Camden 2 Drawer Bedside Walnut

A dark bedside that holds more than its size suggests.

The Camden two-drawer bedside in the walnut colour — 400mm across the front, 450mm front to back, 550mm to the top — built from MDF and rubber wood, with everything it holds going into two drawers. The Camden range is carried at the Ballincollig showroom, and the walnut is worth seeing in daylight before you commit to it. Email info@mulberryhouse.ie for stock & delivery questions, any time now.

Who it’s for

This suits a bed you can sit on the edge of and reach across: a frame with a mattress of normal depth, where the mattress top sits around 550 to 620mm. At 550mm tall the bedside comes in just at or below that line, which is the right relationship. Put it beside a tall divan with a 280mm mattress and you feel the difference nightly, reaching down and back rather than across. The walnut colour does a particular job in a pale room — it gives the corner beside the bed something to hold onto, where a light finish disappears into a light wall. In a room that is already dark, it goes quiet instead.

Chosen by Paul

Paul says: “Sit on the edge of your bed and put your hand out flat. That’s the height a bedside wants to be. This one’s 550 — if your hand is a good bit higher, you want something taller.”

It is the cheapest test there is and it takes ten seconds.

What you’re getting

• Two drawers, each 344 × 380 × 142mm inside
• MDF and rubber wood construction
• The walnut colour, a mid-to-dark brown
• 176mm from the underside to the floor
• 400mm wide, 450mm deep, 550mm tall
• Around 18kg, packed in a single box

Measure first

The measurement people forget is the one behind the piece. At 450mm deep, this stands in front of whatever is on that wall.

Check where the sockets are. A bedside this deep standing flat to the wall will often cover a low socket completely, and a plug with a chunky adaptor on it holds the whole piece 30 or 40mm off the wall — enough to look wrong from the door. Either pull it forward deliberately or run the lead out to the side.

See it before you buy

Screens are unreliable about brown. A walnut colour that looks warm on a small display can read cooler in a north-facing bedroom, and no photograph tells you how a drawer runs or how firmly it closes. Both take about ten seconds to settle in person: Heritage Walk, The Quadrants, Ballincollig, Co. Cork (P31 W968), seven days a week, no appointment needed, and nobody will follow you around. What is out at any one time changes from week to week, so email info@mulberryhouse.ie before you travel and we will have this one up and ready. If it has to be brought in for you to look at, that is a few days, not weeks. Get directions

Living with it

Two things to expect from a new piece. The drawers feel tight at first and loosen with use — a few weeks of ordinary opening does it, and nothing needs doing to speed it up. And the whole thing moves a little with the seasons: when the heating comes on the air dries, the timber and board give up some moisture, and a drawer can go from easy to snug and back again over one winter. That is furniture behaving normally, not a fault. A dark colour also shows dust and fingerprints sooner than a pale one, and a dry cloth once a week is the whole of the maintenance.

Delivery, assembly & aftercare

Allow roughly four weeks from the day you order. Delivery goes across Cork and nationwide, or collect from the showroom at no charge. We confirm the date with you before any money changes hands.

One box, about 18kg: manageable for one person on a straight stairs, a two-person job on a turn. Our sheet does not record an assembly position for this piece, so email us and we will look at the actual piece rather than guess.

Any question, any at all: email info@mulberryhouse.ie and a person in the showroom will answer it.

Questions people ask

What actually fits in one drawer?
344mm across, 380mm front to back, 142mm deep — a hardback flat, a charger, reading glasses in their case and a small bottle standing upright, with room left over.

Will the walnut colour be exactly what I see on screen?
Not necessarily; that depends on your screen. Ask us to have it up for you and look at it in daylight and under a lamp before you decide.

Is it steady enough for a lamp and a stack of books?
At 18kg on a 400 × 450mm footprint, yes. Put the heavier things in the bottom drawer and the light ones up top.

Does it have to be bought in pairs?
No. A pair either side is the usual arrangement, but plenty of rooms have only one usable side.

Can I take it home the day I order?
No — plan on about four weeks.

Sleep Better. Dream Better.
Mulberry House. Your Home.