Last summer I found a fab map of the ocean from 1984 that shows how to navigate the Atlantic locally between New Jersey, Delaware & Maryland. Since I am not captaining a boat any time soon, I decided naturally it would look best framed at the beach house.
The bright map was destined for one of the bedrooms. The aqua of course is lovely and would make a nice addition to the master bedroom but the yellow plays into the nautical palette of red, blue and yellow in the guest room. It was a tough decision but it is now in the guest room. It helps as we need a few pops of color in there.
Here’s my assistant debuting the newly framed map…
After I allowed this map to sit around for months, Ryan took over and built a custom frame with scrap wood. We like to build frames here at Circa Dee if you haven’t noticed. The map is a unique size not found in retail frames. I think it was 22×24 inches so it had to be custom.
Ryan had the brilliant idea of using plexiglass on both sides of the map so that you can see the interesting details on the back about navigating the sea such as mileage and where stuff has sunk and stuff like that. Can you tell I don’t know anything about navigating the sea?
Ryan, please show us the back. Thank you.
Getting plexiglass cut is much quicker than getting regular glass cut. You can get plexiglass cut at your local hardware store on the spot. In my experience, it can take up to a week to get glass custom cut. However, glass is about half the price of plexiglass. You weigh the differences.
He secured the plexiglass in with Glazier’s points. I never knew what those little pointy things were called until now. And they’re brilliant. They come in a pack of 50 for a couple of bucks. Perfect for framing projects. You can also sneak a peek at some of the “stuff” on the back of the map.
Ryan totally owned this project. He painted the frame in “Butterfly” yellow which we got for free at the Ace Clark + Kensington paint promo on Saturday. Seriously, we go to Ace a whole heck of a lot. They know us there and even let us bring Wilson in.
So after 6 months of me doing nothing with this old map, Ryan swooped in and gave it a new home which I totally love…even if I have no idea how to read it…hopefully our guests will…and will come with a boat to take us out on!
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Circa Dee 
Love the bright colors in the map and the plexi on both sides was a stroke of genius by Ryan! Can I borrow him sometime? I have a ton of framing he could do!
I think this type of map is called a navigational chart.
What a great assistant-I love the plexiglass on both sides. Looks great!
I love how this turned out and the map is really pretty. Such great coloring.
I love vintage maps. It was so smart to use the plexiglass on both sides. I have some odd sized pieces that I need frames for…I need to check into how you made your frames. It can’t be too hard, can it?
Not really. You just need a miter box & saw to cut the angles. You need pretty precise measurements so the corners line up.
I have several maps from my travels, and I usually end up pinning them to the wall with thumbtacks…this would look much better (albeit *classier*) LOL. Not to mention, the plexiglass would def be more cost effective! Great idea, thanks for sharing:)