DIY Travel Map and Poster Frame with a Natural Stain - Deutsch style

If you love to travel and explore, then a push-pin travel map will complete you.  Ours is located in the dining room, and I can't tell you how many times we've spent the whole dinner conversation discussing our past and future travels or just in general where certain countries are located (geography just isn't my thing).  A travel map is a great way to see where your feet have touched this vast Earth.  It also helps to realize how much of the World you haven't seen and how large it actually is.  We are so blessed to be stationed in Germany during this time in our lives and have the opportunity to visit such amazing places in a short amount of time.  We also have the travel bug and have made a marriage pact that we will travel when we move back to the States. We're a bit embarrassed to admit that we haven't seen some of the greatest places in the USA (Boston, New Orleans, Maine, and Portland to name a few).  

I searched the internet for a push pin travel map to buy and found one from National Geographic, but since I have so much time on my hands and love DIY, I thought I'd attempt making one myself.  If you don't have the time and want a professional looking map the National Geographic one is a great option.   If you want to make a map that is unique to your family, I found some great tutorials on how to make one yourself.  I had been contemplating following the tutorials and purchasing my map online, when Sam saw the perfect map in a local store here in Germany, NANU-NANA.  I fell in love with it when I realized that the countries were all in German (It also helped that it was 6 Euro, score)!  One of my favorite parts of Deutsch class was learning the different spelling of other countries, like Jamika, Island, and Kanada.  What a great souvenir to take back with us after our tour is over!  If a Deutsch map isn't for you, you'll surely find one on amazon that suits your family.  

The world

I heart Deutsch

I have to warn you that this tutorial has several parts:  How to make a travel map, a DIY poster frame, and how to stain the frame with household items.  If you're still in, then here we go....

Turns out there are a lot of DIY travel map tutorials out there on the interwebs (shocker, I know).  I used this tutorial to make mine.  She was working with the same type of glossy poster that I worked with, and I was happy to see that the Mod Podge Matte (not glossy) gave it an antique look.  Mod Podge is a bit tricky to work with, but don't be discouraged.  Your map will bubble during the process, so don't freak out and trash your map in frustration while proclaiming you are giving up DIY forever (been there, done that - with another project).  I have my pictures below of the before and after.  If you don't have a sheet of cork board like the tutorial above, I ended up using square cork board pieces instead and it worked out great.  

Adhering your map to cork board:
**Step 1** Get a piece of cardboard, thick foam board, or plywood to use as a backing.  I ended up using an old moving box, since this is going to be hung on the wall (a piece of plywood might be too heavy and a moving box is free).  Glue your cork board squares (I found some at the PX) to the cardboard.  I used regular old white glue they use in grade school.  I was nervous the lines from the squares would show through, so I made sure to get them as close as possible to each other.  
**Step 2**

Put Mod Podge on the cork board.  It will start to soak into the cork, and you want it to feel a bit tacky before laying your map down.  Try to lay your map in the right place on the first try, and don't try to re-situate the map if you see bubbles, they're inevitable and will go away after it dries and sets completely (up to 48 hours).  Next apply two coats of Mod Podge on top of the map, allowing it to dry in between each coat (30 mins to 1 hour).

Ahhh, Bubbles!!! 

  

1 hour layer -  Breathe easy...the bubbles are slowly going away ;)

Here is the final map.  See, the bubbles are gone!  There are a few creases, but I think if I would have not skimped on the Mod Podge or tried to pull my map up because I didn't lay it down in the right place, it would have had less creases.  Honestly, I think that the creases from the bubbles actually help add to the antique character of this map.  I also like the effect that the Mod Podge Matte gives my map.  The glossiness of the original poster made it look less antique.  All wins in my book!

Next you can take this in to your local frame shop (Hobby Lobby in the States or the Art's and craft Center on post in Germany).  Actually, the frame shop on post will mount it to cork board and frame it for you if you aren't that in to DIY.  Don't bother looking for a frame on the German economy.  I searched high and low for a decorative poster frame with no luck. OBI and Hornbach all had poster frames that were thin and cheap looking, while Ikea just didn't carry the normal 24 x 36 poster frame size.  I was dying for a Target at this point because they have some great options at reasonable prices.  Recently I found out about the store Globus here in Germany, which is supposed to be the closest thing to a Target...I can't wait to check it out!  Maybe you'll have luck there?  In the end I'm glad that I didn't go that route because I came across a great tutorial on making your own poster frame out of 1 by 4's, and it goes great with the antique look I was going for with my map.

