What is this, a laboratory or an office where an eccentric mechanic works? No, this is an apartment in the steampunk style - a fashionable trend from the realm of science fiction. Antique furniture and various mechanisms are collected here.
The steampunk interior is interesting and one of a kind - with gears, anchors, levers and pistons. But this is not the noble old days. There are no ancient mechanisms in the decoration of the rooms, and there are also no new devices of miracle technology. This is a mixture of mechanisms of the 19th-20th centuries and the vision of the future by those living at that time.
Style characteristics
The young steampunk style, also known as steampunk, is confidently becoming popular. With brutality and romance, with the comfort and inaccessibility of museum rarities, it is attractive because it is unlike other styles. There is Victorian elegance, punk spice, mystery and mysticism here.
In the 19th century, people considered the gear to be the main engine of progress, which is why it was chosen as a symbol of style. In a prominent place are mechanisms with steam engines - this is how the future was seen at that time.
Steampunk is:
- The furniture is strong, old, and the new one is artificially aged and painted copper.
- Finishing only with natural materials.
- On the walls hang maps indicating the treasure and drawings with inventions that never appeared. Furniture – with handles made of gears or bolts.
- The rooms are lit by dim gas lamps or Victorian lamps.
- The house is filled with antique telephones and gramophones, handicrafts, copper utensils and typewriters.
There are no fashionable appliances in the interior, and the existing ones are stylized as antique.
Living room
Steampunk style is great for decorating living rooms. Massive stylish furniture with leather or textile upholstery will look great here. Modernity has no place here, so the ideal option would be to purchase stylized models of a TV or laptop, although they are not very cheap. Or decorate them with special frames made of copper pipes around the perimeter.
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In the living rooms, fireplaces designed in the form of a steam boiler look great. When designing a living room design, you need to decide on a theme; it can be industrial, aeronautical or shipbuilding. If you take a little bit of everything, the atmosphere will be too congested and difficult to perceive. A spacious living room can be zoned using decorative arches, metal supports, openings and spans.
Steampunk color
The steampunk style is characterized by gloomy and dark tones. This is a love for mechanisms and for the inventors of gloomy London. Once in such an apartment, you feel a world of romance and a steampunk atmosphere - the world of steam engines.
Recommended Steampunk Design Colors:
- gray or brown;
- golden brown or rusty;
- red-brown and dark cherry;
- smoky blue or dark blue;
- black.
Powdery pink and light beige will add comfort and peace to the interior.
Metallic shades are also used: the color of bronze, copper, old gold and brass.
With shades of green, blue and light blue, the room is mysterious and “smoky.”
The main palette is neutral colors with one strong color accent.
Kitchen
The main idea of creating a kitchen is retro-industrial, that is, recreating the complete mechanization of all processes: pipes, gears, etc. In most cases, the shape of kitchen furniture is rectilinear and it is made from natural materials. This style welcomes the use of massive bar counters and countertops made of natural wood.
In addition to various lamps with diffused light, additional illumination will fit perfectly here. In a steampunk kitchen, all communications are visible and painted in reddish-red copper colors. The problem faced when creating this style is the lack of ready-made decorative elements and accessories. This problem can be solved by visiting handicraft stores, construction markets, and antique shops.
Selection of materials
The main rule is the use of natural materials, including glass, leather, ceramics, stone, brick and others. An interesting combination of raw and rough materials with durable and delicate finishes.
In the steampunk style, materials made of brass and cast iron, copper and bronze are welcome. They also pay attention to wood, stone and glass, shabby brick and tiles imitating natural stone. It is not forbidden to choose silk, leather, lace material and delicate fabrics.
Plastic coverings are not recommended, but if necessary, choose wood-like surfaces.
Decor elements and accessories
In this style, the dominant role is played by the steam engine, which means that gears and levers, large and small mechanisms, and various pipes will be one of the main decorative elements.
Aircraft, airships, balloons, graphic images or their small copies will decorate the interior of a home in the steampunk style. Huge dials and clocks with Roman numerals, the first models of televisions and telephones, a gramophone, a toy railway, antique compasses, globes, old maps, drawings, barometers will add originality to the interior and give it the opportunity to sparkle with all the necessary colors.
Among the accessories one can also highlight various objects made of wood and metal with rivets, original ashtrays and lamps, decorative gears that are everywhere.
