Inspiration: The Diamond Age

...he glanced through to door to Gwendolyn's closet and out the other side into her boudoir. Against that room's far windows was the desk she used for social correspondence, really just a table with a top of genuine marble, strewn with bits of stationery, her own and others', dimly identifiable even at this distance as business cards, visiting cards, note cards, invitations from various people still going through triage. Most of the boudoir floor was covered with a tatty carpet, worn through in places all the way down to its underlying matrix of jute, but handwoven and sculpted by genuine Chinese slave labor during the Mao Dynasty. Its only real function was to protect the floor from Gwendolyn's exercise equipment, which gleamed in the dim light scattering off the clouds from Shanghai: a step unit done up in Beaux-Arts ironmongery, a rowing machine cleverly fashioned of writhing sea serpents and hard bodied nereids, a rack of free weights supported by four cillipygious caryatids -- not chunky Greeks but modern women, one of each major racial group, each tricep, gluteus, latissimus, sartorius and rectus abdominus casting its own highlight. Classical architecture indeed.

--A description of Gwendolyn Hackworth's boudoir in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer


Let's see... I'm not sure I can find any exercise equipment that fabulous, but how about a Turkish rug to put in your garage under your exercise station? This one is made of recycled plastic, so not as authentic as Gwendolyn's, but hardier and much more environmentally conscious. (I'm considering it, or something similar, for my patio.)

On top of it, imagine one of these bowflex thingies -- not that you need my recommendation for such things -- either you own at least one already or you have more informed opinions about such things that I do.

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Hidden Technology

In many steampunk novels, technology is both ubiquitus and unnoticeable. Nanotechnology means many advances are done at a molecular level. Aesthetics demand that devices be disguised as age-old compasses and watches. How then, can we go about creating a steampunk home in a world where technology is both ubiquitus and definitely noticeable?

I propose a very simple solution. Hide it.

For your most bulky of items -- your workstations and servers -- a popular option for many people is a computer cabinet. I found this lovely one at Newport Nautical Decor.

Closed, it looks like a very large rattan travel trunk.

Open, it reviews leather and brass accents, with room for a tower and a monitor.

There are other, less expensive ways to hide your technology. In our home, for instance, there are no phones. Phones belong to people, and reside in our waistcoats or purses. Stereos for playing music are encased in a wooden cabinet with doors, only to be opened when we want music. A laptop is toted around for our computer needs, with our larger installation being hidden back in an out of the way office.

Hiding your technology is one relatively simple way to keep the interruption, the noise, the distraction of our modern technology from inadvertently interrupting your domestic tranquility.

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Spotlight your Ray Guns

I've been oogling the West Magoon rayguns posted by Tinkergirl over at Brass Goggles, so may I suggest this Brass Halogen Picture Light as the perfect accompaniment? The ray guns come mounted already, but this brass light installed just above the mounting on the wall could be adjusted to shine a spotlight on the ray gun. Just imagine how good it would look at the end of a dusky hallway.

Convex Mirror

The Victoria Hagan® Andover Mirror at Target has a convex curvature that gently distorts the image in a carnivalesque way, will still maintaining a very proper English horsewoman appeal.

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The SteamPunk Table: Tea Light Holders

Tea Light Holders made from Bicycle Cogs

beautiful way to keep your drinks from marring your furniture

Circuitboards are a bit passe, in the steampunk world. These coasters, however, combine a truly useful function (protecting all that lovely dark wood from condensation rings) with some breathtaking colors.

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Clock.

May I present an old fashioned pendulm clock made of recycled bicycle gears? Ideal hung in an office or a library.

Bicycle Chainring and Cog Clock.

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Levitating Galileo Spheres...

How lovely (and levely) floats the Gravitator. I don't think I can describe it any better than ThinkGeek does: With minimal effort you can magnetically hover one of the four included celestial spheres. LEDs in the base and top of the Gravitator shine on the sphere with a bluish-purple glow. The LEDs also help you find the balance of the sphere, allowing you to set it all up in mere seconds. There's also a rotation switch (if you want the sphere to spin slowly) and a fine tuning knob (to make sure the balance is perfect).

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Another Great Desk Lamp

I like target.com. Here's the Lillian Desk Lamp, with curves reminiscent of street lamps -- I can see this at Perdido Street Station.

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Styling ... PowerStrip?

This PowerSquid powerstrip from ThinkGeek reminds me of the dreads many who adopt the SteamPunk Aesthetic in personal style.

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My new curtains!

I just got these curtains last night and put them up in our "morning room." They looked fabulous this morning with the sun streaming in through them, but my digital camera's battery was out. I'll get a picture, though, don't worry!

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$24 each