Friday, July 12, 2013

Anniversary Part Deux

If you read the previous post, you know Jeff began work on opening the old fireplace as part of his anniversary gift to me. He also surprised me with a very nice dinner out, which was quite a treat, given the day we had (details below)!

So you may be wondering, what does a woman like Sarah get for the best husband on Earth who would slave away for hours in the plaster dust and mortar mess and brick debris just to please his woman? Why, she gives him the world, of course!


Again, just like the hole in the wall, I do mean, quite literally, the world. It's a 9 1/2 by 6 foot detailed map mural of everyone's favorite planet, produced by none other than National Geographic!

I wish I could say I surprised Jeff with it, but given that it comes in three giant panels and hangs like unpasted wallpaper, it was definitely a two person job. So I prepped, primed, and painted the wall Sunday evening, and on Monday, twelve years to the day we married, we joined forces to mold the world onto the vertical plane that is our upstairs hallway.

Before:
 photo 43Upstairshallway.jpg

During:
 photo 2013-7-10055.jpg

While I'm wishing, I wish I could say the project was smooth sailing. And it might have been, were it not for the thermostat right off the coast of Spain that was going to be obscuring much of Western Europe. So we decided to move the thermostat and neglected to turn off the proper breaker while fishing the low voltage wires to another location. So the air handler fuse shorted out and left us without air conditioning for several hours on a humid 87 degree day while Jeff scrambled around in the tiny attic, located the fuse, drove to get a replacement, and got it all put back together.

So only one-third of the world went up on Monday (since we had to get cleaned up and ready for our fancy anniversary dinner), but the remainder was completed Tuesday. Then we stood for a long while admiring and marveling over our amazing planet and it's countries, names, geological formation, bodies of water, and other fascinating features. We shall strive to spend our thirteenth year together more informed on social studies and geography!

Before:
 photo MGmanual024.jpg

After:
 photo 60f255fd-2da2-4361-a04f-12fd6a08e45b.jpg
(As you can see, the thermostat now floats happily in the middle of the North Atlantic!)

6 comments:

  1. It's always the little things that cause the most trouble, isn't it?

    The map looks very, very nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the map. What an awesome idea!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes Christina, definitely! I sometimes fantasize about a brand new house in which everything is plumb and square and installed just as it should be, and then I realize that is an unrealistic dream, too!

    Thanks Fleda. We are really enjoying it. Jeff keeps humming "We've got the whoole world...on our wall" to the tune of "He's got the whole world in His hands" as he prowls around the upstairs!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sarah, where did you get the map? Is it a decal? It's beautiful! I'd love to have one of those on the open wall in our schoolroom.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christy, the map is from National Geographic. We love it and get lots of compliments on it in person, too. I think a large map would be great for a homeschooling room. The only caveat is that this particular map is three giant wallpaper sheets that are unpasted. If you're experienced with pasting, hanging, and trimming wallpaper (and you have a willing helper), it's very doable, though.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey! What an awesome idea! I LOVE this! And, happy very belated anniversary by the way! Who doesn't like to get well-wishes 4 months later! lol. I'd have to ditto Christy- this would look awesome in a school room!!

    ReplyDelete