And the winner is...

The winner for the Damn French Desserts giveaway is #47 Carrie Miller. Carrie, email me your address and the ladies at DFD will send your package.

The Sartorialist's Barber

You must watch the first 2 minutes of this documentary on The Sartorialist (just the most well known street fashion photographer and blogger) for the shots of his barber and barbershop. It's straight out of Victorian New York.



Some digging reveals that the barber shop is FSC Barber in New York. There are some more images at both the New York Times and New York Magazine.

Nominated for a Homie! (now go vote!)

Hurrah! Thank you, everyone who nominated The Steampunk Home for Apartment Therapy's "Homie" awards. We made it to the voting round!

What's next: Vote for The Steampunk Home in the final (voting) round. You have until Febuary 3rd, EST to vote.

And Thank You!

If you're visiting here for the first time due to the nomination, may I suggest some of the following posts as an introduction?

A Jules Verne Extravaganza
Doktor A's Studio Tour
Pharmacy Style
We get philosophical every once in a while, i.e. Minimalist Steampunk?
An interview with the creator of the Edison Bar

Regular readers, feel free to point out your favorite posts in the comments.

Vintage Industrial Styling

I was amused by the post on how to use vintage industrial pieces over at Decor8. They suggest 4 styles: minimalist, bright, country and natural.

I'm not sure steampunk fits into any of them. The only one that resonates with me in "country", because it is the most likely to mix traditional styles and antiques with industrial pieces. I try hard not to go too country here at the Steampunk Home, though, because it missed the decrepit and geeky aspects of steampunk.

What do you think? Do vintage industrial pieces work for you or are they becoming passe?

Giveaway: Damn French Desserts

First of all, how awesome is this Etsy shop name: Damn French Desserts.

Second, check out the exquisite paper goods theses sisters manufacture (manu: hand, facture: make) out of Madrid, Spain.

When reader Heather pointed me in their direction, I knew you would drool over this "purveyor of exquisite knick knack" as much as I did, so I contacted them to see if they'd like to do a giveaway on The Steampunk Home. Luckily for all of us, they did!

Here's what the giveaway includes (items pictured at top):

Victorian King of Hearts (poker card, bellyband and envelope)

Fragile Handle with Care (anatomical heart shaped card and envelope)

Black Embossed Envelope (sample of 1 envelope)

Victorian Skull Translucent Bellyband (sample of 1 bellyband)

Vanitree (sample of 5 cards)

Queen to the Bone (sample of 5 cards)

To win: comment on this post. I'll pick a winner from the comments at random next Monday, January 31st, post it so the winner can send me their address and the good folks at Damn French Desserts will send your prize winging it way across the ocean to you.

Map Cabinet

My husband Ben collects antique maps. Since no one would ever call us minimalists, this means we have a *lot* of maps. For years we've been browsing eBay and antique stores, looking for a map cabinet to store all of these maps in. We haven't had much luck. Nice looking wood antique ones tend to be very expensive (and often not in functional enough shape). Metal ones are a bit too modern industrial looking. Nothing is "just right."

Eight Drawer Flat File Cabinet

Recently, however, I stumbled across these two pieces and thought they might do. They are part of the "Martha Stewart Living Craft Space" collection at a site called Home Decorator's.

Three Drawer Flat File Cabinet

I worry about the "scratch resistant coating" on the top (just what does that mean???) and would like to see the quality first, but these might be an option.

How would you make them more steampunk? Paint? New hardware? (I like the idea of black paint and bin pulls with labels.)

Tin BackSplashes

One idea I considered for my kitchen was a backsplash made of tin ceiling tiles. Kevin Ritter of Timeless Kitchens pointed out Valley Tin Works makes new tin ceiling tiles that he uses in his kitchen designs.




The first image is by Timeless Kitchens so I'm guessing that Valley Tin Works did the backsplash as well.

A Favor? Nominate me for the Homies

Every year, Apartment Therapy (the grandpappy of home design blogs) sponsors a contest for the best home design blog of the year. I'm wondering, if after almost four years of posting here, if I might have enough readers to be in the running.

Besides, wouldn't it be fun to show all those minimalist modernists how the other side lives?

Here's how to do it:
1) Follow this link.
2) Register to be able to comment on Apartment Therapy.
3) Comment on the above link with the following content:
Name: The Steampunk Home
URL: http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com

I need to be in the top 6 to make it to the next round, so the more people who add a comment, the higher the likelihood I make the actual voting.

Nominating runs until January 25th at midnight EST.

Thank you!

The Fantastic Barnum's Dream

One of the things to love about steampunk is just how "fantastic" it is, in the original sense of the word. Here's a truly fantastic piece called Barnum's Dream by Ed Ross.


Only in our fantasy worlds can we populate a ship with black powder, steam, and laser artillery, no?

Read all about it here.

Goodies from One King's Lane

If you're not shopped out from Christmas, One King's Lane (another of those "registered users only 3 day sales" places) has a surprising number of cool things right now (ending Friday through Sunday).

Modern Alchemy Candles

Map Antiquities

Petit Coterie Pillows

Hudson Valley Lighting

Decorative Leather Books

APF Munn Mirrors

Disclaimer: I get a $25 referral if you actually buy anything...

Bedroom Inspiration

Although I'm partial to full on red Victorian bedrooms, I thought these could have a place in a steampunk home as well.

Via Pom Pom At Home.

From Anthropologie. (but get rid of that lamp!)

For the Steampunklets

I can't believe I'm recommending one of those online sale sites that specializes in *kids* stuff to y'all, but if you have steampunklets of your own you know how hard it is to find things that appeal to both them and you. (We succeed with fossils and models, but the only steampunk thing in the elder steampunklets room is a iron bed...) Take a look at what Zulily has for sale from Design Legacy (for the next 24 hours or so only, and you need an account to see it, sorry!).

The coolest storage bin, ever.

Personalized, vintage circus art, anyone?

Carnival wheel pillow.

Octopus Table

We're on an octopus roll, it seems. Valerie sent a link to this piece on DeviantArt, the most inspired piece of the octopus trend I've seen.

The creator says:
The glass tabletop sits level on top of the legs. Welding the legs to hold the glass tabletop was a very rewarding and challenging process. I've certainly improved my TIG welding skills a lot because of my work on this octopus. An interesting thing about this sculpture is that the eyes are hand blown glass. In all the table weighs about 500 lbs which means we have put about $5,000 into building it. We estimate that we put around 1500 man hours into this project. If you are curious the table is still for sale.

OctoChair...

Allison found this beautiful, sensual octopus chair...

It looks dangerous, doesn't it?

via NotCot.

Metallic Leather Dye

I'm wondering what sort of wonderful home creations you could create by modifying leather goods with Tarrago Leather Dyes. The most steampunk colors are antique silver, old gold, and copper. I could see turning thrift shopped leather skirts in throw pillows, making place mats, etc. If you were really brave and ambitious you could dye an entire chair or sofa. I think there are a lot of possibilities here!

Definitely let me know if you do anything along these lines.

Apothecary Label Hand Towels

Aren't these awesome?



Created by, free image downloads, and how-to, at Cathe Holden's Just Something I Made.

Metered Robot

Cute robot, with a voltage meter as his chest. At CB2 (only $20)

Electrical Insulators turned lighting

Great light, made from repurposed antique telegraph and electrical insulators. At Napa Style.