Steampunk Home Decorating Ideas
How to Choose Décor with Steampunk Icons and Philosophies
Jul 14, 2009
Still a relatively young aesthetic, there are few hard-and-fast rules in steampunk design. A neo-Victorian, retro-futuristic ethos underpins the movement, but there is plenty of room for adaptation and improvisation. Many steampunks, by philosophy or necessity, utilise DIY and shop at thrift and vintage stores rather than buying new.
Using Natural Materials Such as Wood, Copper and Iron
The steampunk aesthetic is tangible and heavy, favouring natural materials such as wood and metal. Choose well-made, solid appliances and furniture. Dark wood is favoured by many steampunks, although paler woods are often incorporated into airship pirate-style designs. Brass and copper are both used extensively in steampunk designs, with brass being generally preferred.
Choosing quality pieces made with natural materials ensures the pieces will not date, and allows a fairly plain room to be instantly “steampunked” with the addition of a few specifically steampunk pieces, such as a cog-heavy clock or wall display.
Victorian Cataloguing Obsessions in Home Décor
The Victorian Age was marked by a desire to control and restrain the natural world. Wunderkabinets, nature collections and technical drawings of nature all symbolised this mentality. In a steampunk home, labelled collections of real or drawn butterflies, birds’ eggs and insects can be displayed in heavy wooden frames or placed under glass to evoke a Victorian feel.
Cabinets full of tantalising small drawers can be used to store and display exotic seashells and fossils; or, more prosaically, to artistically hide away bric-a-brac such as crafting supplies or hardware. Sepia-toned maps, technical drawings of airships or machines and anatomical drawings can be used to narrow the focus of a room from “Victorian explorer” to “mad scientist” or another steampunk variation.
Tools and Equipment in Steampunk Homes
In order to catalogue nature and take advantage of new technologies, the Victorians invented an impressive array of tools and gadgets. Sextants, barometers, telescopes and other vintage pieces of well-made Victorian paraphernalia are still readily available in antique shops. The truest expression of steampunk would be to use these items for their intended or adapted purposes; however, artifacts such as tripod-mounted early cameras can also be displayed as art or feature pieces.
Narrowing the Focus of Steampunk
Steampunk comes in many variations and flavours, from airship pirate to explorer, mad scientist to time traveller. Narrowing the focus of the entire house or various rooms helps in achieving a defined style. Some steampunks like to maintain a continuous theme, while others prefer “theme” rooms – a dirigible-inspired bathroom, a mad scientist den and a library decorated with an explorer theme. Theme rooms can still look integrated as long as other principles of steampunk design are followed, such as using natural materials.
Using Fabrics and Textures in a Steampunk Home
Part of the appeal of steampunk is the juxtaposition of traditionally feminine and masculine elements – leather side-by-side with lace, machine parts combined with damask roses, aviator goggles worn with a string of pearls. This ethos of textural contrast can easily be applied to steampunk décor. Try heavily beaded and brocaded cream cushions on a distressed leather couch, or displaying a barometer or telescope on a softly-draped lace shawl.
A quick way to steampunk a room is to display any steampunk clothing or accessories. Showcase a Victorian dress on a dressmaker's dummy, hang bonnets, top hats or pith helmets on the wall, or display a collection of parasols and canes in a corner.
Use of Colour in Steampunk Décor
Steampunk décor works well with a muted neutral palette, which allows the natural rich colours of metal, wood and leather to shine. However, there are no official “steampunk” or “non-steampunk” colours. Browns, sepia and cream are popular; dark red is another popular colour as it conveys an opulent Victorian richness. A steampunk-Goth crossover aesthetic makes liberal use of black, while steampunks with a gothic Lolita flavour may experiment with hot or cupcake pink.
Modernising the Victorian Look
Steampunk is not true Victorian design, but a celebration of “an era that never was”; as such, historical authenticity is not a must. Victorian homes tended to be very crowded and dark, elements which may be unappealing in a modern home. Today’s houses also contain appliances which did not exist in the Victorian age, such as laptops and stereo systems.
Some steampunks simply combine old and new technology; others hide the offending appliances behind old-fashioned cupboard doors when not in use. The alternative is modding or “steampunking” modern equipment to make it look faux-Victorian, often by replacing plastic components with brass plating or wood. Creative steampunks have modded everything from toasters to iPods. One particularly talented steampunk known as Datamancer is famous for his creative mods of laptops and keyboards; among other things, he replaces computer keys with old typewriter keys to create custom keyboards.
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