Saturday, July 14, 2012

Saturday Steam 7/14: Home Decor Edition!

For today's Steamy roundup I thought I'd focus on steampunk home decor. This is probably the most accessible steampunk area, since even the most conservative non-geeky types tend to like the look of vintage mechanical and/or industrial items worked into their interior design.

Let's start off with Epbot reader Angela E.'s AMAZING new bathroom, shall we?

THAT LIGHT! [swoon] And the dark wood cabinetry, and the copper sinks, and the weathered stone tile... [double swoon]

Angela tells me the room still isn't entirely finished, but I'd say she's well on her way to having the steamiest bathroom of the year. Check out that amazing clock over her equally amazing copper soaking tub:

The clock is by steampunk artist Dale Mathis, who has several famous furniture designs you may have seen before. Here's a close-up of the clock (titled "Wicked") from his website:

Wowza. 

Click on over to Angela's blog for more pics and details - or, if you're like me, to ask if you can move in to her bathroom. I'll even bring my own pillow, Angela! (Btw, have I mentioned that I can practically wash my hands in the sink while taking a shower in my bathroom? No? Consider it mentioned.)

This just popped up in my Pinterest feed last night, and I am officially in love:

I am eying every wall in my house now, looking for a place to hang/lean a gigantic clock face.

Now I'm going to rant for a bit about the web of thieving Tumblr and Pinterest accounts that REFUSE to properly credit sources, thereby flooding all the Google image results with redundant, non-credited links, and making it pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to find and credit the original source. ARG.

Of course, stuff like this makes me so mad that it becomes my personal mission in life to find the source anyway, so, twenty minutes later...I'm reasonably certain this was taken in the French boutique Chateau Sonoma by Beryn Hammil Design. (They don't explicitly SAY they took the photo, though, so if I'm wrong please tell me in the comments.)

K, rant over, and moving on...


Here's a fabulous idea for upcycling old globes:

From Anecdote Design on Etsy (although it sold two years ago.)

And for more stellar upcycled globe ideas, check out this post over on Dishfunctional Designs - so many great designs!

Here's another brilliant potential DIY, this time from the catalog Napastyle:

It's about $100 from the catalog, which isn't a bad price - but if you have some old fence boarding, a map, and some glaze, why not try it yourself?

Kristine over at The Painted Hive posted this brilliant sconce makeover using a plastic safety light cage, if you can believe it:

Hit the link up there for details and process-shots; it's brilliant. Pun intended.


Prepare for a design-gasm. Then feast your eyes on this industrial piping book shelf, complete with attached lights:

By Stella Blue Designs on Etsy - and there are several different styles to choose from.

The phrase, "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" comes to mind.

Here's a positively genius idea for your next steampunk-styled furniture makeover:

 Cut up an old leather belt, and use it for draw handles!

Like I said, GENIUS.

Via Apartment Therapy - hit the link for a tutorial, if you need it.


I mentioned Melanie R.'s patent prints in a post not too long ago, but I neglected to show off her fabulous steampunk living room.  Time to remedy that!

[nodding] Leather couch, hardwood floors, yes, yes, and what's that on the table top?

Ooooh, I like it!! And the gear buttons on the accent pillow? DELISH.

Plus, check out her ceiling fan:


Sweeet. 

Melanie didn't mention where she got the table or fan, so you guys will have to beg her for details in the comments if you want to know.

And finally, I'll end with the window to end all windows (although the room it's attached to is a bit vanilla):


Doesn't it look like something straight off the Nautilus? Or maybe the luxury passenger car of a dirigible? Add a few giant rivets on the cross beams, put a well-worn circular leather couch in front of it, maybe cover the rest of the walls with shelves and shelves of books... [dreamy sigh]

Hey, John? Can we knock out a wall somewhere and put this window in? Pretty please?


Hope you guys enjoyed the home design goodies! As always, I welcome your photos and finds; just send 'em to me via e-mail or over on the Epbot Facebook page!

31 comments:

  1. How funny - we have two of the ceiling fan at the bottom of your post. I wasn't looking for a steam punk theme when I bought them, but they do definitely qualify. I found them at lampsusa.com about two years ago...

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  2. OH MY GOD! You've just solved my door problem!

    The door to my living room has remained either open or pushed to for about 18 months because I haven't been able to find a suitable handle; all the pretty ones aren't big enough, all the big ones are modernist chrome-type-things which clash with the rest of the decor. So now I'm thinking: thrifted embossed leather belt. I can't believe I didn't think of that myself; I'm not as bright as I thought I was, clearly, although I have been very busy with the rest of the renovations. Thanks so much for that inadvertant bit of help, I'm super-grateful.

    I also love the whole of the rest of this post. But the leather handles seem most achievable! I desperately want a big clock with all the cogs visible. I'm a sucker for those open-style wrist watches, where you can see the inside. Mmm, cogs...

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  3. One day, I WILL have an entirely steampunk room. How that will mesh with my love for neon/animal print/retro/tropical things I do not know, but it will happen.

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  4. You aren't alone in being ticked off the Pinterest links that go nowhere. I've taken to copying the photo and using Google's photo search to find the originating location. BTW, I love the Saturday Steam.

