DIY Vintage Pull-Down Map

The entire time I was putting together this happy little office craft, I was singing Dora the Explorer’s map song in my head. If you have little ones in your life, you know which one I’m talking about.

Is it stuck in your head now too? You’re welcome. 😉

We’ve already made super fast headway on the office makeover already! And for so long, I was envisioning a beautiful authentic vintage pull-down world map in the perfect neutral colors. But then reality hit. In my search for the oh-so-perfect one I discovered those babies are a pretty penny. Too pretty for my pockets.

So on to Plan B!

If you want to make one for yourself, I’ll tell ya it is SOOOO easy! And this one is $100-200 cheaper than the real deal.

Supplies used: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience. For more information, see my full disclosure here.)

• 1 map poster in the size of your choosing  (This poster is the one I used.)
• 2 – 1″ wooden dowels cut to length equal to the width of your poster (Mine was 48″)
• Wood stain (optional if you want the dowels a different color)
• Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
• Power drill/driver
• 2 – D-ring picture hangers
• Twine or sturdy string
• Nail or screw for hanging

To attach the wooden dowel rods, I rolled the map out on a flat surface first and taped it down in a couple places to keep it from rolling up. On the bottom edge of the map, I lined up a dowel to the edge of the paper and rolled the dowel away about an inch, still keeping it lined up.

Working as quickly as possible, I applied a line of hot glue along the entire map’s edge, rolled the dowel on top of the hot glue, and pressed for a minute until the glue cooled. Then did the same for the top edge of the map. (This whole thing is probably self-explanatory but just roll with it.)

For the dowel at the top of the map, I pre-drilled a hole in the very center on each end to screw in a D-ring hanger on each side.

Then, just string a piece of twine the same length as the dowel through the D-rings and knot it, place your screw into the wall where you want the map to hang, and show off your “vintage” pull-down map. Yay!

Our office is already looking quite worldly. (Get it? I’m sorry. I really can’t help it.)

We might eventually put a cork board behind the map so that we can place push-pins on the states/countries that we’ve visited.

I’m so happy how it turned out! I think our $9 thrift store typewriter finally has a permanent spot in front of it. My jewelry box turned office supply organizer and DIY Restoration Hardware books fit right in too. They’re all best buddies together.

How do you think the office progress is coming along so far? Are you DYING to see what our industrial shelves look like?! Okay, it’s probably more like I’m dying to show them to y’all.

I have all of the details about those coming up on Remodelaholic in a month or two, but I’m sure you guys will see them here on the blog before then.

And just for fun, since we’re getting all map happy here, where in the world are you from? No seriously, where in the world? In case I’ve never mentioned it before, we’re almost literally straddling the state line of North Carolina and South Carolina, where currently the weather can’t make up its mind. (Take a hint, winter.)

UPDATE: If you want to check out the rest of the projects in our office, you can find all the links below:

• Office Before Shots and Makeover Mood Board
• DIY RH Inspired French Mute Books
• Industrial Shelving
• Faux Zinc Safe Makeover
• Easy Office Sign

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