It doesn’t matter if you’re someone well-traveled, a person with a bad case of unresolved wanderlust, or are simply a fan of keeping your house beautiful and interesting; using maps as wall art is a great way to go when you’re bitten by the redecorating bug. 

First off, maps are an easy, excellent way to fill up any uninspired blank space on your walls since you can often find large pieces for a relatively affordable price, both framed and left as is. However, they’re more than just a basic placeholder to ensure a room doesn’t look empty. 

Wall maps are made to be visually appealing, and you can tell. Often filled with vibrant color, aesthetically pleasing layout choices, and cool fonts, these visual representations can add a pop of something special to any room. Offices do make an excellent choice, though, as choices like world maps complement the cool yet professional vibe most of us try to inject into these working spaces.

However, not all people are looking for the same thing when decking out a room in new wall art. Perhaps you’re looking for something a little more subtle or want something that skews a little more modern than oft vintage-styled world maps can offer. Either way, if these maps aren’t entirely cutting it for you, opting for a cool city print makes for a fantastic alternative. 

Unlike world maps, our city prints are explicitly made to resemble modern wall art while also representing the places nearest and dearest to your heart, making it a perfect décor piece for minimalistic living rooms, contemporary bedrooms, sleek kitchens, and beyond. Pick where you want them, put them up, and they’ll instantly make an impression.

We love wall art. Just a couple well-thought-out pieces here and there can completely transform a room and leave it a million percent nicer than it was before. But that’s not the only way to use maps in decorating, nor is it the most original. There are so many other options out there. One of our personal favorites, though? Using maps to customize your furniture!

That may sound strange to those who haven’t given it a go, although you’ll be amazed at how great it can be once you try it. It can be as simple or as involved as you want it to be (ideal for both DIY experts and non-crafty people alike), but it can make a huge impact depending on what you choose to decorate. 

One of our awesome customers and small business owner shared a picture of her newest piece on the right.
And that’s the especially great thing about this décor idea – it’s flexible. Truly want to make a big impact and use a map you love as a major focal point? You can choose to alter a larger piece of furniture or simply choose something that’s front and center at all times.

Headboards, bookcases, full dressers, and even doors are just a few ideas that can get you started. Interested instead in altering something smaller to become a hint of cute and quirky? You can do that as well. Small nightstands, end table/dresser drawers, and chair seats then might be more your speed.

Wherever you find inspiration, you can rest assured that it’ll turn out looking amazing without requiring too much skill or effort. All you really need to do is buy a map, acquire some material-appropriate adhesive (Mod Podge works well for most projects), and pull out your creativity and patience.

For bigger furniture customization jobs, we’d recommend using a map that’s slightly more toned-down and classic like one of our nautical charts for best results. Decided on a smaller project? You have a little bit more freedom to get crazy with colors and print detail. Feel free to play around and see what jumps out at you.

Covering some of your favorite furniture pieces with maps is a quick way to show off a sense of style and love of geography in one fell swoop. But it also happens to involve a decent amount of commitment.

After all, the decorating tactic means you’ll be permanently altering something clearly on display. You can’t just take off your map whenever you feel like it, thanks to the nature of adhesives. For some people, that can be a bit of a turn-off. Count yourself among this crowd? You’re in luck because there is one other way to use maps as a piece of room décor: make accessories out of them!

The sky’s pretty much the limit with this one. Nearly any kind of small detail of a room can be jazzed up by making use of a good map print. Coasters, succulent pots, small wooden signs, decorative vases, storage crates/bins, and key holders make brilliant places to start. They’ll make for quick alterations and do a considerable amount of figurative heavy lifting when it comes to style. Choose to decorate with a relief map, and this is even more notable because of its extra added texture!

There’s a bonus to using these small room details and accessories beyond their subtle aesthetics, though. Their size makes them plenty easy to replace, too, should you not be as happy with your design as you’d expected or accidentally messed up when applying your map. And please, do expect the latter of these to happen at least once.

It takes a certain knack to get this down, especially for those of us who would probably get a D for any DIY project under our lead. Even using slightly too much glue or applying your map slightly crooked can lead to disastrous results. So, take your time and be careful, but don’t be surprised if you need to start over. Remember: practice makes perfect. Keep it up, and you’ll get there, creating a one-of-a-kind piece that’ll transform any room into something extra special.