Logan's Map Wall

 It all started with an atlas that I found at a yard sale for a dollar. I've had it for a while thinking that I would use it in some craft or another, but I have been working on Logan's room (read: cleaning, editing, getting ready for when school starts next month, etc.) and one thing lead to another and the atlas came to mind to do a 'feature' wall. In his room there is a small recessed wall that is just over 7 feet, which is perfect to do a project like this.....an obvious beginning and ending which I think is so important in a feature wall. It recesses about two feet and has the door on one side and the closet door on the other:

 The atlas is circa 1984 so I did not have any of that I'm-about-to-tear-up-a-book guilt

 First things first, I painted the door casing white (I still have to do the baseboards)...trying to do that after the maps, or later would have been a pain.  I used regular wallpaper paste (bought at Walmart for around 5 bucks) and a chipboard brush. I started randomly on the edge and started going out from there...

 I kept going with the random look, making sure to mix large states (two page spreads) and small states (one page spread)

 A few tricks that I learned along the way...because this is not a normal 'wallpaper' application.....1) pasting the back of each paper resulted in a smoother finish (vs. pasting the wall). 2) A dry towel works great to smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles. 3) Don't be afraid to get messy. This is a messy project and when I embraced that, it went a lot faster...

 It took me about 4 hours to do, but I had to take a lot of breaks (chemo was last week)...I primed the door to get it ready for chalkboard paint and let everything dry over night.

 By the next day, the map wall was sheer perfection. I couldn't believe how well it adhered...it turned out better than I thought. I painted the door with three coats of chalkboard paint and let that dry....it dries super quick.

 I did make sure some of my favorite states are prominent....Missouri, North Carolina, Colorado, Oregon, Florida....places we've been and lived or want to visit. I think it would be fun to get pins and mark all the towns we want to travel to....but Logan is only six and I could see that getting a little dangerous! :) Maybe when he is a little older!

 I even covered the light switch plate in map, which was really easy to do.

 I seasoned the chalkboard and wrote a fun quote....Logan will definitely love this, he already loves the one in the kitchen.

 I really love how it turned out and most importantly, Logan loves it. Not too bad for a project under six dollars and a little labor. I've been doing some other projects around his room...a new (to us) dresser, a twin spindle bed that was a curb-side find and a new rug....can't wait to show you!