Vinyl Record Shelves

So... The idea behind this was to build some shelves that would hide the ugliness of the wall and showcase some of my favorite albums (like the stones, pink floyd Atom Heart Mother, Nirvana Unplugged, Led Zep IV etc) as well as some interestingly terrible albums but I love the covers ( like How to Strip for Your Husband, Limbo Party, Music to drive a United truck to etc..).

It creates art as well as functionality. Aaaand I just discovered that it can be used as a secret hiding place for money or documents or magazines that you seriously only read for the articles.... because of the gap between the record and the wall!! I also wanted to make sure that the albums could be switched out quite easily by sliding them to the right. Eventually, when I have time, I will have enough to wrap around the entire room.

Now this costed approx $30 but it could easily be made by ripping a sheet of plywood into thin strips and painting it. I just don't have much free time so I figured i would just shop the baseboard isle and get the exact sizes precut.

I hope you like it and try it out or make some improvements. I would love to see them!

Step 1: Way Down Inside, Honey You Need It - Led Zeppelin

What you need

For this project I needed to make 4 shelves that are 4 feet in length. These could be made somewhat easily with just a router and a table saw but since most of my stuff was on a different job site I decided to use what I had laying around and do it in a way that it could be replicated with as little as a saw and a hammer.

what I used -

Nail gun

drill

brads

square

24 screws 1 1/4inch

12 screws 2 inch

clamps!!!

circular saw

contractors pencil

wood glue

tape measure

wood stain (optional)

stud finder or anchor screws

2 - 8' lattice at 1/4 inch x 1/2 inch

2 - 8' lattice at 1 1/4 inch x 1/2 inch

2 - 8' Cedar 1x3 (not necessary to be cedar its just what I had. PINE would be FINE)

A junky old record cover to use for measuring and fitting

A love for music and dirty old wall that needs covering

Step 2: One of These Days I'm Going to Cut You Into Little Pieces - Pink Floyd

To start I began by cutting the 8' lattice pieces into 48" pieces... or half... i guess. in hindsight this probably would be a lot easier to just build this as one really long shelf and then cut it to size but when i have my mind set on something I'm not that smart about it. so yeah i did that and then applied a small bead of wood glue to the 1/4 inch lattice, clamped it to the half inch lattice, nailed it down with some brads. its not all that necessary to nail it but i think i explained this already.

Step 3: Anger Can Be Power If We Know That We Can Use It - Clampdown - the Clash

After the glue dries its time to do it again. more gluing and clamping. I stained the cedar 1x3 and I kinda regret it now since cedar looks so good on its own.

apply glue again to the quarter inch lattice board and flip it onto the 1"x3" creating a 1/4 inch groove on the top and bottom of the shelf between the two widest pieces. this is where the album will slide in and out. throw some clamps on and leave it alone for the day. I also just added some weight to it but also... not necessary. this part can be very frustrating since you must make sure it is directly in the middle of the 1x3 and the boards always seem to have some sort of bend or warped end. Do the best you can and try not to yell at inanimate objects. it'll make you feel like you're crazy, you're neighbors will think so as well.

Step 4: You Gotta Make Way for the Home Superior - Bowie

Last step and its an easy one. throw a few short screws in the backside of the shelf. countersink and drill the pilots in the middle of the board to make sure you go through the quarter inch piece. then its just a matter of hanging it on the wall. i used 3 screws per shelf and put them into the studs by finding the studs first and marking with tape before making the pilot holes. I then leveled the first shelf and screwed it on and then used the limbo party record cover to measure the distance to the next shelf. Make sure to leave a bit of wiggle room so that you won't damage your covers and also since many albums come in slightly different sizes.

I think this concept could be taken further to make designs with them or put them diagonally across the wall or spell something out. The possibilities are endless and I hope to see some improvements soon.

Thanks for checking it out!

J