I’m baa-aaack! I actually didn’t tell you guys I was going anywhere – can’t have you robbing my house – but now I can tell you that I recently spent 10 days at my favorite place in the world: our family’s cottage on Cape Cod.
We swam, soaked up the sun, ran with the ocean breeze at our backs, and ate. Oh, man, did we eat – oysters fresh off the beach, giant lobsters, chunky clam chowder … all the wonderful seafood that just isn’t the same in Atlanta. I would like to go back – right now.
Sadly, it’s back to reality for this slightly-sunburned girl. We did come back with a few mementos, though. Brad was beyond excited to visit a store he had found online months before: Maps of Antiquity in Chatham. He’s been dying to get his hands on an old map, so this place was heaven.
It was tough to control ourselves – this place had everything! – but we managed to leave with just five maps. (That’s restraint. We wanted nine.) Brad found two original maps of his hometown (Danbury, Connecticut) from 1867.
I didn’t come across any from my tiny hometown, but I just had to get a few Cape Cod maps. This one is a hand-painted reproduction of a map from 1880. Wellfleet is the town where our cottage is, and I just love it there.
The purpose of visiting the store was to get our hands on some old maps, but I just couldn’t resist these two newer ones I found.
I’m a big doofy kid at heart, so I get totally giddy about things like pirates and ghosts. I thought these were so cool. They’re hand-painted, so they’re one-of-a-kind!
We’re going to get all five maps framed professionally so that they’re protected from the elements. (Does anyone know of a good framer in the Atlanta area?) We don’t have specific plans for the first three, but we’re hoping to hang the last two above our couch. The question is: what kind of framing job do we want? The owners of the shop recommended we frame them without mats, which makes sense, since they all have their own borders. But I’m kind of a mat girl, so I’m struggling with that. And then, what kind of frame?! In my heart of hearts, of course, I want simple gold frames (similar to the one Earl the Octopus lives in). But custom framing isn’t cheap, and I’m terrified that gold will go out of style or I’ll get sick of it. With that in mind, I’d usually go with white. But I’m not sure if that would clash with the off-white paper that the maps are on. I’m hoping the framer can help us out, because I’m totally lost.
In the meantime, I’ve been collecting inspiration photos.
Via BHG
Via Elle Decor
Timothy Whealon Interiors via Crush Party
Via Pinterest (Can anyone help me source this one?)
What do you think? How would you frame our new/old maps?