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  5. That window is AWESOME! (and the room around it so boring!) It needs to be geeked out somehow - whether it's steampunked, or even Death Star or something from Star Wars - tons of options! I have arch windows in my house but none are that cool or inspiring.

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  6. I thought the window looked like the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon. Except with the angles taken out and flattened. But that's just me.

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  7. I want that window!
    I like the maps/glaze/board idea. I'm gonna have to give that a try.

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  8. Jen, you're KILLING me! All these ideas, you're going to make me go broke, and where am I going to put all of this???

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  9. To me the window says "Imperial Star Destroyer." But, you know, in white.

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  10. Love all the Steampunk Decor! I am sure that window wouldn't be too hard to replicate for someone with your spouse's skills :-)

    As for uncredited "Pins". It seems that when something gets re-Pinned from a re-Pin too many times, the source gets lost in the shuffle.

    I usually always try to go back to the source and Pin from that ... even though it doesn't give the original Pinner credit for finding the Pin. I get REALLY annoyed (for example) when I click on a tutorial Pin and I never get to the tutorial, so that is more important to me than giving a finder credit. Just my opinion.

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  11. LOVE that kitchen! Thank you for the inspiration.

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  12. You could use dome blocked pennies like you used for your curtain embellishments to make nails to attach the leather straps for the drawer pulls.

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  13. Wow that is all so nice - I live in a square box with square windows and (yawn),,,,must.change.that.

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  14. I've been thinking of doing my bathroom in steampunk. The colours in there already work. Thanks for some more ideas.

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  15. the bookshelf just proves to me that I'm not cool enough to own it.

    (looks at own books, looks at ubercool shelf and knows, deep in the most painful part of my heart, it would reject my books and maybe even shred them in disdain)

    well, a girl can dream

    btw, thanks for introducing me to steampunk. I've enjoyed reading some stories and looking through pictures on the internet. I also bought wooden gear earrings (you'd featured the matching necklace here once).

    -Barbara Anne

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  16. I don't know how many times I've eyed those cheap plastic cages and wondered if I could do anything clever with them. Great diy!

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  17. Really cool stuff there. I really like the idea of taking a cheap, plastic something that looks horrible and turning it into something beautiful!

    Only marginally related: these new stampers are steampunk themed!
    http://www.eksuccessbrands.com/inkadinkado/products/newproducts.htm

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  18. I love the steampunk look. I really do. But is there any steampunk that's not so dark in the decorating scheme? I grew up in a dark house so I love bright spaces. Sadly, all the steampunk decor I've found is in shades of dark brown that just depress me. *sigh*

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  19. Noelle, I'm currently working on turning my bedroom steampunk, and have found the same problem, either really dark colours, or floor to ceiling wallpaper. Neither of which I wanted. I decided to go with a buff colour for the walls, and use rust, cream, brass/gold & cherry wood for the accent colours (Gives contrast while still keeping it light).

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  20. I use tineye.com for tracking down the original source of orphaned photos.

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  21. Melanie R here, mmmmm..... The end table I recently purchased from Home Decorators (it's the Home Depot Catalog company), the pillows I made with buttons I got on the Internet (Google Steampunk buttons and you'll find them), and the fan I got from as Dennis mentioned at Lampsusa.com. I also have gears hanging on the wall, old vintage maps, and iron decorations that I painted copper and antiqued (all from Hobby Lobby). If I had known Jen was going to post more pics I would have sent better ones with all of the steamy items. One day (big sigh), I'll have caged Edison bulb pendant lamps as well and I'll finally do something with the old tractor gears I bought on eBay and I stripped of green paint and then "rusted" to make a 3-D sculpture for the wall.

    melanie

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  22. Just tell me where you got that light fixture in the first photo! Please!?! It's absolutely perfect for my library!

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  23. I checked out the Chateau Sonoma website. Do you know that they have a Hot Air Balloon chandelier? Just up your alley.

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  24. Hey, thanks for posting my bathroom! *does happy dance*. You are more than welcome to stop by and hang out a while, but we might drag you into some boardgames. I posted some updates on my blog, but the contractor is holding our hardware hostage.

    I love that big clock, too....hmmmm.... ;)

    -Angela E.

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  25. Lydia, that's a wonderful idea. Thank you for your input. I truly appreciate it! :)

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  26. Jen, Take the (alledgedly)French Boutique clock, set it for 10:04 and put it facing out in that window...BTTF/Steampunk awesomeness FTW!!!

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  27. First of all you are making me fall more in love with steampunk with every Saturday Steam you post!! That bathroom is absolutely amazing and I may have annoyingly "I want that" nudged my handy-man husband over the shelf. I will also probably continue to do so until he makes me one. XD That window is also awesome and is totally added to my "when I win the powerball" list, haha.

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  28. Hi, did you ever find where to buy this big clock. I just saw it and now the search is on here too. I NEED that clock. Thanks

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    1. Other than tracking it down to that one boutique shop, no, I never found a source or place to purchase it! Sorry!

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  29. I did and you were right. It's from the Chateau Sonoma store in California. I sent them a picture of the clock and asked if it was from their store. They emailed back right away and said it was but it had sold and they wouldn't be getting any more. Boo-hoo. I probably would have taken out a second mortgage on my house to get that clock I loved it so much....lol

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