DIY steampunk in the home interior: wallpaper, paintings, decoration and furniture

Published: 06/15/2021 2807 views How to decorate a room in the steampunk style at home or in an apartment? Everything about decoration, furniture, steampunk wallpaper and paintings

Steampunk is steam and punk in one bottle. Anyone who knows English has already translated it, but it’s unlikely that they understood the meaning. How does it fit together? Now we'll tell you. In art in general there is a lot of interesting and bizarre, we will even say that it is symbolic. The style was born from a fantastic literary genre - works about alternative civilizations, in which the main role was given to steam engines and various mechanisms.

How it manifests itself in interior design, what it is based on, what secrets it has, and how to create a steampunk home, read on.

The atmosphere of the steampunk world

Once again about the term, history and main features

With steam, everything is clear, why does the name also include “garbage, waste”? Scientists themselves do not have a clear answer. Some believe that this is an allusion to the lower strata of society, others - the main materials from which steampunk “tools” are made: metal parts, waste machinery. Still others associate the term with a protest against the dominance of urbanization, the technological process and everyday life. In pursuit of imaginary progress, people forget about sincerity, normal human relationships, their individuality and the present.

In the interior, the style reflects the Victorian era, dreams of the grandiose development of steam technology, mechanisms, and not electronics, as is happening now. When decorating premises, designers try to immerse themselves in the life of 19th-century society, to convey their passion for complex mechanics and faith in its success, which will pave the way to an amazing future.

Essentially, this is a fantasy about a parallel world, a reference to all the famous works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and other science fiction writers.

The direction was formed by the 80s of the last century and is briefly characterized as “the future from the past.” Among the main varieties are sci-fi, urban and industrial. And each of them is difficult to imagine without a large number of pipes, levers, unusual devices, all kinds of light bulbs and gears. The last element is considered by many to be a symbol of the steampunk style itself.

Types of current

Steampunk as a subculture and the fashion trend associated with it has several trends:

1. Classic (Victorian). The images are less shocking, based on imitation of costumes of the late 19th century or the use of their individual elements. It is this direction that is reflected in the collections of famous fashion houses (men's collection 2012 “Prada”).
2. Technological. Assumes rigid shapes and rough silhouettes. Abundant decoration using leather and metal fittings. The images are similar to the costumes of pioneers. For men, this is expressed in long semi-fitted raincoats, coats made of leather or thick wool, wide-brimmed hats or top hats. Women's images are based on the use of rigid corsets, short multi-layered, fluffy skirts.

3. Fantasy. Unlimited flight of fancy, daring, carnival images based on the use of accessories. Unusual corsets-vests are acceptable, richly decorated with gears, elements of mechanisms, and metal fittings in the industrial style.

If we talk about steampunk as a literary movement, we distinguish:

1. Dieselpunk. The action moves to a later time, the beginning of the 20th century, or even to an alternative future of victorious steam technology.
2. Fantasy. Describes non-existent worlds reminiscent of late 19th century England, in which magic coexists with technology.
3. Historical. The plot is based on a true story transferred to the world of steampunk.

Distinctive features in interior design

One of the main places in a steampunk room is occupied by water supply and heating systems. They are not disguised, on the contrary, they are put on public display.

A distinctive feature of the style is pipes on display

The surroundings are complemented by original decorative items: images and models of an airship, airplane, hot air balloon, etc.

The features of this direction include:

• use of exclusively natural materials;
• atypical lighting - lamps that resemble Victorian sconces or gas lamps;
• the presence of retro-styled furniture: covered with wood or coated with copper;
• using gears, printed illustrations with treasure hunt maps, compasses, antique watches and other things as decorative elements;
• the indispensable presence of objects from the past: typewriters, copper dishes, gramophones, telephones.

A classic steampunk room is the perfect atmosphere for a scientist and science fiction lover who lived in the last century. Here the ceiling, floor, walls, furniture sets, and decor will be associated with the Victorian era and fantastic literary works, a past where there was no hint of a computer, or even modern electricity.

Classic Victorian clothing

Steampunk is a style of clothing using wardrobe items stylized in the Victorian era. Outfits in the classic direction of this style are suitable for themed parties or events, cosplay competitions.

The basis of a woman's look is a long dress with puffy sleeves, a complex skirt, a soft corset or a sewn-in bodice.

The hem can be asymmetrical: at the back to the floor, and at the front to the knee or slightly higher. Dense fabrics are usually used - velvet, crimplene, but lighter ones - satin, satin are also acceptable.

Decorative elements used:

• ruffles, flounces;
• gathers, lacing;
• double skirts, several petticoats;

• imitation bustle (the skirt is raised at the back below the waist by a semi-crinoline);
• wide belts made of leather or thick fabric with complex metal buckles, straps or rivets;
• corsets are not rigid in shape and material, emphasizing female forms.
• accessories - ladies' hats with veils, top hats, Victorian-style jewelry made of silver or copper;
• lace trim, fabric flowers, pearls.

