October 30, 2009 1739 Plan de Paris Map
I'm so overly excited to share this project with all of you. A couple of years ago, JC and I were in Chicago and spotted this jinormous map of Paris on a shop wall. Designed in 1739 by Etienne Turgot, it details every single building, house, church farm and street of Paris. Overall it's about 96" by 60".
Photo of Mary Jane Russel alongside Turgot's Plan de Paris MAP (Harper's Bazaar, Oct '51)
by Louise Dahl-Wolfe. Found via Little Augury.
Image from Apartment Therapy
Each panel framed separately (as shown above), the map was one of those show-stopping pieces of decor I tend to be drawn to. Unfortunately, the price tag nor to size made the piece anything I could every hope to own and it was soon forgotten.
Image via Pigtown* Design from Southern Accents Magazine
Fast forward to this summer. We're in Chelsea shopping in this lovely all-things French home decor shop and what do they have on the wall, but THE MAP! I was instantly smitten with it again. This time, in addition to it for sale pre-framed, they also had a set of 25 folio prints available for sale. The price was still too high, but like the relentless internet shopper I am, I was lucky enough to find the same exact unframed folio set on Barnes & Nobel for under $60! With my readers discount card, I got it for $54!!
So next step is to measure all the folio pieces and order frames. I found a supplier where the frame should run about $25/each. At a total cost just shy of $700, it's still a big investment, but it's such a grand piece and we have a perfect place for it - slated just over the couch!!
Image found Little Augury via Katie Did
The more research I did into trying to find the map led me to a wonderful set of bloggers who were also smitten with it's size and possibilities. Along the way, the following people gave me countless inspiration; Pigtown Design placed it on the wall with post-it-note glue, Pat mounted it to a curved wall and The Corinthian Colunmn used a section to cover a window panel in their guest bathroom.
Stay tuned for more - once we have the map framed its definitely picture taking time!!
Reader Comments (5)
Thanks for the mention. I can't wait to see where you hang your map. You got a great buy by the way.
With the change in temperatures, all of the pieces of my map have hurled themselves off the wall. Back to another round of Post-It glue and a ladder. Since my house has just been put up for sale, I am glad I did something temporary!
If your readers are interested, I have a link to the downloadable image on my site on the sidebar.
xoxo
Thanks Meg! To all our readers, click this link to download the map yourself:
Pigtown*Design
Thanks for the mention. Yes, the framing does make it expensive, but it would probably enhance it and make more durable. Look forward to seeing what you chose.
Thanks for posting these links. I wanted to buy a Paris map wallpaper I saw in a decorating magazine, but it was hundreds of dollars. The portfolio makes it affordable. Now if I can just decide whether to use it in my tiny half-bath or decoupage it onto an old wooden armoire that otherwise has no decrative detailing.