apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What is MDF? Is that what contributed the most to the cost?

Multi-Density-Fiberboard

I love the lamp in the top photo - any idea where it's from?

I wonder why it cost $450. It should have cost much less. MDF isnt that costly.

I have been planning on doing something similar with a map of Rome. I figured I could do it under $100 though. We'll see I guess . . .

it cost that much since he had someone do it, and coat it and all that. it all adds up when you're not the one doing the work.

Very nice job; I love old maps.

I did a very similar project for a guestroom 2 years ago with an antique map of Paris. I used the free computer program Posteriza (just Google and download for PC) My map image was an extremely high resolution, much higher resolution than any available on the DCvote.org Website.

I printed it on a high-end printer using letter-sized heavy card stock and "assembled" it into a map approximately 5 feet wide and 4 feet tall. I mounted my completed map on a single huge sheet of foam core that came from some large appliance packaging I had earlier saved and hidden away for a project.

My completed project looked great and just like a huge antique map and cost virtually pennies. I'll look through my photos and try to post some if I can locate them.

Another AT reader comments that it's the labor that Joe paid for and I agree, however, there is proibably a "happy medium" between doing it for pennies like I did, and $450. I would do it again, but know I would split the map image and use individual slim-line matching photo frames. It's just a personal choice.

While I really like Joes approach to this, I personally feel it's a little too commercial looking for my taste.

dcexplorer - looks like we're frequenting a lot o the same posts lately.

just finished the image transfer type way from the "bohemian art" post from earlier in the week, looks pretty good.

would love to see how your map turned out. anyway someone could obtain your paris map from you? My wife is really into french things and been over there a few times, helps that her mom was a retired french teacher... We have some various paris themes pieces around the apartment already, but always looking for some creative things to add to it.

Hey All, I submitted the project... so here are some answers to your questions regarding cost.

The prints are somewhat expensize for the large size at $14 each. the majority of the cost was from the MDF mounting/coating. Each panel is basically a 5 sided box (with the back open) assembled out of .5" MDF. that means there was some signigicant cost in cutting each of the sides, assembling and then mounting the image to the front, and painting the sides black. While I could have mounted these myself to a single slab of MDF, the sides would have had that rough quality to them. Plus all the mitre work that had to be done and getting the image to mount flush with the edge required some extremely precise workmanship in getting the MDF the exact size of the print (I wanted to sacrifice as little of the image as possible due to trimming).

Though MDF is pretty resistant to warping, it can happen. Assembling each "square" as a box gives the structure rigidity and thus makes it more resistant to warping.

Finally, the hollow-box structure allows each square to me hung perflectly flat against the wall.

I was originally quoted $750 to do the MDF construction, so knowing this I'm pretty satisfied with the total cost. Though, If i had the right tools and some experience with carpentry (and a lot more free time) then I could have saved a lot of $$ and done this dirt cheap.

The lamp is from room and board.

to jmorey -

I'm currently traveling but feel sure I still have the image somewhere on my hard drive. When I return I am happy to locate it, upload it to a location on the web and post the link.