Steampunk at home, or Choosing finishing materials

The ceiling should be brutal and asymmetrical, with the obligatory presence of decorative elements. Must-have is a large height, which is sometimes achieved with the help of lighting and light tinting, arched structures, columns, arcs, and upward steps. The optimal color scheme is pastel colors or an image of a starry sky, possible decor is an attached airplane or airship body, metal strips with screws, rivets.

The flooring in rustic steampunk rooms is usually oak. For urban bedrooms and living rooms, suitable parquet or laminate flooring is often chosen, and for bathrooms and kitchens, ceramic tiles imitate discreet, dark stone, marble, rough sea stones, and paving stones.

Parquet, wood trim and metal decor

The walls are also finished with natural materials; bulky options like stone and aged wood are welcome. If the budget is limited or initially modest, you can simply leave the concrete walls or hang wallpaper that matches the stylistic direction.

How to combine clothes to get a harmonious look?

You can create a harmonious steampunk image by following the following rules:

1. Clearly decide on the style direction to make it easier to assemble the set.
2. General color scheme. There should be no bright or contrasting color elements.
3. Accessories must be stylistically unified. Gloves with an abundance of metal fittings will not harmonize with a vintage hat decorated with feathers and ribbons.

4. Short skirts can be combined with tops or blouses with open shoulders, corsets. High boots and rough platform shoes will also look great.
5. A man's style look can be assembled from tight trousers, high boots without heels, a shirt or blouse with wide sleeves. An unusual leather vest or corset will complement the look.
6. Victorian dresses and skirts look good with loosely shaped bodices.

Steampunk wallpaper: what to look for in stores?

Pay attention to products with luxurious decor and elements characteristic of the era. You can take collections that directly remind you of the main theme - rolls with painted gears, clocks, and various mechanisms. Those with futuristic images, balloons, and airships are also suitable. Imitation of brick, rust, old maps, concrete, and metal will also look great.

Wallpaper and bedroom decoration in steampunk style

If such solutions are not close to you, take a closer look at special decorative paints, especially the colors of precious stones. Create a velvety effect or simply choose a pretty tone from a dark palette of green, blue, and brown.

List of necessary things

Wardrobe items	For women	For men
Basic things	Corset. Dress (imitation Victorian era). Classic shirt/blouse. Skirt stylized at the end of the 19th century. Vest (fitted or long). Men's cut trousers.	The trousers are close in cut to the 1890s. Classic shirt or decorated with lace. Vest in dandy style. Double-breasted jacket, stylized as a tailcoat or frock coat from the reign of Queen Victoria.
Outerwear	Bomber jackets (aviators) made of leather with elements of artificial aging with a fur or knitted collar. Elongated or floor-length fitted coats (overcoats) with a stand-up collar imitating the cut of the Victorian era
Shoes	Boots, shoes, boots, stylized at the end of the 19th century. Street shoes, "Grinders", "Camelot".
Accessories	Hats, top hats, gloves, mittens, goggles, vintage jewelry or imitation mechanisms.

More details about flowers and furniture

The most suitable shades for decoration are rotten green, mahogany, old gold, brown, walnut, rust. It is better to choose wooden furniture sets, mainly from such exotic species as rosewood and teak. Armchairs and sofas should be leather and quilted - these are the models that fit perfectly into classic and retro interiors. The presence of comfortable armrests is just a plus!

Chesterfield sofa in a Steampunk interior

Experts allow adding furniture typical of a loft to the interior. For example, cast iron and folding chairs, coffee tables on steel wheels, metal cabinets, which are usually found in workshops. You can safely use various antique items - things that have long been collecting dust in the attics of grandmothers' houses. Let's say an old painted floor lamp, chairs, parts of a gas stove, sewing or typewriter, sheets of metal.

Color solution

Steampunk involves the use of muted, rather dark colors in clothing, characteristic of the Victorian era. This is due to the fact that the style focuses on accessories, and muted tones make the image harmonious and complete.

Characteristic color schemes:

• noble shades of brown;

• black;
• Bordeaux, Marsala;
• Navy blue;
• white;
• beige;
• graphite gray;
• dark green;
• muted brick red.

Primary colors can be complemented by finishing with calm olive, soft red, calm copper-gold.

The fabrics used are plain; vertical narrow or thick stripes are acceptable, usually for trousers or shirts.

For casual sweatshirts and T-shirts, you can use thematic prints (gears, mechanical elements).

Steampunk decor and other interior accessories

Decorative items for decorating premises in this style should be sought not in souvenir shops and supermarkets, but in flea markets, antique shops and even factories and depots. Of course, often not in finished form. You will have to make a couple of more manipulations to get an interesting and appropriate product. It’s troublesome, but some will find this activity interesting, plus the savings are obvious. Sometimes parts are even provided for free.