Correct finishing in accordance with the steampunk style
The interior should be decorated using industrial details:
- the surface of the walls is made of raw concrete or brick with technical boxes;
- on the ceiling, which is supported by columns, steel beams;
- in the room there is an antique stove;
- There are fragments of pipes and cables on the walls.
The surfaces of the walls are finished with wood or painted in a steampunk color, choosing acrylic paints with the addition of the necessary pigments. Sometimes the plaster is removed, exposing the brickwork.
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It is allowed to paste over paper wallpaper in a checkered pattern, with stripes or steampunk. These are quite non-standard prints and images:
- aircrafts;
- gears, clocks and other mechanisms;
- futuristic drawings or ancient maps;
- photo wallpaper to look like concrete, brick, metal or rust.
The floor is laid out with tiles, paving stones or covered with parquet, on which varnish is applied.
Antique flying machines are suspended from the ceiling, which is covered with wood and metal.
Steampunk style requires an intricate staircase made of wood or metal. The doors are made from solid sheet iron.
The upholstery of upholstered furniture uses textiles that combine Victorian floral patterns and echo the gilded tangle of wall pipes, glass and concrete.
Lamps
To add mystery and gloom to the atmosphere of the rooms, it is worth installing lighting with soft, diffused light. It is original when the light sources are rough and without romance, humming or crackling and blinking evenly.
When choosing lighting, they choose a Victorian chandelier, metal lamps and lamps that imitate gas lamps. “Naked” light bulbs look right.
Table lamps are decorated with gears, nuts and other details. Candles are replaced with oil lamps. In the kitchen, a garland of lanterns with dim, diffused light looks interesting.
Bedroom
A bedroom in the steampunk style looks very original and unusual. The bedroom is decorated exclusively using natural materials. The main area in the bedroom is occupied by an antique massive bed, made in the style of the Victorian era. To decorate the bedroom, gears, decorations made from natural materials, and metal elements are used.
Lamps with diffused light will highlight decorative elements and furniture and help create the right atmosphere. A very popular fabric that can be used in steampunk design is natural brocade. You can use it to cover furniture, sew curtains, pillows, tablecloths, bedspreads, which looks very stylish and rich.
A wonderful combination would be a bold contrast of rough materials (leather) and soft ones (lace). A variety of antique boxes, figurines, and bottles will fit perfectly into the bedroom interior. This style is perfect for rooms that face a dark, sunny side, as well as for basements and semi-basements, where artificial light looks better than daylight.
Furniture
Furniture items in dark shades made of merbau, teak or rosewood. Upholstered furniture in the Chesterfield style, quilted leather, with comfortable armrests and copper rivets is acceptable. The chairs have tube frames and the seats are brown leather.
The tabletop is mounted on an old engine, on a car frame or on the bed of an antique sewing machine. There are a lot of shelves, and metal pipes are installed under the shelves. There is a place for both a medical glass cabinet and an old-style dental chair.
Loft-style furniture that can be borrowed for a steampunk room:
- coffee table with steel wheels;
- cast iron chairs;
- metal cabinets from the workshop, intended there for tools;
- reclining chairs from an old cinema.
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Steampunk in the living room interior
This style requires scale. It is almost impossible to organize such an atmosphere in a small apartment. Just look at these large chairs with a metal chrome frame. Not every home can accommodate such a living area around a small concrete stationary coffee table.
The shaped lighting system of antique water pipes and the large bulbs in it can turn any modern, everyday interior into steampunk.
Steampunk decor
The main goal is to fill empty spaces, so they choose accessories that look like museum pieces. They also add paraphernalia of adventurers and travelers: diagrams and models of airships, photographs, maps, globes, trunks.
- A submarine room with hatches, compartments, valves, compartments, and aquarium windows.
- Pirate ship with rope ladders, old maps, compasses, binoculars and chests.
- Exhibits that were previously used in scuba diving.
Steampunk is against electronics and loves mechanics. Household appliances are hidden in varnished wooden cases or inserted into mechanical parts. For a laptop, the keyboard is taken from a typewriter. There are an abundance of gears all around (in drawings, in decorative panels, on frames, like stands) and clock mechanisms.
Conclusion
Steampunk - Victorian elegance and industrial severity for lovers of history, romance, retro and eclecticism. A style where old mechanics meet new technology.
