Window Shades from Vintage Maps

Here’s a straightforward salvage project.

The homeowner has a spacious apartment in a handsome, prewar building in midtown Manhattan. He admits he’d not gotten around to putting up curtains in the bedroom, and his girlfriend was complaining about the lack of privacy. Looking for something a little unconventional, he remembered his childhood classrooms with those colorful, pull-down maps that fired the imagination. Using old maps (or cool new ones) to make window shades is uncomplicated. Mostly, you need a big table or another flat work surface.