Making a wood poster frame:

**Step 1**

I went to Hornbach (for those of you who live in Germany) and they were nice enough to cut the wood for me in the correct dimensions for a 24 x 36 poster (2 pieces of wood at 42 inches and 2 pieces of wood at 23.5 inches).  Side note:  make sure to not be overwhelmed by being a female in the hardware store in Germany and pick the first board you see that happens to be warped...it leads to problems.  My father taught me better than that, but I couldn't muster up the courage to ask for a different one when I noticed it as the guy was hand sawing the board because the electric saw machine was down. It's okay, more of a challenge, right?

**Step 2**
Once you have your pieces find some hardware to attach the boards together and you have a frame!  Too easy peasy, right?  

Hardware

Obviously, you can go and buy any stain at your local hardware store if you want to take the easy way out (or if you're smart). I wanted to make this an epic DIY project, so I went ahead and tried the tea staining process. The tea stain was gorgeous, but unfortunately the stain matched the color of my map. Through searching endless DIY stain tutorials I found out that soaking steel wool in vinegar for 24 hours brings out the tannins in the tea, and creates a much darker stain.  This tutorial shows how different woods react to the stains.   I'm not sure on the type of wood I found here in Germany, but my experience is below.  
Staining your wood poster frame:
**Step 1** Take 3 black tea bags and 3 cups of water; Boil it and reduce it to 1/2 a cup.  This will be a thick consistency.  I applied four coats.  I let the wood dry in between, so it wouldn't get soggy.  Make sure to let the stain sit overnight to let the full color show, and then decide if you need to darken it more with a steel wool vinegar stain.  
**Step 2** Take steel wool (grade #0000) and break it up into pieces.  Place it into a glass jar and cover the steel wool with vinegar (1/2 and inch to an inch).  I used regular household vinegar.  Let it sit 24 hours.  I just set the lid of the jar on the top of the jar and set it in a well ventilated area near a window.  I could't wait 24 hours and tried it after 12 hours.  The one coat didn't stain it dark enough, so  I did another coat after letting the steel wool vinegar sit for a full 24 hours.  It darkened the wood much more and came out gorgeous!  Moral of the story, be patient and follow your tutorial (when will I learn?).
**Step 3**  Add a coat of stain wood sealant or top coat in matte.  I'm not actually sure what I bought at the German hardware store, but I loved how it came out!

Black tea stain

Top LT: Pre-stained wood; Top RT: Four coats of black tea stain;
Bottom LT: One coat of steel wool vinegar stain (12 hours); Bottom RT: Two coats of steel wool vinegar stain (24 hours)

My German sealant or top coat

Attaching your frame to your map and hanging:

**Step 1**

Lay your stained frame face down and position your map, that's attached to your cork board-cardboard creation, so it is centered.  Grab some small nails and secure the map to the frame.  We did one every 6 inches or so.  

**Step 2**

Find some picture hanging hardware and add it to the frame.  I used two pieces of hardware, since it's a large frame.  

My favorite helpers!  Emma says we're all work and no play.

Picture frame hardware

Pinning scheme:

I found pins on amazon, here.  These 1/8 inch map tacks are shorter in length than sewing pins and have a small diameter.  They come in all colors, and they shipped to our APO address within a week (I was dying to start pinning, so this made me happy)!  I chose gray, chocolate, and brown to go with my antique style of the map.  

Choose a pinning scheme that works for your family.  We chose a color for where we've lived together (the Army likes us to have several places we call home), where we've traveled together, and where we've traveled apart (we couldn't leave out Sam living in the sand for 9 months and our map looked like we had never visited the major cities in the USA even though we had both traveled to them, just not together).  

