How do I make my room look steampunk?

Looking for ways to make your room look steampunk? Obviously, yes that’s why you landed here. Congratulations, now steampunk is a lifestyle for you. But let me tell you one thing genre is not a defined interior design. Thus, it is both difficult and versatile design styles. If you read the introduction to this genre from the “Top 10 steampunk gift ideas” article then you know that every element of this style is influenced by the Victorian era’s industrial revolution. Victorian and that time’s modern inventions joined hands to give definition to its design elements.

To make the difficult easy for you we crafted this article which will introduce you to elements of steampunk and then you can experiment with them to create your own room interior.

What is steampunk room decor?

After making a decision of going for this design for your room interior now you need to be intentional in making decor choices. For a bird’s eye view, you can use furniture with lavish crafting, rugs with Persian patterns, bright oil paintings, and rich textiles. At the time of origination of this style genre, home decor stuff was intricately crafted by the hands of artisans. Today’s steampunk decor is not hand made but the style replicates can be found.

Scroll down to read the features of this design genre and start your journey towards awesome interior designs.

Key Features of Steampunk Design

Think for a while about what we do when we decide to renovate our room or home? We think about everything which is part of the room/house. We think of possible design ideas for each item. And what are those items/elements?

1. Walls
2. Colors
3. Lightening
4. Furniture
5. Materials
6. Accessories etc.

The same goes for a steampunk room makeover. All the room items need to opt and synchronize with steampunk design. Have a look below to know what are steampunk walls, colors, lighting, furniture, materials, accessories, etc.

1. Lightening

Steampunk love to glow in basicity. You need to stick to this point during the whole steampunk interior design process. While deciding lighting for your steampunk style room avoids floral, chintz and heavy lampshades. Let the bulbs bare. The other thing is to avoid shade diffusion and letting the bulb’s fire-like shade glorify the room. Be careful while making your lighting decisions, you can go for different warm shades but you can end up with a room having dark leather furniture floating in rustic red. This will be gloomy dark. The clean lighting ideas include proper utilization of pendant lights, filament lamps, surveyor lamps, architectural lamps, etc. One pro tip is to blend lighting and mirror. It will make your room look spacious.

2. Decor

Steampunk interior design demands as bold accessories as the design theme. Some ideas to get that bold décor include the use of metal and heavy-duty furniture, fantasy showpieces, elaborating knobs, art installations like engines and train sets, etc. The items should look like heavy but are not crucial to be heavy in the material. Extravagancy and eccentricity are the terms not for steampunk interior design. You can go for a combination of textures, leather, lace, or anything for your steampunk theme room.

You can employ tools from the industrial revolution, like cogs, clocks, pipes, hierarchical bookcases, globes, maps, compasses, gadgets, etc. These elements will give a mechanical antique steampunk touch to your room. A pro tip is to combine some feminine and masculine elements to incorporate appeal to your space.

3. Furniture Choice

Furniture holds a significant place in the heart of every interior design theme. Furniture choice for a steampunk theme room demands underdone items. All the items must be evocatively industrial. Take metallic insets, storage shapes and recycled elements into consideration like utilize gears, belts and boxes to create a center table. Restored and retrieved old furniture can be created from economy or antique stores. These may include chests transformed into coffee tables, side tables, or storage spaces. Vintage leather furniture, driftwood, raw timber furniture and wrought iron reinforced furniture are among some of the options. Particularly leather furniture is key to steampunk design because of the comfort, sophistication and Victorian luxury it incorporates into space. For a living room combine a leather sofa with a Victorian chair set.

4. Materials

One of the most important steampunk elements to consider includes the type of material you should use in a steampunk-themed room. Among the most famous steampunk materials are metals including copper and chrome pipes. You can use them in a way that meets the decorative to functional needs of the place. Table shelves, stools, lamps, and hooks are possible items that can be crafted from these metal pipes. Old plumbing pipes and mechanical parts will give a tough exterior to the place.

However, an offsetting Victorian charm is crucial to eliminate the dominating steel and heavy-duty mechanical look. A pro tip is to keep the bricks exposed or let the roughly finished wood items play their part so that the organic balance between luxury and steampunk can be rendered. It will give a sense of history along with keeping the roots into the present.

5. Color Scheme

The color scheme is among the elements that you will keep in mind while deciding the other elements for your room. Steampunk interior’s color scheme incorporates metallic tones, copper, bronze, dark wood, leather, etc. tones. Thus, from walls to furniture and from bookcases to cabinets all should be designed with these color elements in mind.

