As we’ve told you guys for several weeks, we’re working on “growing up” out guest room. Here’s the most recent post about it. One thing that’s still on the list is something to hang on the walls. I’ve been brainstorming for awhile now, checking Pinterest for ideas.

Then, last week, we received an exciting packaging in the mail:

Wanna guess what was inside?

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Hint: the title of this post might give you a clue…

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Have you guessed yet?

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Well, if not, too bad: it was a map!

A big map, to be exact.

We’re planning to make some interactive art, with a push pin map of the U.S., showing the places we’ve been together. Something like John and Sherry did at Young House Love, here.

I’d originally had my mom pick us up a free travel map from the AAA office, but since it’s a road map, the interstate lines were so dominant. It reminded me of spider veins running all over the country and covering up the pretty colors of the different states.

The new map, which we found online from Rand McNally for about $6, is way more fun to look at, I think.

Plus, it’s BIG.

See how it compares?

And really, for such a cool, big map, it was cheap! We found a code online for 10% off, which covered almost half of the shipping costs, or more than the entire tax bill, depending on how you look at it.

We made a trip to Home Depot last night for the supplies to get this baby all framed up and ready to hang on the wall so I’ll keep you posted on how it goes over. We’re still planning…er, mapping out…what we want to do.

Spoiler Alert: It was difficult to get everything home in the car…including ourselves.

Also, it wasn’t easy to decide on what to use for the backing since cork is EXPENSIVE! I spent several hours researching online and I hope to have found a solution that will work fairly well. It’s still to be tested though, so we’ll see.

In the meantime, do you have a travel map? How did you make it, or was it a gift? Or maybe you bought one of those beautiful ones selling on Etsy for hundreds of dollars?