I believe that Steampunk is more than just brass and watchparts. It's finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetic pleasing yet still punkish way. It's living a life that looks old-fashioned, yet speaks to the future. It's taking the detritus of our modern technological society and remaking it into useful things. Join me as I search for items for my house that combine the scientific romanticism of the Victorians with our real present and imagined future.
Josie sent me this image from Cote de Texas, commenting that using light colors was easier for renters and husbands... Me, I immediately focused on the bust -- I'm not sure what it is about busts (perhaps the pretentious classical education references?), but they are immensely appealing right now.
And here's my interpretation -- a slightly shabby thrift store find, painted black (I like that it keeps it from being too pretentious), combined with brass and gold pieces:
Embarrassingly, I have no idea who my bust is of.
Too classical for you? You can always top a bust with your favorite pair of goggles or a bowler to tweak it up.
Remember Amanda's living room? The one I brainstormed a "makeover" of? Well, Amanda's finished it now (as much as any room is every done), and she has done an incredible job.
Here's what it looked like "before" And here's some "afters"
One of the best things she did -- I don't think I would have been this brave -- was to paint the floors. Dark. Before:
After: Such a big, dramatic change.
Good job, Amanda! If you want to find out more, she has a lot of posts about the process -- including her very tight budget -- here.
Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum -- also known as ModVic -- have not only created the most steampunked house ever, they are also opening it up for tours as part of the Sharon, Massachusetts Old House Tour on May 2nd.
The stove is modernized with a drop-in Miele stovetop!
The office
The Media Room -- I love the stained glass windows as wall art and the muted browns and greens.
The workroom (yes, there's a workroom & an office!)
ModVic is also sponsoring a Steapunk Form and Function Design Competition, with entrants exhibited at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation in Waltham MA from October 22, 2010 to May 10, 2011. Pretty neat!
Eva posted a link to pictures of her living room in the comments to Decorating the Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, and I thought you all might be interested in seeing what she's done.
Apothecary jars + apothecary style media cabinet -- it's obvious when someone else does it, isn't it?
I love the fern leaf taking up the length of the shorter apothecary jar.
My husban Ben has been wanting an old typewriter -- Eva found this one for $15 at a junk store! She's planning on filling the jars with old keys and gears.
Very Victorian style botanical prints.
My take-aways: Apothecary jars are key to the "Victorian Naturalist Laboratory" look. (And there have been so many in stores over the last couple of years they are starting to show up in thrift stores -- I scored a smaller pedestal one just yesterday.) Uncluttered is good (a constant tension in steampunk decor). I do think the room would benefit from a bit more organized clutter on the walls -- maybe some Haeckel prints to play up the unsweet side of our naturalist?
See her whole set of pictures, including before and afters, here.
If you've been wondering how to build a room around the Artforms of Nature prints I posted a while back, here's two good examples from decorator S.R. Gambrel.
The unidentified botanical prints in the living room above make for a surprisingly modern and colorful space.
I want to use a lot of the Artforms of Nature prints in our new office... neither of these is quite what I'm going for, however. Anyone else have any images or inspiration for a good Victorian naturalist laboratory (that's pronounced "la-bohr-a-tory") look?
Roman and Williams (previously featured in the post on the Practical Magic House) are so incredible I may have to do a series of posts of them. Here's some shots from a project called 211 Elizabeth -- a built from the ground up set of brownstone condos in Nolita.
A dramatic wall of 9 foot high glass doors—with true divided lights and transoms—intersects the living room and dining room. Every living room has a large wood-burning fireplace. The floors are walnut herringbone parquet, and the baseboards, casings, windows and doors are trimmed in Roman & Williams’ favorite high gloss black oil paint by Fine Paints of Europe.
Although transom lights and herringbone parquet may be more than you can swing for your house, high gloss black paint on the trim is an easy update. (I'm using this approach in my addition -- we'll see how it looks....)
...vanities are painted a high gloss cream and feature double mirrors, double sinks and patinated brass fixtures. Walls, floors, and vanity tops are fashioned from slabs of Calacatta Gold marble detailed by acorn topped brass headbolts.
This is a lot of marble, but white vanities topped with marble are easily found. Antiqued brass fixtures aren't common yet, but I found a couple of options through the big box retailer's special order programs for my bathrooms.
...all shelves with glass fronts are framed in walnut and painted by hand with high gloss black oil paint. Counters are rendered in Danish oiled wood.
I don't actually like these cabinets, but check out the floors. Walnut herringbone! Gorgeous. And the squared off lighting adds another geometric touch.
These are just renderings, but I'd love to see some real life pictures of these homes.
Tammy was so kind to share some pics of her not-just-steampunk but The Steampunk Home inspired living room.
I ended up getting the coffee table from Sundance based on your kaboodle list. We're sort of going for steampunk in a temp. rental so we haven't painted the walls. I got the skull pillows from etsy, they are burlap and really comfortable. Had the rug and the pictures on the wall are framed vintage Tango sheet music covers from Buenos Aires. The lamp is another Sundance purchase, although I sort of wish that we had look for a 'real' antique. Couch is Restoration Hardware.
Good job, Tammy! I love the bits of red in the rug and the couch. The whole room has a bit of an airship pirate vibe to it -- the skull and crossbones pillows, the striped pillow, the steamer trunk (but in metal, nothing too old fashioned for airships, y'know), and the spotlight for highlighting whatever-it-is-you-chase as an airship pirate.
Have you seen the Showtime House? Sponsored by Metropolitan Home, each room was designed with a different Showtime TV show in mind.
The most steampunk is The Tudors Living Room. The era isn't Victorian, but it has a lot of design elements in common with steampunk -- antiques, brass surrounding the fireplace, and industrial inspired lighting.
