Home Sweet Home

I had seen a gorgeous piece of hand made map art on the lovely blog Nat the Fat Rat {find the room here - can you spot it in the living room?}. Feeling inspired I knew I wanted to recreate something for the large space above the cabinet in our living room. Given that we live in a rather traditional flat however, I felt like it might be a nice idea to merge my love of all things design-y with at least a little bit of antiquity {Sandy's favourite}.

For just a couple of quid, I picked up a reproduction 1800s map of our little pocket of Edinburgh. They are super easy to find on Ebay so I'm already planning which places to do next. What's a girl to do with a brand new looking map? Clearly stain it with teabags. The mark of a primary teacher {or primary student??}. Cheap, easy and effective, my map was soon looking a little more authentic.

The stencils I had picked up cheap at hobby craft thinking the map was going to be on the small side. I probably would've preferred the writing to be a bit bigger but to be honest by that point I was already heading down the crafty rabbit hole and there was no way I was waiting a whole other week to get started. Clearly patience is a virtue that I need to be working on! Again, I could've used paint but the speed demon in me meant I opted for sharpie markers instead {oh what you can do with a sharpie} though being sure to stay within the lines meant it took maybe 20 minutes.

Popped into an IKEA frame, I love the result! It looks perfectly at home in the living room, filling what seemed like an impossibly large space. Plus, I love the mix of "antique" map and the more modern typography. And yes, that is a jar of cardboard moustache straws on there. I find they make weekday dinners oh so much more classy...

What do you think?

LoveBx