Dome backed chair

I am lusting again after Restoration Hardware furniture. If money where no object I would buy a pair of these chairs in a heartbeat! I think this is fantastic example of modern steampunk style sneaking again into the mainstream culture. I have seen photos of this style of chair before and I think it is delightful. I have to say I am surprised to see it mainstream furniture design however given the unusual style of the piece. It reminds me of hot air balloon. In my mind's eye I can see this looking perfect in our Explorer's Club room. Alas for this style of furniture I have as yet to find a reasonable priced alternative. I shall have to just visit the store and admire from afar and I tend to do with their pieces. I will add this to my "someday I will be able to afford" list of furnature.

The Enchantress of Numbers

In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate women in science, I searched for "Ada" on Etsy. To my delight I found a great buy that I am very exciting about, an Ada Lovelace print by the talented artist who goes by Minouette! (Search for her lovely work on Etsy.) Ada Lovelace has become one of my latest favorite historical lady. I have also noticed that she seems to be an unofficial Steampunk icon. She is the mother of the computer program and daughter of mad, bad, Lord Byron. For those unfamiliar she wrote how to calculate Bernouilli numbers using Mr Babbage's conceptual the analytical engine, which was in concept the worlds first computer. A great summary of her is available on the podcast "Things you Missed in History Class"She is also the subject of my favorite online comic, Lovelace and Babbage. I do love clever humor like that! I'm not sure if this is going to in the house or in my office and work but it was such perfect Steampunk inspired decor that I just couldn't resist.

Through my interest in Ada I have also stumbled across other blogs dedicated to historical women in science. I am very excited to see them emerging in the steampunk movement well beyond a nod to Madame Curie. At last the ladies are starting to come into the light and out of the footnotes for their contributions. Some ladies I want read more about are posted here, the official list of people who blogged for Ada Lovelace day. http://findingada.com/list/ I didn't know about the event until the following day otherwise I would have blogged for Ada as well, it is definitely on my "to do" list for next year! For my personal interest in astronomy I am putting Miss Leavitt toward the top of my reading list.

Timeworks

Just found the PERFECT clock for the bonus room. This is modeled after a turn of the century railroad station clock. Another great buy from One King's Lane. The clock is made by Timeworks who specializes in vintage style clocks. I was also delighted to discover this wonderful line of clocks is actually made locally in Berkeley! I have been a minor personal quest to decorate my house with as many local products as possible so this find was doubly successful to me! (This is not because of political commentary, because I would my hypocritical otherwise as I love French imports, but stems more of a curiosity to determine what kinds of products and quality level of items my country still actually produces vs what we import.)

Tea Dreams

As a tea junkie I have always admired the lovely tea boxes in restaurants. One of my favorite moments after a fine meal is to order tea and get to make a selection out of beautiful box. Sadly of course most of us have no place for such an item in our daily lives. If I got to select such a box for my kitchen this one might well be it, hand made by ScorchedMirth shop on Etsy its just beautiful and really catches the style of fine tea.

Getting there slowly

We have gotten the living room more or less arranged to feel like a home. The furniture looks great with the wall colors. We went with Dutch Boy, Chateau Stone and the ceiling is Wavy Beach. Its a relief to see all of the colors really do go together as we planned. The next big step in here will be the crown molding (but AFTER i get a more functional kitchen). This will really tie the room together. Nothing in this room had to be purchased, its all inherited and definitely gets us toward the steampunk style we want.

Wall Decor

I've seen many articles on the Steampunk House blog that I follow suggesting that one use vintage or reproductions of botanical prints to create a naturalist theme of decor. This is something that we are toying with for our Explorer's club theme room but haven't been able to find prints like that. One Kings Lane has come up with a wonderful collection. We aren't quite at this decorating detail stage but at least now I know where to look!

Breathing free

I am finally back on-line after fighting with my new connection at my new house for weeks and I have missed my blog and my online decorating fix to no end! As part of the home owning experience our new house had a mild smoke smell from the previous owner who smoked only in the finished attached patio, initially we though this would be easily resolved but we soon realized the smell permiated through the ENTIRE house. We have learned that the only way to get rid of smoke is to paint every wall and replace ALL of the carpet, cleaning doesn't cut it. We also learned that smoke residue goes THROUGH primer even when the walls are well washed and it takes several coats of paint and washing to cover it all up. So home buyer beware and if you buy a home of a previous smoker budget to spend the money to make it smoke free!

On the upside the enforced painting and cleaning required us to painstakingly paint the bonus room and we ended up settling on a lovely antique white to seal in the scent. After looking at various design pictures we were inspired us to go for a wonderful burgundy colored carpet. (Which we got at a GREAT deal since no one apparently wants this color.) Once we added our cherry bookshelves we are well on our way to our Steampunk Explorer's club themed living room in our now smoke-free environment. Now onto the decorating!