My Marvelous Map Box!!!!!

I love when something nice to look at doubles as a smart solution of some sort, like hidden storage or dual-purpose use. You know, like most everything at Ikea. Well, today I'm going to show you what I consider the most exciting addition to our home school room that I can possibly think of.

Drum roll please................

I present to you, our window cornice....

Oh but wait, you haven't seen the best part!!

This isn't an ordinary window treatment my friends..... for inside this cheery yellow chevron covered box you'll find THIS.....

Only the BEST set of pull-down maps EVER made! (Notice my enthusiastic map pointers!)


I totally embrace the fact that I am stoked about having pull-down wall maps in my home.  I'm a home school mom, and glad to be one. Though of course you know that I'm not one for having an overly-schoolish-looking-school-room. I mean, we live here. And considering my appreciation for pretty storage,  I couldn't be happier about this little innovation! I love that the maps tuck away inside a window treatment when we aren't using them.

Want to do this yourself?  You'll need:

• one sweet husband to build a window cornice box
• some batting
• fabric 
• a staple Gun 
• roller maps

My husband built the box to fit our window, then mounted the maps inside it just like you'd mount them on a wall. Then I covered the box with batting and fabric, which I stapled in place.

Admittedly we first tried attaching maps to a pull-down vinyl window shade, but that really wasn't functional. I'm so glad we went ahead and got a real set of maps. After looking at more map websites than I ever wanted to see, we decided to purchase ours from Classroom Maps A to Z which turned out to be a great choice. They're excellent quality, the best value I found, and I was even able to choose a custom combination of maps. (They'll mount up to seven maps of your choosing on one roller!)  Ours has a world political map in front, world physical map in the middle, and a US political map in back. So if you're considering getting some roller maps, check them out. And if you're considering making one on a pull-down vinyl shade... just email me and I'll talk you out of it. ;)