Need suggestions for storing all kinds of media

9 years ago

Hello everyone,
I just bought a new house and had inherited several households of items. I have worked my way through a great deal of these items but as I am moving, I realized that I have hundreds of vinyl albums, dvd's, vhs and cd's (I had most of these already) I do not want them all out to clutter up my living space but am looking for some creative ideas in order to organize, store and have easy access to these items. Any suggestions or suggestions on how to have them somehow displayed in a organized manner? I am not even sure what I want to do although I know that I don't want to get rid of them as we do enjoy them.

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Comments (6)

grainlady_ks
9 years ago
They will all fit on shelves like books, so I would make a "library" of them somewhere.

At one home we made a 4-sided bookcase "tower" in the basement that also served as a room divider in the large open space used for the home office, TV viewing area, and a children's play area. We purchased 4 inexpensive 36" wide by 6' tall bookcases (with adjustable shelves) and dressed up the ends with some really nice finished oak panels and molding we had from another project. Connected the 4 bookcases together at the top/back with "L" brackets, and then placed a square of Masonite over the center opening so nothing would fall in the center open space, and I was able to place decorative objects on the top. We placed the bookcases-in-the-round rather than along on the wall and it worked perfectly in that space.

-Grainlady
camlan
9 years ago
In general, I feel that things should be stored where they are used. If the media are in another room than where they are played/viewed/listened to, there will be the temptation to leave them scattered about, rather then walk back to where they are stored.

First, about the VHS tapes--they will degrade over time, or break. If you have anything very important on them, I'd start now to transfer them to a different medium.

Second, I'd go through the entire collection and see if I couldn't pare it down by 10%, just so you have less to store.

How to store them--ideally, I'd look for one piece of furniture that could hold them all. You should figure out how much shelf/drawer space you need for each type of media. Measure how much space 12 albums take up, and 12 CDs, etc. Then multiply by the number of albums and CDs that you have. That will give you an idea of the amount of shelf space you will need.

I'd look for something with adjustable shelves to accommodate the varying sizes. And I'd strongly consider the Billy bookcase from Ikea. You can get extra shelves for them, which means you won't have unused space between the tops of the cases and the shelf above them, but can make use of every inch of space. They have a tower that can hold over 100 CDs. You can get doors for them, to keep the dust off. There are a variety of sizes and widths so that you can customize the storage.

But I'd also consider burning all the CDs to your computer, and playing the music through the computer or an iPod or similar device. Then you could box up the CDs and store them in the attic or cellar. Which would help with your desire not to clutter up your living space too much.
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talley_sue_nyc
9 years ago
I know you say you enjoy these things and want to keep them.

But I want to encourage you to be honest with yourself about whether you're truly going to listen to or watch them.

I know that I would say we enjoy our music, etc.--but the fact is that there isn't time enough in our lives for us to listen to all the music we do have or watch the movies we have.

Partly bcs new movies come along.

So, be a little skeptical about your claim of wanting to keep them.
annkh_nd
9 years ago
I built 6" deep shelves to hold my CD and DVD collections. They are in a hallway between bedrooms, just off the family room (where we mostly watch movies). The hallway was wide enough that they don't reduce the functionality at all.

Here they are in progress: I used a drill press to make all the holes in the boards and the dowels, and wooden pins to hold the shelves in place. Some shelves are CD height; others are CD height. L-brackets secure them to the wall.

Completed: I arrange movies and CDs by genre. I'm not anal enough to alphabetize them!
talley_sue_nyc
9 years ago
Nice shelves!

The back of a door and between studs would be other places you could put shallow shelves. (If you broke through a wall to put shelves between studs, you usually only gain about 3 inches, but you'd sink the CDs/DVDs quite a bit, enough that they wouldn't take up so much space of a hallway.)

This post was edited by talley_sue_nyc on Mon, Nov 3, 14 at 12:47
Fori
9 years ago
Annkh, that's pretty fabulous.

LPs fit well into IKEA's "Expedit" shelving. Maybe it's my age but they seem to be more decorative than VHS, DVD, and CD cases. They also need more shelving due to their depth. SO, if you're gonna use all of your media and have to pick SOME items to display, I'd display the vinyl and stash the others in a closet or if you have a location like Annkh's, do THAT. (That's just so darn cool.)