There are many effective ways of displaying vinyl records around the home - including purpose-built frames, floating shelves, and even polythene sleeves with some added adhesive strips.
In today's article, we'll take a closer look at some of the most effective ways to display your favourite records, and how to go about achieving these looks in your own home…
1. Vinyl Record Frames
These specifically designed record frames will likely offer the best protection for your records whilst being displayed, as they are often made from thick, rigid plastic - and often also include a mechanism that lets you slide the record itself in and out with ease should you want to play it.
The frames themselves are often fitted with either a couple of screw holes so that they can be fastened securely to a wall or a hole in which a length of string can be passed through - so that they frame can be hung onto the wall using a nail or screw.
2. Floating Shelves
One of the more 'permanent' options on this list - floating shelves offer a solid fixture that records can easily be rested on. Minimalist shelves like this can often be a great solution as they allow for easy access to a record, involve no moving parts, and (perhaps most importantly when it comes to record storage) are easy to clean!
One other thing to bear in mind when looking at floating shelves suitable for records is cost. Some specialist floating shelves can cost a fair bit of change - but much like anything in the DIY world, you will get what you pay for - so that is perhaps something to be aware of when deciding which option is right for you.
As we mentioned though, floating shelves are a much more permanent display method than some of the other options on this list - so some DIY involving a drill and some screws may be required!
During our search to find some examples of great record-friendly floating shelves, we stumbled across an Instagram account by the name of ‘toneoptic’. Based in California, this company specialises in bespoke record storage solutions and have created some pretty ingenious methods of housing your own collection - including some pretty spectacular rotating shelves which can be configured to suit either a wall-mounted setup or a static one.
Feel free to click on the image below to visit their website for more information. Or, have a look at their Instagram page.
3. Record Sleeves With Added Adhesive Strips
A personal favourite of mine - as it is the solution that I am currently using - is the slightly more creative option of repurposing a few polythene sleeves and adding three (or four, depending on the weight of your record) adhesive photo strips to the back of them.
In order to achieve this look, you will need at least a few of the following (depending on how many records you are looking at putting on the wall, of course):
1 Polythene Sleeve (per record)
3 or 4 adhesive photo strips (per record)
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13 square inches of wall space (per record, approx.)
Firstly, attach one adhesive strip to each corner of a polythene sleeve (we recommend the ‘Density’ series of sleeves by Spincare). Then, peel off the protective sticker on the ‘wall side’ of the strip.
You will then want to line up the sleeve with where you would like it to go on the wall - when ready press the sleeve firmly against the wall, making sure to apply pressure to each of the adhesive strips in each corner to ensure it has stuck properly.
The great thing about this solution is that as long as the sleeve's openings aren't directly facing another wall, all of your records will still be incredibly accessible - as well as protected - and the minimalist aesthetic of the sleeves means that multiple record sleeves placed next to each other look fantastic! And even better still, no drills or nails need to be involved at all!
As well as this, many named brand adhesive photo strips (like Command Strips, for example) will have tabs that you can pull down on in order to cleanly remove the stickers from your wall should you want to carry out a complete design overhaul of your wall space.
