I was totally amazed by all of the comments on my last post! Thank you so much! Even though I wanted to post about it because it was out there in the magazine and I at least wanted to say that it was mine, I felt a little weird after hitting publish, like it was kind of a "look at me" post, but none of you made me feel that way at all. (How's that for a run-on sentence?) You rock. (I should have said "our" bench though, because it was definitely a team effort with my husband. Couldn't have made it without him.) The comment that gave me a LOL moment was from Leanne who offered to find all of the copies of the magazine in her area and write my name in them. :-)
House Beautiful Photo by Don Freeman
In case you haven't figured it out yet, this post is inspiration and ideas, large and small, for decorating with maps. If you love maps, you'll probably like it. If not, I'm fairly certain it will be map overload and you may hate it. If you try to visualize something else you love in place of the map in each image, maybe you'll still find something to inspire your decorating. Otherwise, I promise NO MAPS in the next post. :-)
Adding maps as art can help create a pretty vignette. I love the warm colors of this one...
Southern Living
Photo Robbie Caponettoand the cool colors of this one (I know. I'm fickle, but they ARE both pretty!)
Trisha Brink Design via flickr
Six vintage maps, framed, create instant wall art.
Country Living photo credit: Steven Randazzo
We've already seen this in a previous post, but I still think it's an interesting way to use map art (or any other art for that matter).
David H. Mitchell for Southern Accents 2005 via House of Turquoise
Rather than framing your map, put it on the wall and hang a frame over it. (diyideas.com)
Large scale maps...
Centsational Girl's warm and cozy game room/lounge
A nautical chart of Long Island in the style of a blueprint
House Beautiful Designer Kim Coleman/Photo James Merrell
I've loved this room that Kimba at ASPTL decorated for her son since the first time I saw it. To see how she created this map art click here.
A map headboard from BHG.com
Papering the walls with maps...
House Beautiful Designer Steven Gambrel/Photo Eric Piasecki
Impress Your Kids created a map wall for her son's room. She shows you how she did it here
Map place mats...
Coastal Living Photo Charles Walton IV
Map coasters from San Francisco Chronicle (tutorial on site)
Have you noticed that butterflies are appearing everywhere in decorating? Image Surgery uses maps to create their butterfly art.
A map cupcake tower by Laurie Federico featured at mydiyweddingday.com. This one was obviously for a wedding, but would it have to be? Instructions here.
Kristi at Addicted to Decorating created this globe pendant light. Tutorial on site
Chez Larsson makes a map lampshade. Tutorial here.
Wisteria has a map chest...
And Bombus makes map chairs...
Sasha Andreev (HGTV) created a map rug by by attaching a large map to a piece of linoleum. He adhered the map with spray adhesive and finished it with several coats of polyurethane. He also made a map window shade and shadow box. You can see those here.
Map trays from Carolina Cottage
Art print from StudioLyon
If you like your maps in really small doses, Denise at Living Life Creatively made this cute map bird. She teaches you how to make them here.
So... What do you think? Do you/will you decorate with maps or are you completely overloaded and can't wait to get away from this post? :-)
