5 Best Ways To Display Vinyl Records

Listening to vinyl records is one of the most rewarding and immersive ways to enjoy music. However, there’s more to vinyl than just unparalleled sound quality. In addition to sounding incredible, records look amazing and make fantastic pieces of decor for your home. 

If you love to collect records, it’s time to start taking advantage of their aesthetic value and putting them on display around your house. That way, anyone who comes over will get a clear picture of your music taste – and definitely be impressed by your decorative skills. 

In this post, we’ll walk you through our five favorite ways to display vinyl records, plus some helpful tips for showcasing your records well. 

1. Build a Basic Shelf 

Making your own shelves for displaying vinyl records is easier than you might think. A simple floating shelf design takes just one piece of wood, some screws and anchors, and a few tools. Making a shelf instead of purchasing one can help you save money in the long run, and it’s also an excellent way to teach yourself a new – and very useful – skill. 

Records are relatively lightweight, so you don’t have to worry about the load your homemade shelves can bear – as long as you’re not planning on displaying dozens of records on them. However, we do recommend making sure your shelves are sturdy before using them to showcase your favorite albums. 

2. Use Vinyl Mounts

Vinyl mounts are essentially tiny floating shelves that can hold one record apiece. These mounts extend from a wall, allowing your records to look like they’re suspended in the air. Vinyl mounts are perfect for minimalist decorators, as well as anyone with a larger decorative budget – they’re usually pretty expensive. 

While pre-made vinyl record mounts can cost quite a bit, making your own isn’t too hard. All it takes is the same tools and hardware you’d use to make a floating shelf, plus a smaller piece of wood. If you’re feeling crafty and have some time on your hands, making your own vinyl mounts can be a day well spent. DIY projects like making vinyl mounts are best enjoyed with one of your favorite albums playing in the background and plenty of caffeine. 

3. Make Wall Art Out of Old Records

This is one project that is perfect for anyone with a bunch of old, unwanted records. If you’ve inherited a record collection that’s full of albums that you don’t care for, you can use those records to make a unique piece of wall art that will catch anyone’s eye! Tutorials like this one are a perfect place to start.

4. Use Cabinets, Mantles, and More

If you’re running out of space to display your albums, it’s time to get a bit creative. There are plenty of surfaces in the average home that are perfect for vinyl display, but some of them are less likely spots than others. We recommend looking around your home for anything that resembles a shelf and seeing whether records could be displayed there. It might sound a little unorthodox, but you’d be surprised by how many surfaces in the average home can be used for showcasing vinyl records.

One of the best places to showcase larger quantities of records in your home is on the top of a kitchen cabinet. If you live in a space with relatively high ceilings, you can line up dozens of records on top of your cabinets to give the kitchen a musical flair. If you’re working with a larger decorating budget, you can even add shelves to the upper walls of your kitchen to display more records. 

In addition to putting records on top of cabinets, mantles above fireplaces are excellent spots for more LPs to be displayed. This is especially the case if your fireplace is inactive – you don’t want your records to be exposed to too much heat, as that could put them at risk of getting warped. If you have a mantle above your fireplace, it’s the perfect place to line up a few of your favorite records and make them the centerpieces of a room.

5. Use Bookshelves

Bookshelves can be excellent places to showcase your favorite albums – especially bookshelves that you’re struggling to fill. If you have an abundance of open space on the shelves in your home, filling them with records can spice things up. 

The best way to display an LP on a bookshelf is with the album cover facing outward. If you’re just planning on using bookshelves for vinyl storage, you can easily line up rows of albums on each shelf – but these records won’t necessarily be on display. Instead, we recommend putting a few of the crown jewels of your record collection on each shelf to prominently display them.

Tips for Displaying Records

When putting your records on display around your home, make sure to follow these simple tips for success.

Keep Your Favorite LPs Accessible

If you’re planning on displaying certain records somewhere where they’ll be hard to reach, it’s best to pick albums that you won’t be wanting to listen to anytime soon. 

It’s a wise move to use records that you don’t listen to often as display pieces, all the while keeping your favorites somewhere near your turntable. That way, you won’t constantly be taking your favorite LPs off of high shelves to listen to them.

Make Sure Not To Damage the Records

When using records for decor, it’s important to consider that your favorite LPs may be a bit more vulnerable to damage than they normally would. Displayed records can be especially susceptible to wear and tear when they are showcased outside of their protective sleeves and jackets. If you’re planning on decorating your home using unpackaged records, make sure you aren’t too attached to the records that you use. In some cases, records can be rendered unplayable after they’ve been used to make wall art, especially if they’re mounted on the wall using nails or glue. 

A rule of thumb to keep in mind when displaying your records is this – if you think you’ll want to listen to the album again, display it carefully. If you’re decorating with records that you pulled out of the 25 cent bin at a thrift store, you can be a bit more gung-ho and worry less about damaging a vinyl. However, if you’re displaying some of your favorite albums, make sure they stay in excellent condition while they’re being showcased in your home.

Coordinate With the Rest of Your Decor 

If you’re going to put specific vinyl records on display in your home, it’s always a smart move to choose a color scheme and stick to it. Clashing colors on the walls can make your house or apartment look a bit chaotic, but careful coordination has the opposite effect. Choose the records that you put on display based on how well they sync up with your overall decorative style, as well as how much those particular records mean to you. 

Conclusion

If you’re looking for more ways to level up your vinyl collecting experience, make sure to visit our blog. There, you’ll find inspiring and informative articles about all things vinyl. For more tips on displaying vinyl records, check out our post on cool vinyl aesthetic pieces.

Sources:

14 Unique DIY Shelving Ideas - How to Make and Build Shelves | House Beautiful

Vinyl Record Wall Art DIY | Mom it Forward

Does vinyl really sound better? | Science Focus