Metallic Leather Dye

I'm wondering what sort of wonderful home creations you could create by modifying leather goods with Tarrago Leather Dyes. The most steampunk colors are antique silver, old gold, and copper. I could see turning thrift shopped leather skirts in throw pillows, making place mats, etc. If you were really brave and ambitious you could dye an entire chair or sofa. I think there are a lot of possibilities here!

Definitely let me know if you do anything along these lines.

Apothecary Label Hand Towels

Aren't these awesome?



Created by, free image downloads, and how-to, at Cathe Holden's Just Something I Made.

Clayton Boyer Clock Designs

If you're not the sort of person who can design clockworks and build them in metal (say, Eric Freitas), there may still be hope for you. Clayton Boyer will sell you woodworking plans for building your own clock.


And if you're really hard core, there's the masochist's corner. These plans, you have prove yourself worthy in order to buy.



Thanks, Koen, for pointing these out.

Pipes in the bathroom (of course!)

I'm on a pipe kick... here's a set of bathroom fixtures by Roman and Williams, used in the Ace Hotel Portland. A hook, a towel bar, and a toilet paper holder. The glossy black finish elevates it to a less raw, more finished piece.

More Pipes

Here's another good use of piping -- as a curtain rod, with burlap curtains. The extra long curtain rod -- across the entire window wall -- gives it more impact (and lets you mount it "straight on").

Pic by Leigh Davis for the nytimes via.

Piping Hot Book Caddy

Here's a neat project that could be easily steampunk'd: The Merry Go Round Book Caddy recently feature on Ohdeedoh. Stain the wood and paint the pipes brass and you'd have a rotating spot almost anywhere -- kitchen, bathroom, library, table....

Full instructions here.

Vintage Printables

Vintage Printables is an incredible collection of out of copyright images, mostly scientific, perfect for printing and framing or using in your craft projects.

Partial Eclipse of the Moon

The images are extensively categorized and subcategorized, so you can easily find everything from magicians to surgical equipment; imperial Russian playing cards to scientific botanical prints.




You can even browse them sorted by color.

The proprietor will even link to your etsy store or website if you use the images in a project -- which means the rest of us can find wonderful things made with all of these images!

Piping Hot

In copper instead of colors, these pipe vases would be a great DIY gift and tabletopper.

via Urban Flea.

Rick's First Steampunk Lamp

Here's a nice lamp from a newcomer to the steampunk scene. Rick says: Coming from an electrical engineering background, I decided to add a flickering light to the "gas to electric converter" to suggest a chemical process was happening inside. He's also a woodworker, which accounts for the lovely cherry box surround.

He also has extensive notes on his design and manufacture at his website.

I think this is a very impressive first attempt, and I can't wait to see what he does next!

More Penny Tiles

You liked the floor of the Standard enough that I have to do a follow up post...

Amanda pointed out this Apartment Therapy post with instruction on how to do it yourself. This particular floor used about $35 worth of pennies -- cheap from a materials point of view, if not for labor. Scroll down to a long comment by "teeze" for the how-to.

And Cheetah Velour sent this from the New York Times of a bar covered completely in pennies.

Pressed Ferns

When was the last time you've pressed plants? Me, that would be 7th grade. Here's a great "how-to" for botanical specimens my sister found on Design*Sponge that made me want to rectify that. The instructions are super easy -- and they would make a great gift. Used "aged" paper, like the example above, for the steampunk naturalist look.

Mason Jar Light

If french jam jars aren't quite your style, how about a Mason jar light instead? I like how these have a country feel.

Don't think Mason jars are steampunk enough? You've obviously never seen the alchemical and mechanical ingenuity it takes to make moonshine...

Mason Jar Light

If french jam jars aren't quite your style, how about a Mason jar light instead? I like how these have a country feel.

Don't think Mason jars are steampunk enough? You've obviously never seen the alchemical and mechanical ingenuity it takes to make moonshine...

via Design*Sponge.

Jam Jar Light

I saw this lamp, and thought it would be easy for a steampunk to reproduce. I see it outside, around a picnic table.

Or it's at Dee Puddy for £34.00.

Some DIY Projects

A great round up of DIY interior projects, many with vintage or Victorian touches

decoupage ceiling

silver tray sconces

Thanks, Entwidomela!

Tin Tile for the Dishwasher

RJ Gilmour commented with a link to these great dishwasher facelifts...

Chris Kauffman at Just Beachy created the first one


...a recent Home Depot find , plastic which looks like old tin tiles which I used adhesive to attach to my dish washer , I think it adds a little detail.

Linda MacDonald at Restyled Home made it a focal point with shiny "tin"

Simple, cheap, DIY. Great!

Steampunk USB Drives

I try to keep The Steampunk Home, well, "home" focused, and USB drives are a bit outside of the home. (Mine are most in use when I'm *away* from my home.) but these two were too good not to share.

Carl Ulrich sent me this one:

I took an old flash drive and with the aid of a 2 dollar cigar for the
glass tube I made my own vacuum tube flash drive. The entire project
took under an hour and costs under 5 dollars.

I love simple steampunk projects!

This one, made by Dave Barton's dad, is not so simple, but oh so beautiful:

Adrean's Steampunk Easy Chair

Adrean sent me links to her Steampunk Chair project. It's said to be quite comfortable, despite appearances to the contrary.

The Complete Project Precita

Reader Maren stumbled across this Flickr set and thought it should be shared. It's not steampunk, but it's a real life example of the philosophy we espouse here at The Steampunk Home: Make it unique, make it yours, make it yourself. I could speak at length about what makes this home special, but I think if you just watch the slideshow you'll understand.



(Don't like the slideshow? See them all here.)

What's your favorite part? What ideas could be co-opted for steampunk homes?

Formerly a Car's Transmission

sksullivan667 (I know, but I couldn't find a real or more usable name anywhere) makes light fixtures and other home goods out of car transmission gears and pieces and makes them available to us via Etsy.


The pendant lights are my favorite, but he also has coasters, bookends, and desk lamps.