Sheer Mapness!

Hey, look, I did a project!  I had this flimsy map kicking around the house forever, so I chopped it up and Mod Podged it onto a bunch of 8×10 canvases, and now it is decor!  It is no longer educational, because I had to hide that big black logo in the corner somehow. So in my world, Hawaii is now located off the coast of Chile.  Sounds kind of nice, actually.

Anyway, the map now occupies an area that was formerly occupied by sadness, as seen below.  This little “art station” (ha!) was an awkward nook right in the middle of the upstairs hallway.  My husband, bless his heart, tried to put a built-in desky sort of thing in there, which was entirely ineffective, because it was too close to the height of the stools for anyone with legs to actually sit there, and so shoddily constructed (I still love you hunbun!) that I was afraid for anyone to actually use it.  Young House Love we are not. 

So one day my favorite gals, Jilly and Mia from Girls With Good Taste came over, and helped me rip it out.  The big plan was to simply stick a hutch in there for extra storage, and we found a beeeeautiful one, but once I got it upstairs, I decided I liked it better in a different spot.  I’ll show you that another day.

For now, I just dragged a bookcase I’ve had forever over there instead, but I was surprisingly happy with how the whole thing came together:

Now storage AND artness can happen here!  I didn’t really plan for it to function as a desk; I just wanted some shelves to store a few things, but my daughter pulls her little stool up to it and colors here everyday, so it’s a happy little spot that is working for us.

They were kind enough to send me my choice of prints from their shop to review, and I was glad to do it, because maps and typography in one?  Love.  Obviously I chose Arizona, but they have all 50 states, several major cities, Canadian provinces, and even a few countries in the mix.  And not just prints, mugs too!

They offer several customizable color choices, and even let you choose which cities you’d like included on your print.  My hometown is tiny, and wasn’t on their original design, so I asked them to swap it out for a neighboring town, and they were happy to do it! (Can you guess which one it is?) They can also highlight a city in a certain color, or add personalized text below the design too.