Old Windows...They Are All the Rage...

So I am sure that any of you who have ever been on Pinterest have seen that projects involving old windows are all the rage.  People are painting them, putting pictures behind them...you name it, they are doing it.  So when my parents got new windows at their house, I knew I wanted one of the old windows for some sort of DIY project.  We have established that I can't really paint, so that was not an option for me.  I thought about doing a big picture behind it from our engagement pictures or our wedding, but I'm going to be honest...I am not a fan of big pictures involving me.  My wedding portrait is like an 8x10.  So, I decided a big no on the 'big picture' idea.  I thought about maybe a big print of Addy, but I did this project when she was still a newborn & we already had some big prints of her as a newborn.  

I thought about maybe doing fabric or scrapbook paper, but none of that really did it for me.  I have an old atlas book that I bought at a thrift store for like $1 or $2.  It has old maps of the world, different countries, different states & different cities.  The pages were almost the exact same size as a window pane so that got me thinking about using maps as my window pane DIY project.  I took out the map pages for some of our favorites cities that hold a special memory for us. I just used regular tape to tape the maps onto the back of the window. 

I picked Chicago, where I took Steve as an early wedding present.  Steve is a huge Cubs fan, but had never been to Chicago.  So about a week before we got married, I surprised him at our very last wedding shower with a packed suitcase, plane tickets & tickets to 3 Cubs games.  It was an amazing trip & we absolutely loved Chicago.  We can't wait to go back one day...especially if the Cubs can ever stop being terrible.  : )  

 I also picked Boston, where we went on our first anniversary.  Our friends didn't live there yet, but it was a city that we had always wanted to visit.  It is a beautiful city, full of history.  And I think it is probably the cleanest city we have ever visited & that is a huge plus.

 Los Angeles is where we went for a late 4th anniversary & to celebrate my best friend Rachel's wedding.  She & her now husband moved there a couple of years ago, but we hadn't been able to visit until last summer.  It was a fun trip, made even more fun by the fact that we were there with two of my lifelong best friends...and the hubby of course.  : )

I also put San Francisco in one of the panes.  We went to San Francisco & Napa & Sonoma Valleys for our honeymoon.  We thought San Francisco was just beautiful & we had a lot of fun there.  The hubby sells wine, so naturally we LOVED going to Napa & Sonoma.  Lots of wine is a big plus for us when we are picking a location.  : )  Big tip on visiting wineries...find someone who works for a wine company before you go & take them with you or just take one of their business cards to drop.  ; )  The hubby loves talking about wine, so this was perfect for him & we didn't have to pay for any tasting, which saved us so much money.  

 We got engaged in Central Park in New York City, so I knew I wanted to include it on the window pane.  Because Manhattan is so big & I definitely wanted the map to include Central Park, the NYC map actually took up two window panes.  I put them in the middle & all the others on the sides.

 Here is the finished project.  I didn't clean the window at all.  I liked the old, dirty look.  I also left on the hardware.  To hang it, we just added brackets to the back & hung it on screws we put into the wall.  We made sure to put it on studs, since the window is kinda heavy.

 I really loved this DIY project because it looks pretty neat & lots of people ask about it when they come to our house.  I also loved that it is a way to remember all of our wonderful memories from the trips we have been on.  I loved the way the old atlas book had faded pages & really had that old world look.  The other maps in there are great too.  As you will see in the next post, I used an old world map at my "Boy Meets World" Sip & See party.  If you ever come across an old book with maps, I highly suggest buying it (assuming it's cheap of course, haha), because there are tons of projects you can do with the old maps.

 So if you come across an old window & you can paint a beautiful scene or picture or something, rock it.  If you have beautiful big pictures to use behind the window pane, go for it.  But if none of those work for you, think about using maps from special places you have visited.  It's a nice little trip down memory lane when you are eating your breakfast in the morning.  : )