Trashtastic Tuesday- Interactive Map Art

It is time for Trashtastic Tuesday! Can I get a woot woot? The last time you saw my stairwell was over a month ago. Have you missed it? I know you are probably going through withdrawals wondering what has been happening there, right? No?? I am shocked! Well, if you follow along with my ramblings, you know that we recently painted the stairwell, we painted the handrails black and we bought a shoe cabinet for the landing. Today I wanted to share a little wall art project that I did a few weeks ago. I have been slowly adding things to the walls going up and down the stairs, and this is the most recent thing I have added. A United States Map.

I got this Idea for a map from my favorite blog, Young House Love. They have a map hanging on the wall with pins in it for all of the places they have visited. This was not the first time I have seen someone do that, but after seeing theirs, I just loved the idea of making one for our family.

Several months ago, LC bought me this United States Map at Barnes and Noble when we were there one day, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it, I just didn’t know where I would put it yet.

And lo and behold, as this stairwell started to take form, I remembered that I had this map and decided it would look perfect right here on this wall. The colors match perfectly! Don’t you love it when things like that accidentally happen? This is the view standing at the landing of the stairs. You can see my DIY brown paper floors at the bottom of the stairs.

To put this up on the wall, I purchased a self adhesive roll of bulletin board material from AC Moore. I also bought my push pins there. I just simply laid out the map on top of the bulletin board to help me decide how much bulletin board I wanted.

I peeled off the self adhesive backing from the bulletin board, which was no small feat. If you ever use this stuff, be super careful because it rips very easily. It says that this adhesive is safe to put on drywall, so I guess we’ll see one of these days if we go to remove it whether that is true or not. If not we are going to have some patching to do!

After I had the bulletin board placed on the wall where I wanted it, I just pinned the map onto the board. Then I got busy with my pins.

I decided to use green pins for all of the places LC has been, blue pins for everywhere I have been, and red pins for the places we have been together. LC has been so many places in the US that he ran out of pins. I have to get more.

I think I am going to try to DIY a frame to frame it out with. It is just so large, and you can’t just buy a frame in that size. I think it will look better with a frame, but I also don’t think it looks terrible without one.

I am really happy with the way the walls are coming along going up the stairs.

You can read more about the other road map I framed, which is on the bottom right here. The grey mirror was a Goodwill find that I spray painted grey.

This is the view standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up.

I still need to paint the risers, the trim going up the sides of the stairs and the spindles a fresh coat of white. I also have a project planned for the landing, which is faded from the sun. So stayed tuned, I am far from finished in this area of my house! But it sure has come a long way since move in day.

I love my Trashtastic Interactive wall art! It is fun for the whole family, and it is a conversation piece for people who come to visit. Do you have a map in your house on which you pin your travels?Link Parties:

Tuesday:
Coastal Charm
Cozy Little House
Homework
A Stroll Through Life
Wednesday:
Savvy Southern Style
Work it Wednesday
Friday:
Inspire Me Please
The Shabby Nest
Remodelaholic
Sunday:
DIY Showoff
DIY Sunday Showcase
Monday:
Monday Funday
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House
Home Coming
Give me the Goods
Project Inspired
Thrifty Decor Chick