North America

Europe

One last thing that would be a nice addition, is a legend describing what the pin colors represent.  I haven't fully committed to this idea yet because should it be in German to keep with the theme of the map or in English, so our friends can actually read it?  If you decide to add one, it would be super easy.  Just find the right paper to match your map and use Mod Podge to adhere it. You could use a font that matches your map and say, "The ____ Family Travels"  and below have your pinning scheme, "Where we've lived together, Where we've traveled together, Where we've traveled apart."  Then stick the correct colored pin next to the description.  Until I find the perfect paper and decide which language to use...

Voila!  Or "hier" if we're sticking with our German theme (not fancy enough though, right?).  A perfect addition to our home.  

Zum Wohl!

Entryway - Gallery wall and bench

A gallery wall?  I know, I'm so late in the game with adding one to our home.  Especially for a picture / memory freak like me, right?  Well, after several months of trying to decide my layout and find the perfect accents for the wall, it's finally here.  

It all started when I saw this entryway in a Real Simple magazine and HAD to have it.  I also wasn't fond of tracking dirt all over our tiny apartment.  Has anyone else noticed that with a smaller place you see ALL the dirt?  I think it's because there's not enough far off places for the dirt to scurry off to.  So, the hunt was on for a bench and decor for our giant blank wall.  

You have to have it, right?

Bench

I had dreams of finding a nice authentic bench made in Germany, but after a few dud trips and a lot of dirt being tracked in our home I headed to the local Ikea and bought a bench in a box.  Sam and I swore we would never buy anything again that had to be put together after he moved into his first townhouse and we managed to effectively put everything together wrong (Go figure eight years of combined post undergraduate degrees and we still can't follow directions).  We even managed to think that Target sold us stools without hardware and went out and bought all the parts (Don't worry, we found them later and have a few 100 extra screws/nuts/bolts if you need them).  Later that day, we got to the last step of putting the grill together and realized that we had to take it all apart to do it the right way.  So much for grilling out for dinner that night.  We ended the night with overly salty hot dogs from Sonic (welcome to Clarksville and adulthood where you have just enough money to buy stuff from a box).  Anyhow, since I wasn't doing too much with my days when we first moved here I decided that I could waste a day away putting a bench together ten different times if I needed to.

"You know we went to Ikea, I bought a bed bench, put the bed bench together myself"

Gallery wall 

The idea for my gallery wall all started when I found this little moose head at the Depot (my favorite store in Germany).  I only really knew these were cool because my sister-in-love said faux taxidermy was all the rage this past winter.  It came unfinished, so I painted it and added a cute little pattern.  

If I can do it, you can do it!

I started with all of the picture frames that we didn't hang in our home after the move to Germany. I threw in some 4x6 frames and added a little gold paint to accent the corners.  This arrangement felt too big.    

The idea was to mirror the left side to the right...too many holes, right?

This made me feel better, but it still seemed like it would overwhelm the space on the wall, and let's be honest, do we really need three 8x10 wedding pictures on one wall?

I finally remembered to check my folder that I keep filled with old magazine pages that I tear out of ideas for home decor.  I usually do this before I recycle my old magazines.  It helps me not be a hoarder of 50,000 magazines because I like three or four ideas in them.  I know, I know, everything is digital now, but I haven't quite figured out how to just like a page on my digital version and compile them. 

How fitting that my bench came from Ikea, and I ended up modeling my gallery wall after this advertisement.

Ahhh, this look a bit better, right? The different sized frames and symmetry of the circles throughout help give it some "gel" to hold the whole arrangement together.  

Hanging 

Okay, so since I'm really bad at committing to putting 1000 holes in the hall, I decided to put some newspapers up on the wall in the same layout.  After 20 minutes of looking at it from every angle in our tiny apartment (i.e. the hallway, dining room, doorway, which are all in our living room) and sitting on the bench to see if the height was okay, I was committed.  We actually found that the newspaper made it easier to hang the photos.

Our boot tray was really doing its job that day.

