Changing your room into a customized place is not a major renovation but it all starts with an idea. Sometimes you just want a place that inspires your imagination, while others like the echo of the past. This is what gives some rooms such as a kitchen a rustic farmhouse feel. While a game room can take you into a galaxy far away. Creative design styles all start with a theme and lots of ideas. Let’s get into our first idea: Steampunk!
Steampunk is a combination of turn of the century inventions, steam-powered machines, and gentlemen pirates living inside a floating dirigible airship. This is a fun and creative way to redesign your room and it doesn’t take much money to pull-off. But what are the most important attributes of steampunk you need to have?
Elegant drapes
What room doesn’t look good with red velvet drapes? Well, as the case for the turn-of-the-century homes was big on pull drapes. English homes were drafty places and this forced the need to pull drapes on windows and doors. This kept the cold from getting in but in the day they were pulled back and tied. You can get away with buying imitation velvet at the fabric store at one-quarter the price of real velvet.
There are very nice curtain rods that can be hung in front of doorways and windows that give these drape an elegant brass or copper finish. There is some sewing that needs to be done so this fabric can be hung on the rods.
Old face clocks
Time is of the essence for any steampunk design and you’ll be able to find old-style clock face wall clocks to decorate your walls. If you can manage to find a cheap but elegant grandfather clock online, that’s the best. There are even kits that you can find on Amazon that look expensive but are reproductions. How many clocks you add is up to you, but don’t have more than 5 clocks in your themed room.
Having one large face clock is just as effective as several that are hanging on the wall. How these clocks are arranged is up to you, but sometimes if they’re randomly placed, this visually looks interesting.
Brass and copper surfaces
Just like any invention is made from something steam-powered, pipes and tubes are going to be part of your room decoration. You can find cheap tubing at the dollar store or anywhere that plated metal tubes are sold. Think of cheap curtain rods that can be found at garage sales, or bargain bin stores. Decorations that are colored brass or copper are nice if they are mechanical trinkets or jewelry boxes. Anything that looks antique would be good.
If you like an item but it’s not the right color you can use very impressive copper or brass metallic paint that looks real. If you combine the colors and dry brush them afterward so they look old, this adds more visual appeal.
Elegant framed picture frames
Fancy picture frames that look elegant are an absolute must. All different sizes and shapes make any wall look quirky and eccentric. Now you can place all your framed art and favorite pictures inside them. The best place to find authentic picture frames is to check out Goodwill and second-hand stores. There are also cheap kits that can be found online using molded polyurethane foam and painted like wood.
Just make sure that anything that has glass inside the picture frame is attached to your wall safely. Just like any other real picture frame, these must be hung with a proper wall mount. You don’t want falling pictures with shattering glass going everywhere.
Lots of shelving
Not just ordinary shelving, but shelving that has little bins built into them. These are called keepsake shelving. These make all of your nic-naks and bric-a-brac more suitably displayed. If you do have shelving put up, you’ll need to have nice rich wood finishes that have finished decorative edges. You can solve this by gluing decorative trim from home depot on the edges of the shelf. Then decorative wood stain and sealers are added on top.
Shelving is also a classic form of displaying and storing lots of books, which is a big steampunk decoration. You can search for antique-looking faux book spines used for decoration. If you can find cool-looking books that are real, this is better. Mix these within faux books to mix-up the variety.