DIY Tuesday: Blue Tape Strikes Again

COMPANY IS COMING! Two of our friends are visiting soon, and I am all in a tizzy getting our house in order. I finally got the master bedroom all set (we have been sleeping in the guest bedroom until we could get a new mattress and bed) so that's a huge win. 

The guest room looks pretty good, but the only problem is the HUGE blank wall across from the bed. It's seriously like looking into a light blue abyss whenever you sleep in there. Here's the view from the edge of the bed: 

Disclaimer: I can't find batteries in our still somewhat crazy house to replace the batteries in my camera, so cell phone it is! Expect picture quality to increase soon. 

I've been going for a travel-y (totally a word) look in this room. Here's a shot of the night stand accessories.

 

See, Buddha + our limited travel book selection = travel guest room   TA-DA!! 

So, an idea (with the help of Pinterest...who would of thunk it?) was born. 

I saw this lovely pin and reflected on how many states that the husband and I have some connection to. 

Yes, I think this could work.

The pin link leads to a .gov website that has all the US maps ready to print. 

I'm slowly sneaking some typography into our house (It's not the husband's fave thing but done right I luuuurve it), so I wanted to pair the maps with a saying. I'm not into the coordinating Live-Laugh-Love accessories. We're a bit more fun-kay than that. 

Right away, I thought of this song: 

Amazing song. 'Nuf said. 

So, I typed up my (and probably a million other people's) favorite line from the song with my favorite font. I bet you can't guess what the line is going to be! 

I printed off the maps and the saying, then got cutting. Here's a progress shot: 

Once I got everything cut out, I taped on hearts that I printed and cut onto the towns that are relevant to us. Then I secured the whole thing to the wall with blue painters tape (a renter's best friend!). 

Here's the final product: 

Can I hear a womp, womp, womp? 

What was supposed to fill up and enhance a wall just ended up blending in. 

Do not panic! 

First, I thought that I would hang up a panel of fabric and put the maps and words on top. I grabbed this fabric: 

Hello Travel! I will spare you what it looked like on the wall because it was just awful.

 I knew that the color would wash out too. Not an improvement at all. 

Round 2: I pulled out some felt sheets (I have like a million) and put the maps on that. 

Dear old Wyoming looked a lot better with a dark frame around it. But, I didn't have enough brown felt! I wanted this project to cost exactly zero dollars and zero cents. Plus, I severely doubted the sticking ability of my trusty blue tape on the felt. 

They say third time's the charm, and that was true here. I remembered a stack of kraft colored paper left over from my wedding. It was great. The tape stuck and I had more than enough. Here's dear old Wyoming again: 

Much better! I went for it. 

After much sticking, unsticking, and more sticking, I was left with this: 

Love. It looks better in person (what doesn't?) as you can really see the scale that mirrors the bed and headboard across the room. I think that our guests will feel loved sleeping across from this art. The best part is you can re-arrange, add states, or rip it all down whenever you want! I'm still working on getting some of the letters to lay right. Nothing some fiddling won't take care of. 

Does it make you want to come visit? Good!