Using maps as wallpaper??

[Cathpot]

Anyone done this? I want to use a selection of maps to cover a small area about 2m by 3m. Not sure what adhesive to use and if I need to coat over the top with something - it will be behind a bed so should be protected by the headboard.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

I was planning on doing this. What I've read is to use wallpaper paste and if you can get away with it use drawing pins as it dries

[Cathpot]

Yes I saw that in the internet but wallpaper paste in my mind is very lumpy and I was struggling to imagine getting a smooth finish- but that may be lack of actual hands on experience of wall paper paste. I was wondering about the glue the use for decoupage. I cut the maps out of an old times atlas but now I'm wondering whether to hunt down some others so they don't all look too generic. The wall I've seen in real life was a mismash of lots of maps and it looked fab.

[Belindabelle]

I did this as a splash back behind my range cooker. We have glass on top to protect it. We didn't use paste and it has wrinkled slightly so we will have to unscrew the glass and re do it using paste.

[Cathpot]

What did you use instead of paste so I can avoid it?

[Belindabelle]

It was DH's idea. I told him not to be so stupid. Blue tak!

[MollyAir]

Is it possible to buy actual wallpaper which shows maps, if not fussy what the maps are of?

[siiiiiiiiigh]

I did a whole wall of this. Wallpaper paste works well. Use a whisk to make it lump free. Or, upgrade to wallpaper mural.co.uk or similar. Which is what I landed up doing...#gatewaywallpapering

[Cathpot]

Ok- will cross bluetak off adhesive possibilities! Thank you for input. Sounds like I need to just go to town with wallpaper paste and whisk. Am not going for a wallpaper pictures of maps as have come over all twee and cut out maps of places that we have some sort of connection with. Happily my FIL used to work in Antarctica and that's a really lovely one!

[Fatstacks]

I'm casting my mind back to my distant youth...

I was a bit fond Asd so full blown obsession of maps from the age of 10 and had my entire bedroom meticulously papered in them.

Much to my parents horror.

Wallpaper paste is perfect if you are hanging paper weight but make it to the weakest solution. If you are hanging thicker, glossy type maps then mix as though for blown vinyl.

Then seal your masterpiece with 45 coats of pva/water mix, like a pro

[KikiShack]

This sounds gorgeous- if you wanted to share a picture once you've done it I'd love to see!

[Fatstacks]

Oh and don't use a food utensil for the paste it has fungicides and mould killer!

[Sooperswooper]

Not so much wallpaper-ing an entire wall, but I got loads of wrapping paper which comes in sheets of poster size- different maps (currently have the world, an old metropolitan london map, a map of the stars, a map of africa), constellations, beano covers, etc etc from ebay and covered ds's room in those. Just with blu tac so he could change it as and when. I love it!

I was thinking about getting one custom done (if you want the website I have it stashed away somewhere) as it then comes like wallpaper but then realised it was so much cheaper and more flexible to do posters. We also framed a load of them and have hung them up and around too.

[Cathpot]

Thank you for tips- Pva coat sounds good and will look for wrapping paper. Need to wait for plasterer before I can start but will put picture if looks ok.

[Sooperswooper]

I have lots of these ones & they always (helpfully) combine postage! Cavallini

Also Paperchase does lots too. Good luck- bet it will look fab!

[NathalieM]

I've seen commercial wallpapers available that are in the style of old maps. I personally think it looks nice in small batches, which would appear to be what you are considering.

Never actually seen it in a home though.

[Sgtmajormummy]

My DF used maps like paintings in one of our houses. He stuck up the maps (not sure how) and then found some fancy wooden moulding which looked like picture frames, stuck it around the map and painted it to match the decor. I bet you could find polystyrene moulding really cheaply today.

They were a mixture of the beautiful and the useful. I remember the city road map was right outside the toilet and my brothers would pore over it to plan their Saturday nights out!
I think it's a great idea.

[Sooperswooper]

This is one half of the room where we stuck wrapping paper up. We have some framed maps and constellation ones over ds bed.. You could create a lovely wall of them tightly packed together too.

[misscph1973]

Sooperswooper, that's beautiful! I wish I could keep my interest in interior decoration for more than 5 min and that I wasn't so stingy ;)

OP, have you read/seen We need to talk about Kevin? There is a fabulous scene where the mum has decorated the walls in her room with maps, it's gorgeous, and she answers the phone, only to come back to see that her son has sprayed ink all over her maps!

[Cathpot]

Sooper that's a lovely room. I have read we need to talk about Kevin but all thought of map decor was wiped from memory by general trauma of the story. It's the sort of book where my DH just looks at me unsympathetically at the end when I am a gibbering wreck and says 'did you not read the line on the back cover about 'tragic denouement' ?' The area I'm doing is actually behind a fold down bed as we've just done an IKEA hack and put a bed in their pax wardrobe. My thinking is it will be hidden most of the time until we pull the bed out for guests. If it looks really good I might do another small bit behind shelves in an alcove. Don't want to over kill, the room will be an home office thing most of the time.

[Cathpot]

So I’m resurrecting my own zombie thread as I finally got round to it!

[Cathpot]

My ‘if I was going to do it again’ thoughts are probably not to line them up but go more mismatch patchwork - I can bung some more over the top I suppose, I was in a hurry in the end as the bed that is normally in there was only taken out for the afternoon. I used watered down PVA as I had just had success with putting cartoons up (on tongue and groove wood) in another room and that lot went on really easily. However I hadn’t figured in the much thicker paper of the maps and it was tricky to avoid bubbles. It looks ok - and most of the wobbly bit is behind a head board now but I should probably have gone for wallpaper paste or maybe soaked the maps completely- I think different map areas got different amounts of glue and that didn’t help!

[TakingtheLeap]

That's fabulous, OP!

[RagamuffinCat]

That looks amazing!