Right, sorry for asking such a brain hurting question. As there are so many variables. But, in a paragraph...

One of the incentives my wife waved in front of me, to get the loft done (yes, by me 50mm air gap behind joists, everything straightened out, proper Kingspan type insulation in the sides and roof, proper thick joists added etc etc etc) and even straightening out the builders shoddy work (he left all the peelings on the sides bent, so I went along and added mitred lumber to straighten em out), was a map wall. Yes, my very own maps wallpapered to the wall. Don't worry, as an ex painter and decorator I have a plan on how to make the OS leafs into wallpaper.

But, which maps do I use. If I go for (my half of) the Peak District which is the top end. Then I can't include Halifax. If I use my OL41 which includes Lancaster then it won't stretch across fully to include the full course of Way of the Roses which stretches to York/Brid areas.

The maps I have to hand are all 1 in 25k. Never made sense to me to use owt else for route building. I'm hoping having an OS wallpapered around him, will mean my little one will keep his exploration-fingers going. Using 1 in 50k manages to get me alot more footprint, but do I really want to be looking at stuff with such a massive birds-eye view!!

Another factor is to keep within my/our limits. Doesn't make sense to have Wales plastered to the wall, when we have main access to Huddersfield and Halifax/Tod etc. Decisions, decisions, decisions!! Also, a down side of using the Peaks is that (we personally) wouldn't want to venture too far in on a cold winter week. But having the other northerly areas means less chance of too much ice-stress and stuff like that.

Thoughts pls if you will... I popped a few of the 1 in25k to the wall to see how much real estate I had to play with. It's not much but will be seamless, so no odd-map areas.

Shaf, the OS do a personalised map service where you can get a map that is centred on your location (or any location really). Get one of those then extend as you see fit

This is one end of my office, photo taken just now. Custom made OS map, it's actually a tablecloth and hung in front a big Ikea kallax 5x5 unit - it's about 6ft wide. Means I can access the unit which contains some my my outdoorsy kit

That'll be ace, Shaf. I'm jealous!

I had a 1:25000 made up centred on our house but in hindsight would have preferred 1:50000 as it all feels a bit too local and all-been-ridden now when I walk past it. The problem I had with that at the time though was I'd have ended up with too much of the Irish Sea had I centred and kept the scale the same.

Hyppy wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 3:36 pm That'll be ace, Shaf. I'm jealous!

I had a 1:25000 made up centred on our house but in hindsight would have preferred 1:50000 as it all feels a bit too local and all-been-ridden now when I walk past it. The problem I had with that at the time though was I'd have ended up with too much of the Irish Sea had I centred and kept the scale the same.

Yes. This is in essence another part of my Q answered. My little one will be staring at it more than me as it's his play house/bedroom. But don't want to restrict my/his range after all this work.

Would this help?
https://wallpapered.com/products/custom-map-wallpaper

Might be rather expensive though - I've not looked...

Ooof.... looks to be about £50 per square metre!

https://www.lovemapson.com/
These seem a bit cheaper, but still spendy

PaulE wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 5:10 pm Would this help?
https://wallpapered.com/products/custom-map-wallpaper

Might be rather expensive though - I've not looked...

Ooof.... looks to be about £50 per square metre!

https://www.lovemapson.com/
These seem a bit cheaper, but still spendy

Yeah. I'll probably just sort out my own and sort the seams in between myself. Hopefully OS websit eight have something decent but otherwise it'll be fleabay.

Once I decide which maps I'm getting that is

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 6:07 pm

PaulE wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 5:10 pm Would this help?
https://wallpapered.com/products/custom-map-wallpaper

Might be rather expensive though - I've not looked...

Ooof.... looks to be about £50 per square metre!

https://www.lovemapson.com/
These seem a bit cheaper, but still spendy

Yeah. I'll probably just sort out my own and sort the seams in between myself. Hopefully OS websit eight have something decent but otherwise it'll be fleabay.

Once I decide which maps I'm getting that is

Charity shops are usually pretty good sources for old OS maps.

A related aside: I was once taking a piss at a bar in Berkeley, California where they'd wallpapered the bathroom with old maps from around the world. I looked to my left and right in front of my nose was the 1:50000 OS map covering my own village back home. Small world.

small world indeed Hyppy... What village was that Hyppy. Asking for a friend

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 6:58 pm small world indeed Hyppy... What village was that Hyppy. Asking for a friend

Ah, it was when I was stuck living down south. A place just off the Ridgeway on Landranger 174 map.

We did a small feature wall of maps in our narrow boat (so quite small!). We bought maps from charity shops and some gifted old maps, and just chose nice looking ones with variety. Lovely monochrome map of Naples and Vesuvius, Paris city map, old 50s os map, stuff like that. Once we'd decided the arrangement, had to carefully cut the blank borders off, otherwise it doesn't look as good.

Worked a treat in the end, and lots of wallpaper paste helped it survive the damp environment of the boat!

If they're any use for this, I've been given a load of OS maps, and now have duplicates of:

Landranger 98 & 118
Outdoor Leisure 26 & 27

Somehow, I've got 3 spares of 118... And the OL27 is a laminated one so probably no use...
Anything of use is yours for free

The wall of our gp surgery waiting room is the 1:50 of the area blown up really big. Looks cool. Keep.meaning to ask who did it.

