I love the map I’ve put together to mark the birth and death places of my ancestors. Back in October, I blogged about the strategy I put into place on what to pin and how I make the pin flags. I pinned as far back as great grandparents before I hung the map, and that’s where I ran into a snag. I had been using a fabric-covered Homasote bulletin board that I had just pinned the map to. But when I rearranged my office and went to hang the map on the wall, I realized that the old bulletin board was so bowed it wasn’t going to hang well.
So I put a lot of energy (probably too much) into figuring out how to have an attractive, pinnable map hanging on my wall, and here’s what I came up with:
- I purchased a sheet of 1/4″ thick cork board
- I purchased a put-it-together-yourself metal frame kit
- I purchased a piece of foam core
- And of course, I already had a large map of the U.S.
My husband, Barry, who in a prior life worked in a frame shop, helped me assemble the frame (well, he did it for me). I took all the pins out of the map and took it off the old board. Barry layered the map on top of the cork board on top of the foam core and slid them into the frame. Naturally, there’s no glass covering the frame. I then had the pleasure of repinning all the pins!
The result (pictured above) is attractive, I think. And very functional. I haven’t taken the time to add more pins (though I want to!), but even just with my parents, grandparents and great grandparents pinned, it’s such a treat to glance up and see where my roots lie. (That would be in Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, and Washington…and one outlier in California.)
I’m not a big DIYer, but this was one project that was not difficult for me. And I’m very pleased with the result!
I love this so much! I’ve now got a world map up in the hallway, although I think I might have to use sticky flags instead of pins. I’ll be adding the state map in a month or so. Thank you SO much for the idea!
You are so welcome, Wendy! Let me know whether the sticky flags allow for enough precision. My family is clustered together in the same towns, so I was glad to have pins for the individuals. But that may be more precision than is necessary. Enjoy!
This is a good idea. I recently put a few European maps (Sweden, Germany, and Czech Rep.) into old Ikea frames with the plan to mark my ancestors’ birthplaces. The way I did it does not look as nice as I had hoped (I’m not a DIYer either). This is a great method and I’m looking forward to identifying those ancestral villages. Now that I think of it, maybe I can get my husband to lend a hand, especially if I do a map of his family roots as well!
Enjoy your map, Linda! It is a fun way to view your ancestors.