JUST MAP IT!

I popped into a friends house who has been desperate to dress up a boring corner of her home office for the last few YEARS. Sometimes people are so afraid they are going to make the wrong decision, they end up making NO decisions which, in the end, is more frustrating than making a mistake. Just like when you're lost on the road and you pull out the GPS for guidance, my friend whipped out her phone and dialed me for a little wine and design time. When I saw the same paint swatches on her wall I'd seen two years ago, I took a sip of wine, and started to come up with a fun design. Last time I was in the space I had just wallpapered a small bathroom in Manhattan with maps I found in old National Geographic magazines (found at garage sales, flea markets, etc.). I tend to prefer the older Nat Geo maps because they fade into interesting colors, the paper tends to be a bit thicker and, quite honestly, they're just more interesting. But, we didn't have time for that now. My friend got freaked out at the thought of removing the maps and wallpaper glue after her tastes changed. That fear kept her from doing anything at all. I knew if I left our little happy hour without doing anything, nothing would be done to that cute little space. I told her about my new find of easily removable wallpaper, but again, knew this was falling on design-deaf ears. So, I started walking through her house and found a pile of AAA maps in her library. I looked for push pins and double stick tape and, while she put together an appetizer platter, I splattered maps all over her wall. When she came back she was shocked how good it looked just to have SOMETHING on the wall. She liked the way it looked, so I promised to return and DO IT RIGHT, which won't take too much longer than this fly by- the- sip- of -my- wine design did. Step one was simple; I just started hanging the maps with thumb tacks, starting at the ceiling line and working down, where I cut around the counters. Now that we've committed to the look, I will use an iron to steam the wrinkles out of the maps and double stick tape to ensure they don't go anywhere. In each corner, I will put thumbtacks and for an extra "pop" add a frame in the middle of the map by purchasing crown molding from the Home Depot and nailing it up. The glass free frame adds a three dimensional texture and frames out a section of the map. It would also be cool to head to and arts and crafts store and purchase several inexpensive frames of various sizes, remove the glass and backing and hang them haphazardly on the wall. Whatever you do, don't be afraid to be bold, JUST DO IT!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: This wall took ten minutes
COST: $0
STRESS LEVEL: Once my friend saw how cool it looked and were able to map out the next steps: LOW