Be sure to ask your friends and relatives if they have any old gears lying around somewhere. By the way, the older they are, the better! Don’t want to run around to workshops and flea markets, or turn your home into an “industrial workshop”? Then buy decorative ones made by designers, or make them yourself. There are detailed life hacks.

If there were writers, editors, or journalists in your family, look in the bins for a typewriter. It is advisable to install it in a visible place, for example, on an open shelf. Fans of sea adventures will love the idea of ​​using unique portholes with spotlights, stylized compasses, barometers, family photos in massive frames made of brass, wood, copper, steampunk paintings, and faded geographical maps to decorate their rooms.

Decor items for a steampunk interior

Men with a technical mindset will certainly be comfortable living among numerous diagrams, images of futuristic units, and aircraft. For the female half who loves to travel, you can offer to decorate the room in a steampunk style with a gilded globe. The older generation will most likely be delighted to have a massive antique clock on the wall. Their main highlight is the open mechanism of operation, so in a free moment there will definitely be something to distract yourself with.

Art ideas for creating unique DIY accessories with photos

To make one of the most popular style accessories - goggles, you will need:

• welding safety glasses;
• paint – silver, copper, gold (optional);
• brushes, cotton pads, paper;
• super glue or hot glue;
• decorative elements.

Glasses need to be chosen with the possibility of their maximum analysis. It is advisable to remove the top part, elastic bands, and remove the lenses. If the latter cannot be removed, they will need to be sealed. The paint should be matte. In some stores you can find coatings that imitate aged copper or gold.

Step-by-step instruction:

1. It is necessary to prepare the workplace and disassemble the glasses as much as possible.
2. Cover the parts with silver paint in several layers, the latter will need to be applied with a cotton pad or paper, creating an uneven coating.
3. Let the paint dry.
4. Then apply bronze or gold paint, also simulating signs of aging with a cotton swab or paper.
5. When the paint is dry, the glasses need to be assembled and you can start decorating.

Parts from broken mechanical watches or small screws and chains can be used as decorations.

If necessary, decorative elements will need to be coated with paint to give them an aged look. You can use old jewelry or elements reminiscent of the Victorian era.

Steampunk allows you to temporarily be transported to an alternative universe or feel like a hero of a science fiction work. The style is gaining more and more popularity, so it’s easy to order clothes, shoes and accessories to create an image on the Internet.

Article design: Oksana Grivina

Strange but fascinating steampunk paintings

Works of art in this direction are very different from what most people are used to. These are not typical landscapes or paintings of military battles, portraits, still lifes. Artists depict a completely different world against the backdrop of an already existing one. It’s as if reality and its “parallel” alternative have merged together.

What will you see in steampunk paintings? Eg:

• many houses stacked on top of each other, which from a distance resemble anthills;
• all kinds of metal structures,
• people in helmets, worn leather jackets with stern faces and goggle glasses;
• huge skyscrapers;
• smoke, fumes;
• an abundance of stones, iron, glass.
• a large “assortment” of mechanical instruments, old technology - an airship, cars, a dial, a locomotive, a boiler, robots, arrows, levers and gears.

And no nature in its pure form: beautiful lawns, ponds, grass with flowers, forests, even butterflies and moths. Completely urban landscapes with polluted air and gray, cloudy skies, paving stones, factory chimneys, street gas lamps, old shop windows and shops, poor areas.

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By the way, they paint not only the poor; artists are happy to depict representatives of the aristocracy and workers against such a gloomy background. One picture can fit slum dwellers and engineers, ladies in fluffy dresses and men in tailcoats with crazy scientists, detectives, maniacs and travelers, “moths” and street children.

So what is it like – a steampunk room?

It definitely looks outdated and consists of already outdated items. If there is a stove in the kitchen, then it is certainly a gas one, and it feels like your grandmother still managed to use it. Is there a computer in the office? Then with very unusual “peripherals” - a keyboard in the shape of keys from a typewriter, a screen in the spirit of a Soviet TV receiver and massive iron speakers. If such a neighborhood does not please you, limit yourself only to finishing materials and accessories that suit the style.

Not a standard living room for tea drinking

Entering such a hall, you immediately understand: very brave, unconventionally thinking people live here. They understand history, have spent a lot of time reading science fiction novels, and are not afraid to combine strange things with each other. They somehow managed to use the space organically: there are massive objects and small ones, different textures and colors, without the room looking cluttered or empty. It is easy to navigate despite the “creative” clutter.

It seems that the renovation has not been done for a long time, although in reality you could have recently completed all the finishing work. This impression is created due to the choice of materials: rough plaster, concrete, wooden parquet, metal structures, and the presence of slightly rusted iron. A special atmosphere in the steampunk living room is created by the unusual lamps that we described above.

