Steampunk Baby Room

I saw this fabric on Steampunk Home, a great blog I follow that is like Better Homes and Gardens for Steampunk decor. I loved it but had no reason to purchase it. Well amid our recent move and decorating plans we have been blessed with one more surprise, a baby on the way. This moves up the time table to decorate the spare room into a nursery a lot sooner than expected but I am already taking measurements of the existing curtains to replace them with this adorable fabric!

Dreaming of Versailles

Playing a favorite game of keyword search for whatever is on my mind turned up this incredible series of stencils on Etsy. I am constanly impressed with the range of the skill of artists in Etsy! I wish I the house for am 18th century salon! As it i am scheming to see how I can fit this into my more humble decor! You can find this in the CuttingEdgeStensils shop on Etsy.

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.