I use one wall in our living room and in my office I use single and double folding stands I make myself.
updated by @kusani: 08/29/18 08:35:39PM
Glad you have 16". Mine is 9" & barely keeps me from blocking the t.v. & the remote. Daren't do that! 😎
That fold-up feature is really nice.
Glad there are option_s_.
Thanks for the post @elvensong. I designed my stands to fit tight spaces, between my chair and desk, etc. They occupy 16 sq in. of floor space, and I can lift my dulcimers straight up for easy access. The stands lock for stability, and are padded with rubber tubing and felt to protect my dulcimers. They also fold up for easy travel.
Just went prowling online & 16.5 inches definitely would have blocked the t.v. screen (horrors!) & the shortest rack's a bit too long. I posted it just as a way to do a custom fit. Personally I prefer wood to the utilitarian look of a rack. Still your rack is another answer fitting the discussion topic & should fit many situations & tastes.
Elvensong:
I use a guitar rack but it's full. @jack-ferguson makes a nifty double dulcimer stand
Cool, simple solution, Jack, but I can tell it wouldn't have fit the space I had. <sigh!> This was a custom fit for a fairly limited space with next to no width (the double stand would have been impossible & probably the guitar rack) & the rack looks long.
I use a guitar rack but it's full. @jack-ferguson makes a nifty double dulcimer stand
This discussion is slightly closer to what my husband just built than the similar "Dulcimer Display Stands - What do you use?" I've no wall space to hang my dulcimers and no instrument stands not in use with my guitars or husband's banjos. I'd been standing them up next to the bookcase seen in these photos or laying in another spot. They fell once too often and my husband started talking about putting some instruments away! 
He could tell that discussion was going nowhere.
This is his creation using spare wood, stained (oh yeah, some got spilled coming up from the basement), he cut the holes using his jigsaw, and he cushioned the holes using window draft sealer which comes in a strip of foam rubber with adhesive on the back.
A 4th dulcimer I call "the Orphan" lays in the space at the bottom between dulcimers and bookcase. It's the dulcimer that started me on my D ulcimer A cquisition D isease as I found the poor thing abandoned in a flea market. It's not well-made, but I keep it in Aeolian for rare use or offer to loan it out explaining it's my least valued. I also have a small inexpensive travel dulcimer in its case.
Keeping your instruments handy can be hard if your musical "petting zoo" is large, but if not locked away they are more likely to be picked up and played on a moment's notice.
My husband built me an oak "entertainment center" (as I call it) for my instruments. This picture was taken a while ago, and I now have 3 instruments that don't fit. So, this winter he'll be building a second unit for the "overflow". The shelves on top can store 2 instruments each, so the dulcimers all go on the top part. I like to store them in their cases for protection. All the instruments get played quite a bit....takes no time at all to pull one out. The whole music room is humidity controlled (as well as each floor of the house).
updated by @susie: 09/29/15 09:51:15AM
One of my current solutions for storing cased instruments upright is to put them in one of those folding hampers with no lid. This is the one I have...it's 14 x 14 and 22in. high, so depending on the size of your instruments and the type of cases, you should be able to get about 4 in here. This is perfect for tucking away in a corner and for leaving the instruments accessible for you, but not in jeopardy of damage from a dog or child running through the room. This one is 14.99 from Target, online, and you can pick it up at your local store and save on shipping....but they are not stocked IN the store.
--
Jan Potts, Lexington, KY
Site Moderator
"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke
Gale, this is one of the most creative uses for an old chest of drawers that I have ever seen! Love it!
--
Jan Potts, Lexington, KY
Site Moderator
"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke
For now, mine are in there cases standing up. However, I am going to get a big enough table this summer to set them on. The guitars and autoharp will still be on the floor standing up.
I'm bringing this thread up again as I just found it while doing a image google on quilt stands. I'm wanting to do another dulcimer stand and was looking through for quilt stand plans and pictures. Well, there my dulcimer was resting on one of the stands I pictured in this thread. I think I'm going in circles. I'll just use the measurements from my old stand and have my brother cut some wood for me.
Folkfan, that's a great idea converting a quilt stand. I like that.
Carole, I shut my cases. At the moment humidity is 28% in my office so that is far from recommended 40 - 50%.
The RX boxes generally go into an old sock so they can't scratch dulcimer finish. The desert is very hard on wood instruments so I am perhaps a tad over zealous about care. Gary Sager (Prussia Valley dulcimers) sells the Guardfather humidifiers which are good and last for years. I have some which I got in 1965 and they are in better shape than I.
I store mine on their butts or backs in cases. Our humidity was 5% the other day - not a misprint! So I use humidifiers in each case. Am very fond of Oasis brand which make it easy to see whether water needs to be refilled. Use distilled H2O!
Very easy to drill holes in prescription bottles and cut up a sponge and soak it in water. A camping soap dish works nicely too. I am chicken about hanging instruments on wall but many folk do so.
carole said:
I've been wondering about the dulcimer storage issue, too. For now they, along with my guitar and banjo, are both in hard cases on the floor. Can't use stands....too much cat and dog hair. The only wall space is in the sunroom which is hot and dry in the summer. Yeah, I guess their hard cases are the way to go but how? Flat on their backs?.....on their sides?.....on their butts? (holy moly!! Is this conversation X-rated???
-Carole
-Carole
Check out Elderly Instruments online. They usually have whatever is needed. Good luck.
How do I store them? Let me count the ways. Eight on a modified quilt stand. One on an X key board stand. And others scattered around the place on various wooden easel type of stands. 
And they are usually covered with various small quilts I've made for dust covers as this one is on the keyboard stand.
The keyboard stand is nice for standing up and playing. I don't have any hanging on the walls as I don't have much interior wall space with my home's floor plan.
And as to storing them in cases, well, I've never had a case for every instrument. Lee Felt's soft cases are the ones I have, two double and one single, but I wouldn't put instruments in them and leave them lying around on the floor. With my kultzy feet I'd end up stepping on them. 
That's a great tip Ken! And the cats will like it too.
Ken Hulme said:
if you get static shocks shuffling across the carpet, it's wwaaaay tooo dry. Pans or bowls of water set out near heat vents will help moisturize you and your dulcimers.
When I had a house with large walls, I hung them there, using hooks and a small loop of leather or string around or through the peghead. No problems there as long as you put them on an interior wall and out of the direct sun (temperature stability).
Personally i don't like storing them in cases as they tend to get played less. But living aboard a boat as I do now, I have two in my BagLady double bag, and one hanging from the ceiling of the forward V-berth, plus one stashed at my Lady's house.
The biggest problem of any storage is keeping the temperature and humidity stable. Most houses are dry as the proverbial bones in the winter - if you get static shocks shuffling across the carpet, it's wwaaaay tooo dry. Pans or bowls of water set out near heat vents will help moisturize you and your dulcimers.