Living room interior in steampunk style

Designers recommend using neutral dark tones as the background and base colors. For variety and accents, you can add a couple of bright details to them: a carpet, decorative pillows, curtains. Be sure to use furniture on wheels, items that are partially made of metal, or already broken mechanisms. And think in advance about how you will decorate the walls: hang a large map, a model of an aircraft, a steampunk painting or a set of photographs? There are enough options, you can build something yourself.

The bedroom is a “haven” for pirates or tired scientists

An ordinary bedroom, with appropriate preparation, can become a bunker, cabin or wheelhouse. If such conditions attract you, order a durable, bulky wooden bed. Look at Victorian-style products to get at least a general idea of ​​the models.

For wall decoration, experts recommend using gray wallpaper that imitates metal sheets, decor - large clocks, “panels” of gears, bolts and other spare parts, a huge compass, intricate drawings and diagrams. Decorative arches and additional pieces of furniture - a chest of drawers or dressing table - are good as zoning tools.

Wooden bed, large clock, gears

“Not porcelain” steampunk bathroom

The toilet and bath are perhaps the most interesting rooms for this area. This is where there is a reason to roam... You remember about open water supply systems, right? Exactly! Here you will find both ordinary and decorative pipes, and the opportunity to use alternative plumbing. Fortunately, at least the materials used are noble: granite, marble, stainless metals. And the taps and showers look very aesthetically pleasing and interesting – as if they had “teleported” to us from the 1900s.

Decorative pipes, marble, stainless metal

The walls are usually decorated with ceramic tiles with locomotives, balloons, aged maps or other thematic images. There is a brick wall right next to the bronze bathtub. Fans of particularly extravagant solutions are advised to build an unusual structure for water procedures - in the form of a submarine, airship, pirate ship. Furniture sets should have a glossy surface to reflect light and compensate for the lack of light colors and natural lighting.

Children's room for dreamers and future engineers

Steampunk is a style that can be of interest not only to adults. Some boys, from an early age, are drawn to various pieces of hardware; they happily help their dads repair cars and tube TVs; they are not averse to taking apart the old clocks that hang at their grandfather’s dacha for parts. They watch “retro-futuristic” films and read books by world-famous science fiction writers. For such “young techies”, a room can become a real source of inspiration and an opportunity to realize their ideas.

If you don’t overdo it, you can create an unusual, but quite comfortable atmosphere. Of course, you shouldn’t pay 100% tribute to style in terms of lighting; the priority is the child’s health, his vision and posture. It is also advisable to adhere to all safety rules and use only smooth objects without chips or cracks. Thanks to the globe, chests, atlases and maps, and some artifacts, your child will acquire knowledge and will study geography, history, physics and other disciplines at school with great enthusiasm. An unusual interior will help develop imagination and creative thinking. Another advantage is that you can involve your child in decorating the room and spend leisure time together.

Steampunk elements in the nursery

"Unsecret" kitchen in the "steampunk" style

Before your eyes will not be modern electrical appliances, a cozy dining table with chairs for family meals, but actually an experimental laboratory. You can try to feel like a culinary genius and create something cooler than molecular cuisine. To create a suitable ambience, you will need a tiled floor to look like natural stone, a dark set with metal handles, walls with white brickwork, an oak, cherry or marble countertop.

Bright kitchen in steampunk style, decorative pipes

Kitchen interior in Steampunk style

Note the hood - it requires sheet metal to make - and the unusual lamp with an outdated height adjustment mechanism. Make it yourself or buy a large panel consisting of various “technical” devices and think about what cutlery, dishes, and equipment are typical for steampunk.

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Expert: Nadezhda Gumennaya

Fantastic steampunk

Steampunk is also characterized by fantasy images that seem to copy the heroes of science fiction works from a parallel universe. There are no clear rules or boundaries for their creation; anything that makes the outfit unrealistic is acceptable.

Girls can use multi-layered lace or tulle skirts of different lengths: floor-length, above the knee, mini, along with rigid leather corsets. The latter should be richly decorated with belts or metal fittings. A corset can be an independent wardrobe element, or worn over a shirt or top. An elongated loose vest of a men's cut can complement the look.

Steampunk style of clothing is varied and spontaneous.

Images using men's clothing will look advantageous. These could be ties styled at the end of the 19th century, frock coats or tailcoats, or men's cut trousers. They can be complemented with the same leather corsets or wide leather or fabric belts.

Shoes, as a rule, used in a fantasy steampunk look are rough - with platforms or high thick heels. It can be decorated with lacing or metal buckles, or fittings.

Accessories play the main role in creating an unusual look.

There should be a lot of them:

• hats;
• cylinders;
• gloves-meetings or high;
• unusual jewelry made of copper or scarlet silver.

The more elaborate they are, the more authentic the image will be.