Has no one else done this?

This gorgeous glass kitchen backsplash is from the Innoventions Dream Home in Disneyland, California.  A required visit for all steampunk-craftsman lovers, by the way.  And the backsplash looks like a managable DIY project for your own kitchen.  It's three layers, the back one of frosted glass, a layer of very thin decorative stuff (here it's thin stalks and gingko leaves), and a top layer of clear glass.  To reduce the risk of breakage you can substitute plexiglass for the glass in areas where high heat (the stove!) isn't an issue.  I'd imagine the lighter weight of the plexiglass would also be helpful.  And it's great for clean up - just spritz with windex, wipe, and it's done!  SO much better than the faux brick my parents had for a while.  Forty year old porous grout behind the stove?  SO VERY gross.  This is much better.

Back to the pretty - 

Gears, vintage postcards, mad scientists doodles, wall stickers, pressed flowers, ribbons, vintage prints, and pages from old cookbooks all make fantastic decorative layer materials.

To mix it up you can paint the glass, either with a design or one solid color for a jewel-like shine.  Or omit the back layer of glass and use fabric as the decorative layer.  

I'm not entirely sure how one would actually go about installing this but I'm on the lookout and will update if I discover anything. 

Crafty little bats

Ok, this is just too cute - craftsman style bats embroidered on a pillow.  Love!

From the gorgeous Paint By Thread Etsy store.

Terrariums

I love the idea of terrariums.  Little mini labs in wonderful glass jars - what's not to love?  As we're four weeks out from moving (eek, gotta pack!!) I think I'll hold out on discovering how I like these tiny gardens in practice (and how much they like me - I don't have the greenest of thumbs).

Window Shopping For Ideas:

Pear shaped ones from VivaTerra.  Not cheap but we're just window shopping.

A more accessible (and cuter!) batch made by blogger Courtney of Two Straight Lines from Target glass jars.  Look close - there's a t-rex in that far right jar!

A whole bunch of apothecary goodness in one picture!  This is from apartment therapy but, unfortunately, the link they give to the how-to is very broken.  Sad.  But pretty picture!

Doing It Yourself:

Planning:

• Not surprisingly, terrariums.com is a great resource of all things terrarium.
• And then there's terrarium man - not as much info, more items he's selling, but some great ideas nonetheless.
• For the plants themselves Glasshouse Works has a great list.  I'd recommend buying local, if possible, but it's great to know your options before hitting the gardening stores.  

Making:

• Of course you can always haunt your local second hand and antique stores for great jars.  But also there's:

• Beakers!  I love American Science and Surplus.  Love, love, love.

• Glass storage jar from Ikea.  I'd go with the larger 41oz version.

• This comes from an instructable by angryredhead and uses found items and two pieces from Ikea.  Gorgeous and affordable!

• And for these hanging beauties we return to instructables, this time with one by florablog.

Living Room Re-Do, part 1

I have a soft spot for "investment opportunity" homes.  A perfect one has great bones (I think we'll avoid any foundation repairs) with plenty of room for improving.  And I feel a lot better tearing up and replacing decaying linoleum than I do ripping out fairly new tile.  Also far more eco-conscious.  And there's something neat about redeeming an overlooked and unloved place.

This is a little series where I take a room (or picture thereof) and see what can be done with it to turn it from a repair(wo)man's special to a steampunk craftsman paradise.  Or at least a great place to come back to.

So we start with this living room:

Not so great.  What happened to that poor wall on the right?  And what a sad fireplace and mantle.  Not to mention that this is a very short room.  However it's got some great possibility.  Look at that gorgeous, gorgeous wood floor.  And the wood beams across the ceiling give it instant Craftsman cred.


Our first step: reduce this to it's bones by tracing it out:

Much nicer.  And please appreciate the wood flooring and bricks.  Those took forever.

Coming up: the first steps towards turning this into a lovely Craftsman room.

A few nice clocks

A few gorgeous clocks designed by Cheyenne White, the guy who gives Girl Genius such wonderful color.  They're offered through Cafe Press which does make me a bit hesitant - I bought a hoodie from them back in their infant days and was less than thrilled with the quality.  However they've had quite a few years to improve and they're still going strong so it might be worth the chance to try them again.  And these are a good place to start!

Alternative Timeline Attenuator

This handy device can detect minute flucuations in quantum particle waveforms and predict which of the 2,308 explored realities your sideship has touched down in (93.6% accuracy)

Doctor Arcanes Parabolic Temporal Translocator

As indicated, This device parabolicaly translocates temporal objects. namely, Doctor Arcane. We haven't been able to get it to work on anyother subject. Keeps good time

Trilobite Light

Gorgeous trilobite(ish) lamp from The Craftsman Touch (a store I could have spent hours virtually wandering through)

I've mentioned before that, for all my appreciation of it, I'm just not into the Nautilus side of steampunk but if I were to have a room or two decorated to harken to the deep seas and submarines this lamp would be perfect for it - I love the fluted bottom and the feel that the globe is floating in the water.  Very 20,000 leagues.