Craftsman Wood Screens

I want these hanging in my dining room.  You know, once we HAVE a dining room.  Or even a permanent place to live.  One day.  But back on the screens, I love their clean, simple optimism as a background for the slightly more complex steampunk element of the room.  A juxtaposition of the victorian-influenced science of the day and the new thoughts that were just emerging.  

Home & Studio wood screen from craftmanstouch.com

Luxfer columns wood screen

Penny Buttons

What a fantastic idea - Jen over at EPBOT (and the more famous and day-brightening Cake Wrecks) has a tutorial on how to create lovely domed buttons out of pennies.  Such a neat idea.

Link!

Steampunk victorian fabric find

I deliberately avoid Spoonflower because I'm a seamstress with a weakness for cute cottons and they have them by the boltfull.  It's just safer for us all if I don't know what I'm missing.  However I did get lured over today and look what they have --

Steampaper

Steampunked victorian wall paper!  Love!  And it reminds me, in a round-about way, of the wallpaper in Disney's Haunted Mansion (any of them) which at first looks all innocently like normal victorian fare and then, on closer inspection, has creeptastic faces.  Only instead of faces, here you get cogs and dials.  A good trade out for one's living room, I would guess.

For those of a more nautical bent, here's an octopus design for you -

 

Steamed Cameo

And this --

Clockwork Octopus

Am I the only one who looks at that and sees hearts?  Yes?  Just me?  Ok then.

And that's just the first designs that caught my eye.  They have a whole category of steampunk, along with some fabulous vintage fabrics that I'm working hard to resist.  See, this is why I avoid Spoonflower - too much good stuff!

A fanciful twist on Apothecary Jars

While usually I like using apothecary jars for everyday items - q-tips, spices, paperclips - there's certainly room for some fun, mad-scientist jar decorations.

Vanessa, of A Fanciful Twist, has some fantastic ideas as well as some free jar labels in her halloween post from last year.  Troll ears, mermaid hair, and butterfly kisses are all collected by her and would look fantastic on a shelf alongside a terrarium and lab equipment.  I love the possibilities.

Beautiful Coffeemakers

Some ways to make those early mornings just a little brighter -

Hario coffee maker - $259 at Amazon

The Chemex 6-cup coffee brewer - not nearly so beautiful (though a little moding can help that) but far more affordable at $36 at Amazon.

The Northewest Glass siphon coffee maker - affordable (though, according to reviews, not terribly sturdy) at $55 via my favorite online shopping store, Amazon.  

Another beautiful siphon coffee maker from Northwest glass, this one hopefully made a little better to justify the $112 price tag.  Again at Amazon*.

And, for my favorite of favorites:

This cold-drip coffemaker (those are ice cubes in the top- they're serious about the cold part) from Coffee-Snob for the very reasonable price of $99. I love!

* I'm not affiliated, in case anyone's wondering.  I'm just someone who got on their bandwagon years ago when Jeff was still begging for support and driving a junker.  And I got to meet him at a friend's wedding and he's just a wonderfully kind and geeky guy.  Plus it's really easy to find all this stuff easily on there.  So there is that.

Nerf it up

Want to add a hint of adventuring to your room?  Display your very own personal protector in the form of a steampunked nerf gun.  Beautiful and so very fun for impromptu nerf battles.  Or are my husband I and the only adults who do that?

This is my favorite - click on the pic to see a larger version to best appreciate the meticulous care put into it.  Made by Jeremy.

For cleaning up your more troublesome experiments.  This is a modified Vulcan that can shoot 500 rounds per minute.  Niiiice.

And here's a cute little one for those times you need to conceal your intentions.  By Utini.

To see how to make your own you can check out Utini's website or go here for a tutorial.

Have you visited Venus lately?

I am in love with this series of Space Traveler vintagesque posters by some very talented artist named Steve Taylor.  No idea who he is but I want this whole line for one of my rooms.  Maybe my hypothetical future guest room - it could be decorated with these space travel posters, little tin rocketships, perhaps some "souvenirs" brought back from the different planets - how fun would that be?  And before anyone complains, yes, it's a bit more space-race than steam-punk but, hey, Verne took us to the moon and back so in that sense it's TOTALLY steampunk.  And I'm sticking with that justification.  Besides, the Venus poster has an airship in it. That's got to count for something, right?

For these, the rest of the Space Travel line, and so many other great designs, check out Steve's work at his Zazzle store.  So many pretties!

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.

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.

Craftsman style embroidery

Despite traumatic childhood memories involving cross stitch I've found that embroidery can be remarkably therapeutic and enjoyable.  Standard embroidery.  Not cross stitch.  Never cross stitch.

With that I like to collect ideas for possible embroidery designs to spice up a house or to add to clothing.  Textile Studio is an online store with some gorgeous Craftsman style designs and, bonus, you can either buy the items as a kit or admit to yourself that you really won't get around to starting, let alone finishing the kit (I'm still firmly in denial about all those unfinished objects cluttering my crafting corner) and just buy one of her finished items.

Pretty pillows and curtains!  Plus I love that buttercup color on the wall.  Pretty.

I just want all of this room.  The molding, the casing, the bed frame, the color, all of it.

Of course this is all craft and no steam but doesn't this give you some wonderful ideas?  

Other sites to explore:

• Mary Kay Perry Designs
• Urban Threads

Instructions on installing craftsman style wood trim

A project for all woodworkers out there - craftsman style trim for your walls and lintles.  I'm rather lacking in the tools and tablesaws frankly scare me (I have two woodworking uncles that are now down a few digits thanks to those things) but for those having the tools and lacking the fear, this is a great way to give your house that extra touch.

