Wall Maps

When we refurbished our 3 bed holiday cottage by the beach, we planned to keep all the walls plain white mainly for practical reasons.

We wanted to reflect the natural light from the sea and give the place a clean and bright feel. All good practical ideas, but maybe a little dull?

We set out to find interesting, durable and cost effective wall hangings to spice up the walls.

We opted for framed maps which work for many reasons. They are relatively cheap and let’s face it, we all love looking at maps.

We opted for two; a custom made OS map for the walkers and a nautical map of the area for the old sea dog.

There are many options available at various price points.

Ordnance Survey Maps: With an option to put your property in the centre of the map.

Nautical charts: Perfect for places close to the coast and available new for around £20 per map. For those on a budget, older maps are available from secondhand bookshops, antique shops or online platforms like eBay and Facebook Marketplace.

Historical maps: Available on ebay E.g. navigational charts, transport maps, WWII maps and more. Popular historical maps include the old London Tube maps - these are often expensive and considered collectables.

The Great Bear: A London tube map created in 1992, but in place of stations, the artist lists famous scientists, philosophers, explorers, comedians and more. Each Route represents one of the different groups of people. It’s fascinating to see and has sparked many copycat versions.

Top Tips:

1. Try and buy rolled maps over folded to avoid visible creases

2. Frames can often cost more than the map, so try and pick a map that could fit in a frame you already own or will cover the whole surface. A list of standard frame sizes can be found online

3. Choose maps relevant to your local area or business. E.g. historical maps of how your village used to look or old transport maps for city based businesses.

If you want something truly unique, our partner Love Maps offers a full range of maps in various different mediums; from framed maps and canveses to ceramic tiles and made to measure wallpaper. Present Day OS and Vintage OS maps. But it's not all UK, Love Maps also supply the Tube Map, Nautical Charts and many different World Maps. For more info and to order, go to lovemapson.com