST check out Google images to find what looks good, THEN, go to the sellers page and check the stats on the item to see if they suit your needs. Sure, doing it this way you will have to sort through photos of Hello Kitty and football helmut shaped clock radios but it is still faster sorting through photos than doing it the other way around.

Also, consider hiding your alarm clock and phone in a nightstand drawer out of sight.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dark Knight Clock Radio
THOR, Son of ODIN
17 years ago
Now, in photographs and on TV, no bedside table ever seems to have anything like these on it.

I have wondered about that myself, it is how I can tell if a bedroom is staged or real, LOL. But, why are there not more versions of these, for different tastes? Sounds like a ripe market for me, if only we weren't all headed for the economic apocalypse.

-Lena
allison0704
17 years ago
DH has an older alarm clock on his side, but it's not that bad - faux wood tone, small, not bright.

I carry a cordless phone in there each night from the laundry room. One that I've turned the ringer off. I can hear another one ring if someone calls. I don't like ringing right next to me when I've been sleeping.
dilly_dally
17 years ago
Cell phones have an alarm clock built right into them. No need for an extra clock with an alarm unless you have a need to look at the time without fumbling for the cell phone in the middle of the night.
maddiemom6
17 years ago
As my sweet husband wiell tellyou I have an odd feeling about some of these things.... and will dosome odd things to retrofit items to incorporate modern into old.. or get rid of things I think are ugly.. or I choose to make changes to things that work for us but I have a feeling that the people who buy this house some day will be scratching their heads... example.. in our master bathroom we have a water closet.. I cannot STAND to see a toilet in a beautifuly done room.. ( yeh i know freaky).. any way.. so we also have a quite nice w.c. but our space to make it happen was small and odd due to a slant in the ceiling.. so there was no place for a cupboard in that space without it looking low and heavy.. so I went with a shelf area behind the throne.. but this left no place for " lady thing" as my son puts it. So.. I put all my "lady things" in a small decorative suticase that I keep on the shelf in there.. odd but it works for me! So in the end I think you have to do what works for you.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
17 years ago
We have three telephones in our home in addition to the cell phone in my purse and none of them are in bedrooms. I'm in the bedroom to sleep and can hear the other telephones if I need to. I have a small, pretty clock on my side and my husband has an even smaller digital one on his side and that's it. No radio, no telephone. Amazingly, we've survived quite nicely.

Ingrid
teacats
17 years ago
Two non-matching nightstands here with matching brass swing-arm lamps to free up space on the tops. We have a Bose radio on his side and a small sleek phone on my side. Along with some decorative accessories -- a black leather box to hold his watches -- and a small silk arrangement on mine. Various other bit-and-pieces as taste and season dictates ....

Magazine and books are kept on antique wood foot stools that sit in front of the nightstands -- easy to reach!

Just keep looking around -- phone and radios have really improved in color, size and function!

Jan
maddiemom6
17 years ago
I forgot to mention that our phone and clock are on a shelf of our wall of built in bookcases across the room. lamps are swing arm mounted to wall and currenty we have two stand in pieces for nightstands since I can't find anything I like so far. I do keep quite a bit of stuff at hand bedside but it's all in a pretty hatbox resting on top of our stand-in night stands :)

maddiemom