Accent walls are among the most focal steampunk interior design elements. incorporating a steampunk accent wall can be attained in different ways including a dedicated wall to display steampunk accessories like gear murals. However, if you did such a wall in your room then you should avoid using gears anywhere else in the room. It will let the wall stand out in a clean accented space. The other way is to keep a wall with bare bricks or building a fireplace for an accented look. Victorian era’s extravagant silk curtains and sash windows are among some other great ideas to give your room an accent.

Other than the mentioned ideas you can come up with your own design for an accent wall. Experiment but never drop the idea of an accent wall because it is key to steampunk interior design

Steampunk Kitchen

We discussed the features of steampunk interior design. Does all of this apply to kitchen interior design? Yes, in general context all the design elements will be the same. But let’s check some precise steampunk kitchen design ideas.

The most famous steampunk kitchen color scheme is black; the cabinets and appliances go in the same color. Polished concrete floors, brushed metals, copper kitchen stands, and a stainless-steel cup hanger is also steampunk kitchen interior ideas. Another idea is to use a different color for cabinet frames than the base cabinet color. You can create a kitchen sitting out of black pipes and copper top seats.

Steampunk Bathroom

Following the same interior design elements, you can create an awesome steampunk bathroom. However, some precise steampunk bathroom ideas include the use of rustic copper and black tones. You can create a bathroom shower with copper. A large copper bathtub complementing a wooden floor, surreal shower curtains, industrial light fixtures, tissue paper holders out of pipes, copper frame of the mirror and industrial shelving are ideas to add details to your steampunk bathroom interior.

You can also go for a bath mat with some cogs or gears printed on them. You can also embellish bathroom light switches with cogs. DIY a copper toothpaste and brush handler, add a vintage label to old perfume bottles and DIY a bathroom accessory set. Accessory sets can include shampoo and moisturizer bottles. DIY projects will help you relax, relieve your anxiety and developing a connection with your place.

Actionable detailing ideas to make your room look steampunk

We rounded up the elements of steampunk interior design now we will move forward to some actionable detailing ideas. The below are precise steampunk interior ideas.

1. Old Maps

Old maps are common yet most standing out items in steampunk interior design. These are best to decorate a steampunk room under a limited budget. You can incorporate old maps in your room in different ways including hanging them on a wall, building lampshades out of them, or can have old maps to border all your frames.

After deciding to go for old maps as key elements in your steampunk-themed room you need to start a quest for most vintage looking maps. Old maps give a maximum vintage look to the room and are best if you want something neat.

2. Copper Toned Metal Globes

After the old maps, steampunk interior design stands on metal globes. The reason is their antique look and availability in antique stores. While making a purchase decision you have to look for the oldest-looking globe piece as it will give the most accent to the room. Keep the spin functionalities in mind too because your visitors especially kids would love to spin it.

In case you didn’t find an antique globe, you can borrow a helping hand from a friend with some laser cutting skills. The rest will be some copper rods and sheets.

3. A wall with sepia photos

We talked about an accent wall with steampunk items. One idea is to display vintage photos on that wall. You can find such photos on the internet or can develop some old or new family photos with vintage filters.

4. Wall Clocks

Wall clocks serve both as an ornament as well as a functional element. You can go for large gear wall clocks or if you do not want a gear look you can try this steampunk octopus clock. It will be something unique and your friends who are a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean will love it.

5. Light Fixture with an industrial look

Light will highlight your room’s interior style. Light Fixtures are for high ceiling roofs. You can build an industrial light fixture with the help of a few copper pipes and yellow warm light bulbs. Let the bulbs bare for a maximum steampunk look.

6. Steampunk pipe shelves

A DIY book shelve can be crafted from pipes for your steampunk theme room. These shelves are easy to build and manage. Another idea to build steampunk shelves includes building floating shelves out of raw wood textured boards. Avoid polishing the wood for an enhanced accent. Wooden floating shelves are also good if you already employed too many pipe items.

7. Refurbished table

Refurbished furniture will pay you the most. You can use a trunk or an old suitcase to build a table for your steampunk theme room. You will just need to color the old item in a vintage color or to use leather to secure corners with some nails. Another awesome idea is the utilization of an old Victorian sewing table.

Victorian sewing tables have a history. You can make slight color changes to make this table fit your steampunk theme room. Well if you do not have an old Victorian sewing table you can visit antique stores in your area or can search online marketplaces.

Verdict/Conclusion

You are a steampunk design aspirant or about to create one you will find the best ideas here. To design a place, you do not need an interior design degree. You just need to follow your instinct and basic concepts of any particular design. The above are key features of steampunk design, precise steampunk interior design ideas for your bathroom and kitchen and some detailing ideas for your steampunk room. You need to stick to using metallic rustic tones, leather and refurbished furniture and vintage elements. However, you can experiment with in the domain to invent your own renovation style. The above guide is enough to start as a pro.

What’s next? Set to your endeavor and keep visiting. Best of luck!