Where In The World?

Both Douglas and I love maps, so it is only fitting that we hang one in a prominent place in our home. I had been looking for a frame big enough and cheap enough to hang the map I had, but in the end, I went with a map that did not need frame. If you are friends with me on Facebook or Twitter, you had a little preview last week.

I got this old-school map from the trash pile where I work. It is quite out-dated as you can see. On here, Germany is one country, but so are Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. I figure that it was produced while I was in high school.

There was no good way to hang the map on the bracket it was attached to. The first thing we did was take it off.

We bought 1″x 3″ board at the Home Depot. Douglas cut it to size, and I stained it. I did not have a problem with the stain this time! (The table really will be finished one day soon. I promise!) Of course, as soon as I took it outside, it started to rain, so I had to stain it on the porch.

Douglas used the bracket to mark the holes he needed to hang the map.

Crème investigated as she is prone to do.

This is the artwork that used to hang on that wall. It was much to small in scale. I really like this piece, so I hung it in the guest bedroom.

Once the holes were pre-drilled, we came back upstairs and hung the board on the wall. We used four screws and wall anchors to  make sure that it was secure.

When the map was hung, I asked Douglas to point to his favorite place in the world. He chose the Bahamas, which is sweet because that is where our friendship truly began.

I put this map of the United States under the world map. It used to hang in the guest bedroom.

The black lines on the map are all the highways I have traveled.

We put dots on the world map to mark all of the countries that we have visited. I debated whether to mark each city, but there are not many cities on the map. Therefore, we put a dot on the capital city, whether we have been there or not. For example, I have been to Portugal, but not to Lisbon, but my dot is on Lisbon. I wanted to use red dots for me, blue for Douglas and purple for countries that we went to as a couple. Get it? Red + Blue = Purple. Unfortunately, Douglas did not have a purple paint pen, and the dots on the map were already red. Instead I used black for me, blue for Douglas and white for us both. You cannot see the dots well from a distance, but you can tell when you are in front of a map. Here is a picture that shows all of the colors.

So far, I have been to South Korea, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Jamaica, Scotland (which I count separately), England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Senegal. Douglas has been to Canada, Mexico, U.S. Virgen Islands, British Virgin Islands and Peru. He would like to count Texas as a separate country, but I vetoed that. Together we have been to Bahamas, Aruba, Venezuela and Ireland. As you can see, Douglas really started to travel once we got together, almost doubling the number of countries he has visited.

If you would like a retractable map of your own, here is one on Amazon. The price tag is rather steep, though. You might be able to find one on eBay as well. I just looked up “school map” and found several, one for only $19.99.

Happy Homemaking!