The Dexter Dining Room is not at all steampunk, but is incredibly creative and over the top, in a very macabre way.
Reader Natália and I are both fans of Desire To Inspire. (In fact, this is my 2nd find from them this month! Oops!) DTI recently spotlighted Australian designer Thomas Hamel.
This is a designer who loves books --I think this is the only bedroom I've seen with glass fronted bookshelves in it. I love the medieval map (Ben guessed Canterbury) set into the wall and framed with molding.
I'm not sure what the framed print is here (anyone else?), but you could have fun Photoshopping an old Scientific American print to get a similar affect.
I love the symmetry here -- the bookcase is centered at the end of a long hall, with the light extending the vertical line -- and the touches of the exotic in the Chinese seat and wicker chest under the window.
Someone pointed that I had been remiss in my Halloween posts this year, especially compared to last -- who could forget Steam Pumpkin -- but I did stumble across a lovely set of Gothic Victorian Party Decor on MyHomeIdeas.
I can't get enough of red velvet curtains -- but tying them back with a noose is innovative...
Modify portraits with lace masks, decorate old spools with black lace for candleholders, use tarnished silver for a bouquet...
The best use of apothecary jars I've seen -- to hold creepy crawlies...
Usually designer show houses feature rooms designed in the most traditional and unrealistic possible sense (i.e. "The Girl's Room" is always pink with ballerinas, 4 books, and 3 sets of clothes.) Not so the Philadelphia SPCA's designer show house. Atop a set of stairs in an old Victorian Mansion lies the twisted traditional (if still unrealistic) drawing room designed by the collaborative innovators of MONA.
(Play the slideshow for lots of pictures and close ups.)
M.O.N.A.'s space, The Drawing Room, re-interprets the home's lineageinto a surreal, neo-Romantic boudoir with references to 19th-centurythemes that include decorative lacemaking, silver gelatin printphotography, the industrial revolution and classic horror novels,amongst others. In order to highlight the broad capabilities of ourprofessional network, M.O.N.A. produced every single piece offurniture and the larger potion of decorative accessory for this room. Signature items include a white oak tete-at-tete, silver-leafedrocking horse/buggy, electroformed copper fireplace screen and antiquesettee with handcarved, painted wood and patent vinyl upholstery. Astrong axis of half black/half white invites further drama into thespace while likewise creating an innovative play of texture andpattern. [It's] intentionally-seasonal with its inspired lighting,achromatic scheme and Gothic influences.
The historic mansion is open for viewing seven days a week through November 9th and benefits the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
By now I'm sure you've all seen the articles on the arrival of the Difference Engine at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. What caught my eye, however, was this one bit:
The engine, built over a 3½-year period by engineers at London's Science Museum, will open May 10, and stay in the museum in Mountain View for one year -- after which it will take up residence in Myhrvold's living room.
Really? In his living room? I know Microsoft multimillionaires probably have very large living rooms, but I'm wondering exactly how you go about integrating a large, fragile computing machine into one. Make it a focal point instead of the fireplace? Use it as a room divider? Put cushions around it and make it a very large bench? I'm just a bit stymied. Perhaps when it moves to it's permanent home we'll be graced with a picture of it there as well.
However, if you'd like a bit of difference engine for your home, I recommend searching the Science and Society Picture Library for "Babbage" and they'd be happy to ship you a print or canvas of historical or modern aspects of Babbage's engine.
Remember Amanda's living room? The one I brainstormed a "makeover" of? Well, Amanda's finished it now (as much as any room is every done), and she has done an incredible job.
Such a big, dramatic change.
The Kitchen
The Stove -- but wait!
The stove is modernized with a drop-in Miele stovetop!
The office
The Media Room -- I love the stained glass windows as wall art and the muted browns and greens.
The workroom (yes, there's a workroom & an office!)
Hollister and Porter Hovey's living room -- impressive use of black walls!
A cabinet of wonders in their home.
Matthew Ryan's apartment.
Taxidermy and sea fans.
Apothecary jars + apothecary style media cabinet -- it's obvious when someone else does it, isn't it?
My husban Ben has been wanting an old typewriter -- Eva found this one for $15 at a junk store! She's planning on filling the jars with old keys and gears.
Very Victorian style botanical prints.
This powder room in Gambrel's vacation home is papered in pages torn from Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities
.
The unidentified botanical prints in the living room above make for a surprisingly modern and colorful space.
Tammy was so kind to share some pics of her not-just-steampunk but The Steampunk Home inspired living room.
I ended up getting the coffee table from Sundance based on your kaboodle list. We're sort of going for steampunk in a temp. rental so we haven't painted the walls. I got the skull pillows from etsy, they are burlap and really comfortable. Had the rug and the pictures on the wall are framed vintage Tango sheet music covers from Buenos Aires. The lamp is another Sundance purchase, although I sort of wish that we had look for a 'real' antique. Couch is Restoration Hardware.
The most steampunk is The Tudors Living Room. The era isn't Victorian, but it has a lot of design elements in common with steampunk -- antiques, brass surrounding the fireplace, and industrial inspired lighting.
The Dexter Dining Room is not at all steampunk, but is incredibly creative and over the top, in a very macabre way.
This is a designer who loves books --I think this is the only bedroom I've seen with glass fronted bookshelves in it. I love the medieval map (Ben guessed Canterbury) set into the wall and framed with molding.
I'm not sure what the framed print is here (anyone else?), but you could have fun Photoshopping an old Scientific American print to get a similar affect.
I can't get enough of red velvet curtains -- but tying them back with a noose is innovative...
Modify portraits with lace masks, decorate old spools with black lace for candleholders, use tarnished silver for a bouquet...
The best use of apothecary jars I've seen -- to hold creepy crawlies...
Many more photos and how-tos here.
