a DIY you probably won't try

You probably won't be itching to copy this idea; not because it didn't turn out the way I wanted, just because it's nothing something the average bear would want in their home.
It's a BART map. If you're not familiar with the Bay Area, BART is the mass transit train system here. Nick loves BART... He loves traveling on it, he knows everything about it and how it works.  He has often "admired" BART maps, and wished we could have one in our home.

The bright colors and tons of printing = not my style. So for Nick's birthday I decided to make an artistic representation of a BART map. I drew a simple map with black pen, and used a blue fine-tip pen to illustrate the water/land.

 Instead of marking every station, I stamped the ones that we frequent the most, along with the big important ones. I used rubber stamps and didn't worry too much about straight lines. I think it looks a little more whimsical that way. Maybe. 

The drawing looked a little stark when I finished so I used this inspiration from Pinterest to create a pale yellow watercolor grid over the top of the drawing:

Then I framed the picture in a huge Ikea Ribba frame (for only $20-ish!).

I hung the map over our hall console, so it's the first "art" you see when you walk into our apartment.  

And that's how we ended up with a BART map in our home... Doesn't it make you want one too?! Anyone??