Many of us have rooms that serve a few purposes and I knew just what Gillian meant when she described this space: "The thing that really bothered me was that it didn't feel like a dining room, or an office or a school room. It just felt blah."
Gillian's family are spending a year in NYC and while they lucked out with enough bedrooms for everyone, this room is where they eat together, get work done and where she is going to homeschool her son. After deciding a large, vintage, pull-down map wasn't in her budget, Gillian picked up a bunch of National Geographic maps on eBay and hung them up all over the wall. It's a great solution for incorporating a traditional school element while letting it just be pretty and decorative when the space is used by the whole family.
You can see more of this room on Gillian's blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Stop by, say hello and read more about how her family is adjusting to apartment life in the big city.
(Image: Dried Figs and Wooden Spools)

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The geography nerd inside of me is sooooo happy! I love this. Collecting maps for the den :)
I love this! Now brainstorming which room in my house this might work in....
Growing up, my mom plastered the wall of a long hallway with maps. We loved hanging out there and looking at exotic places. Whenever I hear of somewhere, I still have a longing to go find it on my wall (not the internet, not on a tiny globe). When I was all pretentious at age 20, I thought she should have done it with beautiful, matching frames, rather than just taping it to the wall. Now as a mother of 2, I'm proud she just DID it without waiting for the cash and/or "perfect" frames to come along.