The 10 Best Bedside Tables Designers Todd Merrill and Milly de Cabrol rise and take a shine to ELLE DECOR's choices of the best bed mates Text by Vivky Lowy Photography by David Jacquot Produced by Alison Hall Nightstands have has a prominent place at the side of the bed ever since the mattress got off the ground.  The pot cupboard, as it was called in the 18th century, was a small cabinet with a removable tray top for easy access to one's chamber pot.  The table was "for genteel bedrooms...in a style a little elevated above their use," according to one of the period's preeminent furniture designers, Thomas Sheraton.  These days, their function has evolved but they're as essential as ever.  And they come in sizes and shapes to suit the most stylish sleeper.

Above: Milly de Cabrol and Todd Merrill cozy up to a few bedside beauties, including, from the left, the British Cane nightstand by Restoration Hardware, the Lido side table by Pacific Connections, and the Sara bedside table by Alexa Hampton for Hickory Chair.     Milly de Cabrol, known for her colorful, almost bohemian interiors, uses an old medicine cabinet by her bed to hold objects from religious relics to a worn copy of Little Women, a gift from her boyfriend.  End tables from the 1950's flank Todd Merrill's bed.  "They're really kind of snazzy," says Manhattan antiques dealer and designer, who has a penchant for mid-century Hollywood high style.  He keeps only a glass of water and a book on top, but stores leather-bound diaries dating from 1985 inside.  "Why they're in there," sas Merrill, "I really don't know."