apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Years ago a friend of mine had several thousand albums and many more books. His entire apartment was a maze of bookshelves -- he used them as dividers to separate the living area from the sleeping area etc. It worked for him but was a very odd space for the rest of us. If your DJ friend can spare a wall (or two) I would go for floor-to-ceiling shelves rather than a mishmash of different styles and types -- it would make it easier to find what's wanted, as well.

There's always the old brick-and-plank approach if money is an issue.

Trust me. The Expedit can handle the challenge. My DJ boyfriend, and all his friends, have various sizes and configurations of the Expedit and it is built to last. Also check out this cool set up at instructables.com:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ikea-DJ-Console/

Ditto. Me and all my record-hounding friends use the Expedit. Sturdy and fairly inexpensive, too.

I like the cubes he has for setting his equipment on as first of all the obvious, he can place his gear on top, and secondly, it looks sturdy enough to hold what's there already. However, the rest of the storage solution is not so much.

I agree, something like the Expidit is a good choice since it breaks up the expanse of shelving into short sections, each section getting support from the uprights sandwiched in between. I have lots of albums myself but not anything near this many though and I'm currently using a 2 cube storage solution that seems sturdy enough although I don't have enough of them for what I do have.

I am using a norrebo shelving unit from ikea. it works to hold the records and separate the kitchen from the living room in our tiny apartment.

My dj mate also uses and expedit, no issues. Also helps with cataloguing....

Um, an iPod?

I say skip the expedit, and build your own a la Shannon & Emmett's house tour (on AT:Chicago). I've built this same sort of shelving unit for books using 10ft 2x10's. You could easily buy 16ft 2x10's, pipe, and fittings to assemble a long wall's worth of storage that is super sturdy. Pick a nice stain or use Danish oil for a nice finished look.

Expedit and Norrebo are great choices, at a budget. I would attach to the wall for safety though.

I was ready for a longer-term commitment (and have a smaller collection), so I went with a Jacob Bookcase from Arhaus (tying in to your recent post). They are thick, solid oak and beautiful. And it was a great way to trick my record- collecting hubby to buy a beautiful piece!

Expedit rules the vinyl, and if you're using it as a room divider, the individual squares are the right size for to display really great album covers. (I cheat with a little museum wax, to keep them upright.)

Does that make sense? Records on one side, and then the album cover facing out on the other side.

my favorite record solution yet is one that Kenneth Brown did for an episode of reDesign: http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_living_area/article/0,,HGTV_3376_3691214,00.html

you have to click thru the slideshow to get a good look, but the custom bookshelves have drawers for albums.

I am planning on using this idea when we [someday] replace our billy bookshelves in the living room with custom shelves/cabinetry. I have about 15 linear feet of albums and the drawers, though not as spacesaving as shelves, are really good for keeping them organized.

I had the largest (5x5) Expedit 100% full of records, and it held up just fine. I even moved it 3 times. My friends hate moving day - boxes and boxes of records. Once my collection exceeded that number, I ditched it for a customized floor to ceiling custom Ivar system which I like better, but is not necessarily stronger.

use the expedit. mine is completely full (the large one and the small one) and it's doing great.

i use the cubes from the container store for mine. expensive but awesome.
http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=13386&PRODID=60667

My dad has his collection in the Traby shelves from IKEA. Very sturdy and looks great.

Here's a whole lot of options for storing records - both boxes/cases and shelving options.

I use an Expedit as well and it's awesome. No problems with it and because the shelves are supported ever 13 inches or so, it doesn't sag.

Check my blog on it here.

www.warchildren.com

Boltz makes sturdy sleek steel LP shelving:
http://www.boltz.com/

Or you could do what I did...I went to a custom furniture builder in NYC and had them make a maple wall unit to spec: center console, with a mixing height countertop to fit the turntables, a rack sized angled center console for the mixer, drawers for cds below, and below that 2 levels of cubbies for records. They also built a hutch for above-head storage and 2 side cabinets to store more records, and space on top (ear-level) for the monitor speakers.