Is the decorating with maps fad over? Once Ballard and Pottery Barn and Home Decorators start framing maps and hanging them like art, you know its a mainstream idea. But does that mean we have to start moving onto the next fad?
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| via Elle Decor |
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| via Martha Stewart |
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| via Apartment Therapy |
I think that the appeal of cartography-as-art is the personalization that can be achieved. You're from Oklahoma? Go find and old map depicting the state boundaries during the Land Run of 1889. Love to sail? Find nautical maps by the bookload and frame them for your powder room. Have a young astronomer in your house? Have galaxy diagrams wallpapered onto the kid's ceiling.
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| via Elle Decor |
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| via Elle Decor |
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| via House Beautiful |
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| via Elle Decor |
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| Martha's Maine House via Martha Stewart |
To avoid that overtly-contrived, generic store-bought feel, it's generally best to work with maps that matter to you.
And for this reason -- the seemingly endless options available -- the 'decorating with maps' practice may not be so easy to pigeonhole as "a fad."
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| via DecorPad |
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| via Martha Stewart |
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| via BlackEiffel blog |
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| by Steven Gambrel |
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| by Pootery Barn (typo, and it stays!) |
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| via Simplified Bee blog |
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| via Forever...Whenever blog |
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| via Houzz |
And don't just limit the cartography to your walls. Bring cartography to your doors...
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| via Apartment Therapy |
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| via Apartment Therapy |
Get down with your DIY self and Mod Podge some things!
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| via PS I Made This |
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| via Urban Sardine |
Have your favorite globe turned into a hanging light fixture!
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| via Addicted 2 Decorating |
A rolling map can be easily converted into a window shade!
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| via Martha Stewart |
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| via O at Home magazine |
Cartography products can be chic and happy in many forms... A pillow, a plate, a lampshade!
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| via Rockett St George |
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| via homelife |
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| via Ralph Lauren |
All in all, I think it's fair to say that the map fad is indeed a fad. But, it's a long-lasting fad
because it can be so widely interpreted. Lots of editorializing from the consumer can keep this fad from looking tired.
The easiest way for you to incorporate a map into your decorating is to choose a map that has personal meaning to you. Whether you frame it, decoupage it, wallpaper with it, cover a window with it or make a lampshade with it is up to you. Keep it
personal and it becomes
authentic!
Have a wonderful day, world travelers!!
Cheers,
Whitney