PaulE wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 8:06 pm If they're any use for this, I've been given a load of OS maps, and now have duplicates of:

Landranger 98 & 118
Outdoor Leisure 26 & 27

Somehow, I've got 3 spares of 118... And the OL27 is a laminated one so probably no use...
Anything of use is yours for free

Yes please Paul. I'll take a look at what I already have and send you a PM. Thanks very much.

Al wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 8:58 pm The wall of our gp surgery waiting room is the 1:50 of the area blown up really big. Looks cool. Keep.meaning to ask who did it.

Very nice indeed.

my kitchen wall is a full collage of maps from fave tours.
lofoten, brittany, hebrides,lakes, Nym,holland and belgium.
just normal OS type maps with the border cut off, the applied with wallpaper paste. it is vaguely exciting.

You've just given me a great idea Shaff - my downstairs bedroom / office / heated bike workshop could do with wall-papering and OS maps would be brilliant!

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 10:44 pm You've just given me a great idea Shaff - my downstairs bedroom / office / heated bike workshop could do with wall-papering and OS maps would be brilliant!

Not trying to teach you how to wallpaper Phil. But to get a seamless but between adjoining maps (I would paste the wall first after sizing it, obviously) once overlapped and perfectly aligned. Use a craft knife (no4 or no3, whatever, but a surgical type blade like Swann Morton) but the one with a bellied edge. That way it won't cut through into the background and nicely slice both pieces of map.

Use a sharp edge to pin it all down before you make the cut and have a low tolerance for using a new blade. When we wanted to do this on some expensive paper to make sure the transition was excellent, we'd use a blade per, not too much cutting. Pardon my French.

Looking forward to your work of art. Tony, yes I remember your wallpaper thing mate. Pity I never had much chance to admire it properly.

Topical for me (but no use to the thread really)... A few years ago I bought a box of old OS and overseas maps with the intention of papering a wall in our sister bedroom, which at the time I was using as an office. I've finally got round to decorating that room (I've just painted the last wall this morning), but one of the main reasons for doing it is the desire to live somewhere else in the not too distant future, so I decided the map thing was wasted effort. The walls are in a pretty terrible state, so I probably should have done it!

I had to move the box of maps (and much other life detritus) out and we've downsized the wardrobe so will have to find somewhere else for it. I guess what I'm committing myself to is moving it between houses too On that basis, if anyone's keen to actually do their own, I could be tempted to part ways. It's a fairly random selection, but mostly interesting places from an outdoors PoV. I was planning to collage them semi-randomly.

I've read a few things saying that you'll never get a wrinkle-free finish just pasting actual maps on the wall. Clearly some here have done it though - how did you manage it?

I have this .... 1:25,000 defo


It's great for just studying, and getting topography ...

godivatrailrider wrote: ↑Fri May 16, 2025 8:27 am I have this .... 1:25,000 defo


It's great for just studying, and getting topography ...

Yeah. I find the 1 in 50k a bit, cumbersome and not enough detail. But the down side is that I'll not get much area on the section of wall the wife has allowed me

No complaining, honest.

redefined_cycles wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 11:06 pm

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 10:44 pm You've just given me a great idea Shaff - my downstairs bedroom / office / heated bike workshop could do with wall-papering and OS maps would be brilliant!

Not trying to teach you how to wallpaper Phil. But to get a seamless but between adjoining maps (I would paste the wall first after sizing it, obviously) once overlapped and perfectly aligned. Use a craft knife (no4 or no3, whatever, but a surgical type blade like Swann Morton) but the one with a bellied edge. That way it won't cut through into the background and nicely slice both pieces of map.

Use a sharp edge to pin it all down before you make the cut and have a low tolerance for using a new blade. When we wanted to do this on some expensive paper to make sure the transition was excellent, we'd use a blade per, not too much cutting. Pardon my French.

Looking forward to your work of art. Tony, yes I remember your wallpaper thing mate. Pity I never had much chance to admire it properly.

Good advice as my wallpapering skills are on par with my flying skills!

On the Axminster Woodworkers shop Phil, it states, 'sharp fixes everything'. That just about sums up wallpapering/painting aswell (well, and not using masking tape to create a straight edge, it's mainly for protection and you get the straight by eye and a Purdy ).

One of the best things you could do when you're ready to pop it up, ride by your local decorators merchants. They generally don't try to force-sell but always have the best tools/merch and advice. If you 'cannae' be bothered with a Swann Morton scalpel then a Tajima with snapping blades with do. Just try to keep it as horizontal to the wall as poss and snap the blades off quickly.

Looking forward your project now

When I was in Scouts back in the 80s they had a map wall of Cumbria using 1:25,000 OS maps. I was always surprised how much space it took up.

WTH. It's already started falling apart. Wife has said I can't use that wall. But the opposite one which has a light switch.

Let's see how it all pans out. I'll keep hoping!! Can't really reason with her, too strong willed Plus, the kids easily side with her. I'm only the person who brings home the bills money and does the decorating