As you have learned about us here at the The 2 Seasons, we love to travel. That is one thing Yankee and I had in common right off the bat.
Recently I discovered a bulletin board in the basement from Yankee’s bachelor days that had a map and pins on the board of the places he has been to. I brought it up and thought we need to use this idea and spiff it up to make it fit in our new office. Don’t worry pictures coming soon.
Yankee had a map somewhat covering this board but we decided to start fresh. We took the old map off and had a blank cork board ready to use. You can get a similar board here.
We then found some scrap wood we had and cut sides to make a rustic looking frame for this map. This not only makes it look classier on the wall, but the new map still doesn’t cover the whole cork board so this will help hide what the map does not cover.
We had leftover stain from the Bar Yankee built a couple of years ago. I was a fan of the color, so I started to stain the pieces of wood that will be the frame. I actually think this was the first time I stained wood. I am usually painting wood.
To attach the frame pieces together Yankee used a pocket jig. I did not know much about how this all went down, but after watching him I realized it is not hard and I plan to use this method in the future.
Once the frame was in place, I put it back on the table and did a protective coat of polyurethane.
Next up, we attached the map to the cork board. We put thumb tacks in the corners of one side and then we used spray adhesive to stick the map to the board. A kitchen roller was used to smooth out the map on the cork board.
Once we used the spray adhesive, we put two more tacks in the other corners to be safe.
The frame was put on top, of the cork board. We wanted to attach the frame to the cork board but since there was not a backing to the board, we took a another scrap of wood to act as the back. This made it possible for the screws to have something to hold onto and not come out of the cork.
We bought a hanging kit to use to attach to the frame and to be able to hang the map.
I love how this looks in our study. Next up we need to buy some pins that we can start marking our travels. We decided we will do one color for travels for Yankee, one color for myself and one color for our travels together.
Now I can daydream about places I want to visit. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
pandorasbox says
My grandfather always had a map hanging in his porch of the US and with a marker he drew on every road he travelled throughout the country. I have one in my garage to carry on the tradition! It is such a fun project
Jordan says
I love how your grandfather marked all the roads, and I am glad you are carrying on the tradition.
Cheers!
Lauren @TheSaltuTomato says
You did a beautiful job staining for your first time. Looks great. Can’t wait to see it filled in with all the pins and amazing travels.
Debbie C. says
I should have done something similar a long time ago! LOL I love this idea. Thank you for your email today. We have a lot in common!
Sherry @ No Minimalist Here says
Love it! Hubby and I love to travel so I may have to “borrow” your idea.
xx,
Sherry
Jordan says
Sherry,
Go for it! We have had fun putting the pins in where we have been and discussing all the places we want to go.
Cheers!
Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking says
This is an awesome idea! I am now ready to go buy a map and do this project! Thanks. There are so many places we want to see but I think top on our list might be Hawaii.
Jordan says
Alicia,
Yes Hawaii should be the top of your list. You just might not want to come back.
Cheers!