I have a vinyl problem. What I mean is, I have a vinyl storage problem. We all know there is no such thing as too much vinyl.
I’ve tried a few different storage methods, but my collection has, um, outgrown them.
What’s a vinyl hoarder to do? Create new storage.
Many years ago, when I thought my life was busy, but I only had 1 child and didn’t have an earthly clue what busy meant, I used my birthday money to buy a 4×4 Kallax shelf from IKEA.
I nearly got a divorce trying to build it, but over 10 years and at least 3 moves later, it is still solid and still holding crafting supplies. Meanwhile, my vinyl habit is adding up to a lot of sheets and rolls and a lot of empty cardboard tubes.
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DIY Vinyl Storage Supplies
- Cardboard Tubes (best from a vinyl supplier like Expressions Vinyl or Amazon)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Shelf or box
- Paint (if you’re feeling fancy)
There was a point in my crafting when I was regularly buying my vinyl online at Expressions Vinyl–my favorite online vinyl retailer! It would get shipped and I ended up with a lot of cardboard tubes.
And since I am a hoarder.
Since I can’t throw anything away.
Since I am earth-conscious and like to reduce, reuse, and recycle, I have been saving my cardboard tubes for just the perfect project.
Welcome to Earth-Friendly DIY Vinyl Storage.
Measure Your Vinyl Storage
Now, if you need to measure your shelf or box so you can make it symmetrical, I think you’re in the wrong place. Good luck – I wish you all the best.
We don’t measure here at Lazy Crafting. We just jump in with both feet.
I emptied out one of my Kallax shelves and started stacking cardboard tubes inside it. I placed them into the shelf backward, so that they would be lined up evenly on the front end. The goal here is to figure out placement and aesthetics. It doesn’t matter if some tubes are longer or shorter or if they are open or closed on the end.
In general, bigger tubes work better, because vinyl shouldn’t be rolled too tightly. Specialty vinyl like glitter or flocked will definitely need bigger tubes. HTV (heat transfer vinyl) and adhesive craft vinyl can be rolled into smaller tubes, but ideally nothing smaller than a poster tube (read: do not use paper towels tubes.) And vinyl already on a roll can be tucked inside any of these.
Bring on the Glue Gun
Once you have placed your cardboard tubes in your space and you are happy with the overall way it looks, it’s time to put your trusty glue gun to work. Use a dot or small line to secure the tubes to each other. In the next step we will remove everything to create a better adhesive line, but for now we want everything to just hold together.
Once you have secured all the tubes, you can pull the whole unit out and put it in your workspace. Now you can use your glue gun to place thicker, more secure lines of glue throughout your cardboard contraption.
Once you have everything secured nicely, you can put it back in the shelf and your storage is ready to go. If you’re feeling extra peppy, you could paint it to look pretty.
I just popped mine back in and started using it right away.
Organize Your Vinyl
I organized my vinyl by type and then by color. Rainbow colors working from left to right. Bottom row is HTV, then glitter. The third row has craft vinyl and flocked. My top rows are craft vinyl and specialty items like patterned and foil. Then I tucked rolls inside the tubes where they fit. My vinyl rolled up nicely to fit in this amount of space. If you need more, just keep adding tubes until your entire vinyl collection is contained.
You don’t need Kallax to make this work. You can use any shelf, box, crate, etc. Once the tubes are glued together, they can stand on their own and don’t even need a box.
If you struggle with a vinyl storage problem, this is a quick and easy solution reusing materials you probably already have. I hope it helps you tame the vinyl beast!
Happy (lazy) storage!
Want to remember this? Post this DIY Vinyl Storage to your favorite Pinterest board!
