How to Make a Photo Travel Map
How was your weekend? We took a short two-day trip to our new hometown for Mike's first day in his new job, a little house shopping and getting to know our new church family. They have been such a blessing to us and we are excited to finish selling our home so that we can move. I shared our current home a few weeks ago and you got a glimpse of the living room.
One of my favorite spots in this space isn't visible in this photo. It's off to the right of our fireplace and is where we display some of our travel photos.
Prior to the birth of our little boy, we had the opportunity to travel a lot. We've been on mission trips to Africa, visited big cities across the US and then spent our "babymoon" in Europe. Of course, taking photos is a requirement when traveling, but what do you do with all those photos afterward?
Inspired by travel maps, we hung a vintage style map inside a large silver frame (eventually, we turned it into our own DIY travel map). The frame was picked up at a yard sale for less than $10 and I love all the detailing and that it has a metallic finish.
Over the years we've surrounded the frame with photos from our travels. They are primarily our favorite architectural images from the trip.
To keep them uniform, they are all edited to Black & White, with high contrast. I edit them in Photoshop, but you can use all kinds of Photo Editors to do similar functions, like PicMonkey, which is free.
They are printed on 8x10s by Canvas People. You can often get a coupon code for a free 8x10 canvas print, with the cost of shipping. I have found that shipping typically runs me around $10. So each 8x10 surrounding this map cost about $10 each.
I chose a large wall so that I could add the photos as we traveled. In other words, I didn't buy all 10 prints at once, and the arrangement has been tweaked when we've added more prints.
They are always a great conversation piece. Sometimes our friends will recognize a location, because they've visited there as well!
If you are interested, here's the roundup (from top left, counter clockwise):
- Glockenspiel Clock Tower in Munich, Germany
- Gondola in Venice, Italy
- Market Square Clock Tower in Venice, Italy
- The Bourse in Philadelpia
- The Kentucky Theatre in Lexington
- Newark Penn Station in New Jersey
- Colosseum in Rome, Italy
- Reid Murdoch Building in Chicago
- Downtown Indianapolis (building name unknown)
- Pike Place Market in Seattle
How do you display the photos from your travels?
I love this idea! I recently went with my husband on a trip to Europe and now I have to decide what to do with my pictures (besides keep them on my computer and never look at them ha). Anyway, thanks for sharing - such a good idea!
what a great idea! 🙂 it's beautiful, the black and white pictures look great against the metallic of the big frame! love the idea of putting up of pictures like this of the place you visited (starts great conversations) 🙂
wish you a beautiful weekend!
Thanks! I totally understand, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to get my photos off the computer 🙂
Thanks, Ingrid! Hope you are having a good Sunday!
Very cute. So many have a travel map but I love how you added photos around the frame. And I love, Love, LOVE your frame. Great job! Stop by my Friday's Five Features this week and link up this post (and others)! diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com
I really like that idea. It just goes to show that looks can be deceiving, however. That map must be really big because I never would have guessed that those canvases were 8"x10". In the picture they look to be 4"x6"!
That's funny, I hadn't thought about what size everything looked in the picture, but that makes sense because there isn't anything in the photo to give you reference for the size. The map is big -- I'd say close to 3'x4'. It really makes a big statement on that wall!
Thanks so much, Becca! I'll head over to link up 🙂
Thanks for linking up Lora! Love this project! Don't forget to stop back by this Friday! 🙂
I love this!! May have to try it myself... Thanks for sharing at Give Me the Goods. 🙂
Rachel @ Maison de Pax
Thanks! It's a great for us to display some photos!
Congrats! You were featured on Friday’s Five Features over on DIY Vintage Chic. Stop by and grab yourself a button!
The map is such a great idea! I'm in love with it! Come link up with me today at http://craftdictator.blogspot.com for Craft Frenzy Friday!
Thanks, Cara! So glad you like it & I'll definitely link up!
Yay! Thanks so much, Becca!