When we started this little venture, we had a small stack of maps that lived happily under Omar’s couch. As we made new things, we knew we’d need to find a better way to store our maps before we send them off to their new homes.

Metal flat files are heavy, expensive, and usually pretty ugly. So, we designed this modular solution using stuff you can find at your local hardware store. It’s easy to build, inexpensive, and totally customizable.

You can download the basic instructions right here! And here are a few building tips you won’t find in the PDF:

– Make precise cuts! It’s really important that the width of each shelf is exactly the same. Otherwise, you’ll have lots of trouble when you try to stack the units. Trust us! ;)

– Watch the width of your shelves! Ours are 48″ wide and they bow a bit when they’re stacked full of maps… even with 3/4″ MDF. Narrower shelves don’t bow as much.

– If you’re making a smaller shelf or storing lighter things, you can probably get away with using thinner MDF or plywood. If you’re making a wider shelf, use 1/2″ or 3/4″. Hold out a sheet in the store to get an idea of how much it might bow when fully loaded.

– You can cut some extra rails and use them as dividers, or to provide extra stability to lower shelves. After we added extra rails, our shelves hardly bow at all.

– Experiment with materials and finishes! We built ours out of MDF and poplar, leaving the materials in their raw states. But, as you can imagine, the options are endless! Paint it, stain it… just make sure you test your finishes on scrap pieces before applying to the whole thing.

Let us know if you have questions or run into any problems. If you end up building your own flat file, make sure to send us a picture when you’re finished!

Happy building!

—j + o

We love Google Analytics. It teaches us lots of things about the lovely people who visit our little corner of the internets. While only 2% of our visitors find us through a web search, the search keywords section always brings us the most lols. So now, we’re sharing them with you!

So, yeah, this is our top ten. Clearly, we’ve found our niche… and it’s not maps.

Smart shoppers! Right now, we only give out discount codes if the postal service massively screws up your order. We’re crafting a pretty sweet deal for our upcoming fall shows, though, so stay tuned!

YES! So happy that we are connected to this.

I suppose we fit this description…

This person really, REALLY wants 10% off. I admire you, anonymous bargain shopper, for I am the exact same way. But I always give up and buy the thing at full price.

If you want a cheap Haters shirt you have plenty of options. Like this, this, or even this. (We’re partial to that last one.) Take your pick!

Once again, let’s talk about how we started this venture to make maps.

Not that it matters at this point.

Okay, we get it, you love him! Also, check out how many different ways you can say “haters gonna hate!” Put your own spin on it!

Close enough!

Not sure we can help you there…

Ummm… us, definitely!

I think you’ve already found them.

Dang, so specific! To answer your question, the latest edition of the shirt fits like any other American Apparel unisex t-shirt. It’s pretty true to size, but definitely a little slimmer cut than your average Hanes Beefy Tee. It might shrink a tiny bit since it’s 100% organic cotton.

And, finally, one last bargain hunter.

Keep searching, people of the internet! You (and Google) make our Friday afternoons go by a little faster.

—j + o

Kid-friendly design blog Ohdeedoh featured all four of our modern world maps this week. Pretty sweet! Thanks for the awesome writeup!

—j + o

We’ve been getting a few questions about the Love Mankind wall decal that’s featured in our apartment tour. It’s inspired by graffiti seen in an episode of Star Trek. O cut it out of matte exhibition vinyl. This is a lovely material because it looks like paint on the wall instead of a glossy sticker. And, amazingly, he did it all on his 12″ vinyl cutter. So, each letter was cut out individually and then placed by hand. Crazy.

These decals might make an appearance in our shop at some point… just as soon as we iron out the logistics of making them. It’ll probably end up being a made-to-order sort of thing, since they are pretty time consuming to produce. O’s already made some smaller versions, so we might put those up first. We’ll see!

—j + o

Just packing up a few maps to ship out today. Now, off to the post!

—j + o

Comments are pouring in over at our Design*Sponge Sneak Peek! We’re so glad that you guys like our little apartment and have found inspiration in it. We hope our place is proof that it’s 100% possible to have a sweet space as a renter on a pretty limited budget.

But, more importantly, it seems like everyone enjoyed William and his fabulous website. So, fans of Will, here’s a glamour shot for you to enjoy!

—j + o

Here’s the big reveal! Check out the full tour of our place on Design*Sponge today. Little William even gets a shoutout! (Sorry Dillox, maybe next time.) It feels so good to have this huge project behind us. Now we can just settle in and enjoy it!

—j + o

You can frame him, you can wear him, and now you can easily adhere him to every surface you come across! We made some Haters Gonna Hate stickers and they’re up in the shop right now. Stick away!

—j + o

We just picked up a giant stack of prints from Allison, which means two things:

1. Haters Gonna Hate prints are back in stock… hooray!
2. O needs to start painting!

—j + o

Yesterday, we finally finished up the millionth re-shoot of our apartment pictures… and on Monday, we’ll finally be able to share the results! Both of us go a little nuts if our living/working space isn’t in perfect order, so this is a big deal. We still have things to get rid of, or sell, or organize… but we’re 95% done, and that’s good enough for now.

This weekend, we’re moving on to more pressing matters. Like these city maps. In the next week, we are trying to finish all 12 (!) of them. Yes, this might be impossible. But we have fall shows coming up and there’s just not any time left to sit around and think about it. Time to get it done.

Oh, and we have good news for Haters fans! We’ll be picking up the second edition of the Haters Gonna Hate letterpress print tomorrow morning. Assuming O can paint through the weekend, they’ll be back in the shop early next week… along with a secret mystery item!

—j + o