Entryway accessories 

The bag that I bought from a Thirty-One party last year fits perfectly under the bench and holds winter gear, and the boot tray came from my amazing mom who bought it locally at Target and shipped it over.  Target does ship to APO, but the estimated date of arrival was two months later.  I couldn't wait that long.  I NEEDED it now, so my mom gave in to my neediness and shipped it on over within the week. Love Her!  Don't you love the copper boot tray?  The price was hard to beat and the copper really adds a hint of regal-ness.  Don't you think?  I added the gray accent rug because I'm trying to add more gray into my color scheme, and it helps bring together the drum shade light fixture located five feet away in the living room.  

All together  

So, what do you think?  Are you in love with it as much as I am?  I told my hubs every day for a week how happy I was to just look at it and thanked him for being an expert picture hanger (positive reinforcement for my next project).  I also love being able to see the smiling faces of our family members.  The fact that it's not difficult to switch out the photos with new memories every few months makes me happy too.  Although some pictures will never change like the one of all of my nieces and nephews together frozen in a moment in time.   

Final touch of Emmie dog to have my Real Simple entryway :)

DIY Drum shade light fixture

Remember when I said we had 3 "boob" lights in view from our front door?  I checked the local Ikea in town to see if they had light fixtures to replace the "boob" light, and there were a few drum lights to choose from, but I just didn't think they were fun enough.  Check them out here and here.  Honestly, I felt like I would be replacing one "boob" light for another.  
Luckily, I came across a tutorial on how to create my own drum shade for the ceiling here.   It includes a video too.  I didn't like how they used poster board to make it, so I used one of the suggestions in the comments section to make my own with quilter's plastic.  The tutorial link above also stresses it should not be used for light fixtures that use incandescent bulbs.

Here she is:

I spy with my little eye, 3 light fixtures in a 25 foot space...

I went with a gray chevron because I heard from a little birdie over at Wool and Flax that gray creates a "homier" and more mature space.  Forget Pinterest, Wool and Flax is where I get all my home decor inspiration.  I'm slowly working a few neutrals into my life, so why not start here.   Here's a brief tutorial of how I made mine: 
What you will need:

• 2 14 inch embroidery hoops
• 1 Quilter's clear plastic sheet for the sides 
• 2 Quilter's opaque plastic sheets for the diffuser panel 
• Fabric in the pattern of your choice
• Thin white fabric
• Binder clips
• Hot glue gun
• Mod Podge 
• Silver paint
• Eyelet screws
• Twine or metal hooks

I owe my Mom a huge THANK YOU for sending me a box full of supplies.  It was like Christmas over here when I opened the box!  The Arts and Crafts Center on post didn't have any 14 inch embroidery hoops in stock, and I didn't feel like searching all over town.  What would the world do without moms?  We had fun FaceTime-ing and shopping together for fabrics.

Okay here we go!

**Step 1** Cut the clear quilter's plastic in half and use binder clips to attach it to the embroidery hoops.  Then use a hot glue gun to permanently attach it and remove the binder clips as you go.  

**Step 2** Iron, cut, and hot glue gun the fabric to fit around your plastic drum shade.  Mine was the perfect length, so I didn't have to piece together the fabric around the drum shade.  When gluing the fabric you only need a small amount near the embroidery hoops.  You don't want the glue to show when the light is on.  

**Step 3** Add your eyelet screws.  You should check your light fixture to see where is the best location to put them in order to hang your drum shade.  No tools necessary, these babies screw right in the hoop. 

**Step 4** I added a silver paint here to the inner side of the embroidery hoop.  You can also add ribbon or other fabrics too!

**Step 5** Use your opaque quilter's plastic to make a diffuser panel for the bottom of the drum.  I needed to piece together two for my 14 inch drum shade.  Trace around the outside of the drum shade, so the piece you cut out fits nicely on the inner lip of the embroidery hoop. Cut it out and add a white fabric using Mod Podge.  

**Step 6** Time for hanging!    This was a bit tedious but it finally made it up there.  Make sure you leave enough space for the air to circulate and heat to dissipate.  Use metal hooks or twine to hang it.  When you finish add the diffuser panel to hide the bulbs, and you're finished!  

