It is no secret that home decor, finishings and furnishing products have been hopping off the shelves throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief among the most popular items sold during this time have been home office, gardening and exercise-related items. However, bedroom furniture and finishings have topped the list quite easily. Creating a sanctuary at home -- most often in the bedroom -- has been a vital element of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been especially true for those living alone. According to Jaime Lee in her article “How Furniture Brands Win in the Age of COVID-19” for AdRoll, “the need for comfortable and productive spaces during quarantine has opened up a tremendous opportunity for furniture brands.” Lee notes that bedroom items have seen a huge uptick in sales over the last eight months. Showrooms have become largely unnecessary in the minds of consumers -- even for the most important bedroom furniture, writes Lee. In fact, many companies have adjusted to the pandemic -- offering “positive, uplifting, and yes, even humorous, ads” and products.

Not only are nightstands flying off the shelves, but their contents are too! Bruce Y. Lee explains in his Forbes article “Sex Toy Sales Are Buzzing With Social Distancing From COVID-19 Coronavirus” that searches for sex toys have skyrocketed across search engines in the last few months, ahem no surprises, right? ;). Many of us have been feeling isolated and stressed out due to the pandemic -- and especially due to social distancing and quarantining. Isolation has led to more solo play -- Ménage à Mois, if you will -- and a huge boom in sex toy sales nation- and worldwide. With schools and workplaces closed on and off due to COVID, couples and singles have been retreating into their homes and digging around in their nightstands for a few minutes -- or hours! -- of fun. With many of us adding new nightstands to our homes -- and filling them with all manner of satisfying items -- one might wonder about what actually lives in others' nightstands. Follow below to learn more about how the nightstand is changing -- from the objects kept within drawers to those kept atop.

In her article “The Bedside Battleground,” The New York Times writer Penelope Green describes the fight between couples for space beside the bed. This is just as true of singles. Green writes that the contemporary nightstand is “a modest domestic surface." According to Green, this surface "nonetheless offers as concise a portrait of human aspirations, anxieties and appetites.” Truly, nightstands offer insight into our psyches. They store those things which are most important to us in the moments before sleep and in late night wakes. Unfortunately, nightstands are often too small to properly store books, lamps and a glass of water all at once. Much less are they capable of storing the many other (more interesting) things people tend to store within! This major failing first begs the question, “which are the most popular nightstand designs” and second, “why?”

One might expect that the shift towards acceptance and sex-positive language -- and even legislation -- the bedroom might have become more sex-positive too. However, recent reporting and sales data have shown that modesty is still preferred, with many choosing nightstands with drawers they can hide their sex toys and other paraphernalia within. Minimalist, sleek styles have emerged as the most preferred designs -- though not always practical -- for their simple and honest silhouettes, but those combined with practical storage for more private pieces still top the charts for sales. Further still, many interiors and home decor writers over the last few years have recommended nightstands based on the availability of storage. It seems that modern nightstands with covered drawers continue to reign supreme amongst consumers and decor writers alike!

Three recent articles reveal what people truly store in their nightstands -- no holds barred. In her article “What People Keep In Their Bedside Drawer” for Bustle, Danielle Page jots down which items are most common across the board. The list is long and varied, but the message is simple. The nightstand is a destination for all things practical and pleasurable! Nightstands are typically stocked with both contraceptives and fun sex toys -- but also with car keys and even weapons. According to Page, women tend to stock their nightstands with pre- and post-sex items like lube, condoms, coconut oil -- nature’s lube! -- sleeping masks and pillow mists, the latter of which are perfect for after an exhausting romp! Clearly, nightstands are filled with “the essentials” -- whatever that means for each person. Feel-good items abound -- from security blankets like “a spare set of keys” and “a knife” to those storing items related to sexual fulfillment. Further still are the women noting “vibrators” are consistently -- and dependably -- in their nightstands. Who could blame them!

The two main types of items hidden in nightstands are sex-related products and electronics. Many singles and couples are locked in a battle between true health and wellness items -- e.g. sex toys, glasses of water and birth control blister packets -- and electronics like iPhones and tablets. Could we finally finagle a shift from hiding sex toys and other sex-related objects to hiding disruptive, blue-light emanating electronics? We have recently done so to ensure better sleep for ourselves -- and to hide our activity from spouses and partners.

When Penelope Green wrote her article for The Times in 2013, sex toys had begun to migrate back into nightstand drawers. Green explained that one of the reasons sex toys had found their way into nightstand drawers rather than on their table tops was that sex toys had become more elaborate and obvious in recent years. Suddenly, “personal massagers” from The Sharper Image were out and bright pink vibrators and fuzzy handcuffs were in -- reveling in their overt sexiness. Because of this, wrote Green -- countless parents chose to hide their nightstand “personal items” beneath pull-out trays and false drawers. Architect William Georgis -- quoted by Green -- noted that he actually “puts hidden drawers in the bedside furniture he creates for clients” in order to hide sex toys and other personal items, a very Victorian solution for a modern problem!

It seems that -- for some reason -- many still consider sex toys, lubricants and even birth control to be something shameful or inappropriate for the eyes of others. However, this is changing as Millennials and Gen-X'ers embrace their sexuality, push past taboos of generations before them and embrace la révolution!