For the rest of us - well, I was going to say that Home Depot and Lowe's can help but, judging from their websites, I'm not sure they can - all the mouldings and millwork they show are so fiddly and curvy and so not craftsman style.  Annoying.  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised, however, if they have a larger stock than their website shows.  To make up for it, at least a little, check out Lowe's Moulding Visualizer little interactive program.  Like the websites the moulding is all contemporary or country and anything but craftsman but it at least lets you see the amazing impact moulding can have on a room.  I love a light colored wall with dark stained trim.  So chic!

Papercraft decorations

I love papercraft - it's the perfect marriage of DIY-ism, economy, miniatures, and scissors and glue. This is the sort of fun kindergarden prepared you for. I haven't done nearly enough papercraft (not having access to a color printer at the moment will do that) but I love it. Imagine how at home these would be in a nice craftsman style display case.

Alice in Wonderland shadowbox

Model of the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Car - instructions are in Japanese so maybe not for your first papercraft?

The Black Pearl!  A zillion pieces and also in Japanese so quite the challenge.

Time machine!  From the only Time Machine movie that I'll acknowledge.

The Nautilus, from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  

Plans for a display stand included.  Wouldn't this be great on a display shelf?

Also of interest:

• Papercraft warships, merchant ships, forts, etc, mostly from the American Civil War - WWI period

• Halloween themed papercraft including various model houses, monsters, coffins, and a few games to print out and make.  And a pocket skeleton!

• Disney themed papercraft.  Everything from Disneyland buildings and signs to movie bits and bobbles. Totally worth spending some time checking out.

Gingko wall art

I first found out about wallies (wall stickers) many years ago when they were first getting started and I loved the idea.  Of course I was also in college and thought christmas lights on the ceiling was the height of modern decor.  Since then I've rather fallen out of love with them as the trompe l'oeil effect of a window looking out to the seaside just doesn't do it for me.  It looks ... well, like a giant sticker. 


 However they do have a few items that I love despite it all.  Current love - their gingko leaf stickers. 

In mini,

small,

and absurdly huge.

I'm not sure where or how gingko leaves got associated with the A&C movement but whatever the history, I'm glad they got together - there's just something cute about those little leaves.  And the smaller ones would be a great touch to a kitchen or bathroom.


If gingko leaves aren't your favorite and you want something a little more steampunk scientist, you can always get the butterfly wallies and mount them in their own little frames.  Very victorian collector without any butterfly fatalities.

Other finds on the Wallie site that show possibilities - 

Chalkboard sticker!  Because every mad scientist needs a place to write down their brilliant!!!! plans.  Keep chalk and eraser nearby.

Tile tattoos.  And while none of the current styles are very arts and crafts-y, they're ALL better than most tile I've seen in older houses.  Not older as in early century chic - older like eighties bland.  We're starting our own house search and, as our current budget best allows for "investment opportunity" houses, we've seen a LOT of bad tile jobs.  And since details like fixing holes in walls and leaks take priority over bad tile, it's great to have something to disguise it.  I might start showing pictures of some of the places we're looking at (nothing identifiable, just pictures of out of date kitchens and 70s country bathrooms) and then giving ideas on how to fix them up Arts and Crafts and Steampunk style.  How does that sound?  It should help me - after seeing so many bad design decisions (faux wood panelling on ALL the walls?  Really?) it should cheer me up and give me some hope for our next place.

Decorating with quotes

Quotes make such great (and easy!) decorations - and, with the right quote, it can really set the mood for a room.

Storyteller's Cafe at the Grand Californian Resort at Disneyland (highly recommend, btw)

Framed quote from ZeroDesignz on CafePress

So how to actually add these to the room?

There's the old but good and very easy method of pulling out that unused frame you've got lying around (I'm not the only one with a shelf of frames, right?), pick and print out your quote (perhaps using a fun font from one of those many free fonts sites) and frame it and hang it.  Easy.

For those that don't want their quotes boxed in there's plenty of other ways to decorate - if you're artistic you can just paint them straight onto the wall.  I can't do that.  

For letters that look hand painted I'm intrigued by Wise Decor.  You enter your quote, pick the size, style, and color, and they ship your quote to you all ready to be applied to the wall.  They don't have a lot of fonts but, as Arts and Crafts is one of the few, I'm a fan.

You can hunt down some stencils (I tried to find some free ones but none of them looked terribly craftsman or steampunkish - sorry!) at your local craft store or make your own with your printer, an x-acto knife, and careful cutting.

Alternatively you can cut the letters out of colored paper or thin brass sheets (also cutesy of your local craft store) or anything else you can think of.  Mmmcrafts has a great tutorial on making fabric covered letters - with the right fabric that could be gorgeous.

Apothecary labels, air mail, and other little free bits of happiness

Amy Moss, graphic designer and author of the Eat Drink Chic blog, is almost too talented to be true.  She's like the Martha Stewart of the sweet steampunk world.  Seriously, look at what she's giving to the world - 

Mini airmail envelope packets.  She says they're for holding birdseed for weddings but we both know that's just one of many, many ways these can be used.  

Soda bottle labels.  Cute!

Bubble bath label.  She says it's for a bridesmaids' gift.  Right.  I'm totally keeping this for myself.

Apothecary style labels.  A bit fancier than I go for, but perhaps just perfect for you?