Here is what our living room looked like before:

**Emma - "Oh, am I in the picture again?"**

And now:

**sleepy dog**

As you can see I did this project during Christmas time, so please ignore our pitiful Charlie Brown tree. We're waiting for the lights to burn out on this 7 year old, $30 Wal-Mart tree that I bought during my graduate school days.  To add to it's sad state we accidentally stored some of our bulbs back in the states. Here's what the room looks like without Christmas decor:

I like this drum light because it will be so easy to change the fabric when I get tired of the chevron pattern.  I've also seen people use it to replace hanging light fixtures like here or cover up ceiling fan lights like here, and also cover spider lights like here.  So versatile, right?   What do you think?  Can you use one of these in your home?  Do you think it adds more character to our living room?  I'm having mixed emotions about all of the different patterns in this small space.  Eh, it will do for now.  Don't worry, I have a new craft project on the horizon to potentially replace the wall art.  

Christmas chandelier

Finally, a DIY project on the blog!  You were beginning to think I just wrote that in the "about" section as a filler.  All this traveling has left little time to do any DIY.  I feel like I spend most of my time collecting supplies around town and storing them for when I have time.  I have so many little projects waiting to be done.  Luckily this one was done within time for Christmas.  
Okay, so the horrid "boob" lighting.  Yikes!  I'm not sure if many of you have had the opportunity to live in such amazing apartments that include this lighting, so here is a picture of what they look like.  You see it's one boob not boobs.  Well, unless you hit the jackpot like us and have multiple "boob" lights in one room.  We have a full set of boobs plus one in this tiny apartment all within viewing of the living room.   Scary, right?

I searched to the end of the DIY internets and Pinterest for a chandelier project (because you know I am more of a copy cat kind of DIY'er), but couldn't find anything except the Faux Capiz shell chandelier tutorial made of wax paper to mimic the one sold at West Elm.  I contemplated it, but I think if I tried this it would actually look like I hung wax paper from the ceiling.  There is also a lot of time involved in this project, and I didn't want to be disappointed at the end of the project.  Maybe when I'm super bored you'll see me attempt it. Remember when I finally found my throw pillows that I had been looking for?  Well, the inspiration for this light fixture came from my favorite store here, Depot.  They are a lower priced Pottery Barn, and I want everything they carry!  They love hanging things from the ceiling, and their displays are super elaborate.  I love just walking around and oohing and ahing at everything.  My friend and I do it practically every Wednesday, since the shop is located so close to the market.

I found these gems there, and they were even on reduziert (our favorite German word to say), so I decided to buy them.  

The wine bottles were a bit too heavy, and I didn't want to make any holes in the ceiling for anchoring.  So, for this month I decided to add Christmas bulbs to make it look more like a chandelier.  What do you think?  

Here is a brief tutorial: What you'll need:  Branch circle found at Depot (Find anything that works for the size you need) Ornaments Ribbon  Twine Quilter's clear plastic White fabric Mod Podge (the answer to every craft project) Staple gun Hole puncher 
**Step 1** Remove your "boob" light and see what you're working with.  My light fixture has three places to attach my new structure.  I marked these on the branch circle and wrapped twine around these areas leaving a loop in the middle to attach it to the light fixture.  Along with tying the twine to the branch circle, I used the staple gun to secure it.  Make sure you allow enough space for the air to circulate and the heat to dissipate.

**Step 2** Outline the inside of the branch circle on your quilter's plastic and cut it out.  Iron your white fabric.  Then use your mod podge to adhere the fabric to one side. 

After it's dry, make holes in it using a hole puncher.  I made the holes so they would be where I attached my twine on the branch circle, and used twine to attach it to the circle.

Okay, so this is what I was left with, since the wine bottles were too heavy.  I was disappointed with my DIY project at this point, and was wishing I had done the faux capiz chandelier.  Pretty Booor-to-the-ing, right?

Insert Depot to the rescue with their creative displays here.  

**Step 3** Now take your ribbon and use the staple gun to attach it, and tie on your bulbs and whatever else you find to add to the mix.  The ribbon makes it look a lot fuller.  Depot has some to-die-for ribbon that is white and says Merry Christmas on it, so I used that along with a glitter ribbon that shimmers and twine.

Remember how it looked before.

And now (ignore dog with cone-of-shame who still wants her picture taken).

I'd say it's a success.  At least for the month of December.  Do you have any other ideas for what I can hang from it for the other 11 months of the year?