Some Midwest Guy linked to me (thanks!) and commented that he always looked forward to map inserts from National Geographic.

I do too (no surprise) but for a different reason than most.

(Cheap decorating tip to follow)

I live in a house from the 1920s that had some rather bad "do it yourself" work done to it in the post war era. Walls that were put up in that era are made of some strange product that is something between cardboard and particleboard. Unfortunately I did not discover that fact until after I had stripped 3 layers of wallpaper from the second floor hallway. I had planned to paint the walls but their texture and general crappyness meant that I was forced to paper the walls.

I did not want to use traditional wallpaper so… I papered the walls with National Geographic maps! They had multiplied in a drawer for too long – it was time for them to shine.

The hallway looks very cool if I do say so myself. It is nice to be able to look at the walls and learn at any given moment.

My friends and family all laughed at the hallway when they first saw it – my brother proclaimed that I was finally over the edge. However, on more than one occasion we have trooped up the stair in the middle of a debate to prove our points with the maps.

Maps are beautiful pieces of functional art – don't hide them away in a book or roll them up and put them away - enjoy them!