Hanging On...

The post on ways to hang pictures generated a lot of comments -- many people pointed out ways to upgrade the "pants hanger" -- darker wood, painting the metal, adding metal decorations to the wood, etc. The best idea, however, came from an email from Jen, who suggested using Victorian spring clips. You can see what they are and how Jen uses them above.


You can buy them at Lee Valley Hardware, where they come in 2 different styles. The drilled hole in the back lets you hang them on a nail.


Victorian Spring Clip. 4" long overall and 2-1/2" wide at the tip, it weighs about 7 oz. They are $6.20 for one, $4.49 if you buy 6 or more.



Cast Steel Spring Clip. The cast steel is a bit bigger at 4-1/4" long overall and 2-1/2" wide at the tip, it weighs about 6 oz. $8.80 for one, $7.10 for 6 or more.

For my purposes I think two at the corners of a large print (and perhaps two more at the bottom? I think I'll have to experiment...) would be as cheap as a poster frame, and walk the casual vs Victorian style line that I want my office to have.

Hangers for hanging...

I've been looking for some cost-effective way to hang some Haeckel prints I'm printing up at Costco in my new Victorian science lab inspired office, and remembered this idea:


(found at AT, but I think it originally was featured in Real Simple or Ophrah.)

(via Window Ledge Arts.)

It hits the "gadget" "wood + metal" and "vintage" buttons, but does seem a bit informal. (But it's definitely cheap, and would be easy to change!) What do you think?

Counting photos on the wall...

This is awesome -- the Chicago loft of stylist Jeffrey Moss.


The photo arrangement is incredible.



See more pictures here. Via DesignMom.

Victorian Women Naturalists, enshrined in wallpaper

Shall we continue on the theme of Victorian women scientists for a moment?

Allison sent me to the wallpaper collection by Grow House Grow based on Victorian women naturalists:

And while discoveries by men such as Darwin and Newton have made them household names, there are countless others whose scholarly work has been lost, forgotten or even usurped by other intellectuals. Our Spring 2010 wallpaper line highlights three such individuals, all of whom are women, whose phenomenal academic stories have fallen between the cracks of history.

As female scientists in the nineteenth century, these women faced an oxymoronic distinction that their male counterparts eluded. Sexist barriers discouraged most young girls from the pursuit of an intellectual calling, yet our subjects persevered by challenging the status quo and developing their own route to recognized scholastic excellence. Each woman was largely self taught, and relied almost entirely on an innate passion for her respective field--something that makes their achievements all the more remarkable. Our bonnet is off to these unsung scientific heroines!

Ms. Treat, whose love of carnivorous botanicals influenced Darwin's work, has a luscious wall of Pitcher Plants and mischievous Venus Flytraps (and perhaps an ant or two).

Ms. Ward, who developed her passion for microscopy by magnifying and drawing bugs, blends late-Georgian silhouettes with a curious menagerie of over-sized insects.

Mme. Jeanne, a French dressmaker-cum-Sicilian naturalist (and who invented the world's first aquarium), has her love of the sea reflected in an elegant, ascending mollusk scallop.

Maps as Wallpaper

I've got a map urge today -- it's never very far away frankly, and it's one of those design elements my husband Ben will also go for (as opposed to skulls, for instance). I found these two rooms via Design Crisis.

Lovely.

I've had these images from a very old issue of Martha Stewart in my inspiration file for a long time.


For an especially affordable set of large maps, check out the USGS maps of your locale. For $8, you can order maps of any location that are around 6 square feet.

Faux Bookshelves

Love the "walls of books" look, but don't have enough books (or enough room) to pull it off? Here's a clever idea -- paper one or more of your library walls with bookshelf wallpaper.

The owner and designer (Lynda Gardner) says: these photos are from the library which was once a horrible tiny bedroom which barely fit a single bed……it now has a wall filled with real books alongside a wall of Deborah Bowness wallpaper,…this room also has a couple of leather 1930s chairs, a star light handed down as a family heirloom and a cow skin hide….a cosy place to sit opposite an open fire on the opposite wall.

This is from Design*Sponge, and I strongly recommend the entire post featuring the house of Lynda Gardner -- it is incredible in every way.

(quick tip: Do a google search for "bookcase wallpaper" "book wallpaper" and "bookshelf wallpaper" for lots of different styles and price points.)

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.

Time Fades Decal

Lit Vamp was kind enough to point out this blik decal. It's based on a Threadless T-Shirt design called Time Fades by Samuel Lara. I love how it's done in white against a dark wall in the picture above, but it also comes in black and grey. I think it would be perfect for a dorm room or a rented apartment where you want some non-permanent style.

Explorer's Bathroom

Since I seem to be on a bathroom kick, how about this one for the steampunk explorer? The key to this look is to use a large scale map print so it's not overwhelmingly busy.

via MyHomeIdeas.

Escher up the walls and outside

Yesterday's Escher inspired housing designs were boring compared to these...

A house in Toronto

A mural in a bathroom

Wallpaper in a restaurant

And molds for three wonderful concrete pavers, so you can make your own and tile a driveway or patio.

RetroFuturistic Travel Posters for your Home

Brass Goggles has a post today on the art of Steve Thomas, featuring his retro-futuristic travel art. What they failed to mention, however, was that you can buy this art for a quite reasonable price on Zazzle.

My favorite is Sail Neptune.


Prices start at $11.95 for a small portfolio print on poster paper, and goes up from there for various other options. Probably the best deal is the calendar with 12 of these prints for around $30.

Writing on the Wall

My friend Patrick recently took this beautiful picture of the ceiling in the reading room of the main building at the University of Texas. Built in 1937, it made me realize that while using text as a decorating element has risen in popularity in the last couple of years, it is by no means a new phenomenon. (It says "The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused though a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government. -- Sam Houston")

Here's another example from my library/dining room:


("I get a warm feeling among my books." --Anthony Powell) Although a less lofty sentiment, it suited the ambience of the room. While the reading room's phrase is painted, mine is done with Wonderful Graffiti, which makes it incredibly easy to create something suited perfectly to your environment -- you choose the color, size, font, and words. It goes on like a sticker (it's a bit harder than that -- you have to burnish it with a flat edge -- but easily done in an evening), and can come off without any permanent damage to your walls. (It's perfect if you rent.)

What quotes to use? At first I came up nil, but then ran across this one at the beginning of Cory Doctorow's new story: And I won’t always be this way, When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away. —Jonathan Coulton, “The Future Soon” It has just the right sort of quirky appeal that I'd put into a bathroom. In my experience, if you just keep your eyes open, an appropriate quote will come across your radar. (And please, share any good ones you come across here.)

Metro Stop or Submarine?

Brass Goggles recently featured this picture by anesterik of the Paris Metro stop nearest the Musée des Arts + Metiers. According to Philomena, the recently redesigned stop was made with the fullest intention to look like the interior of a Verne-esque submersible.

I have no idea how it is done, but I think the riveted brass walls would be a warm and interesting interior treatment for a dramatic room -- perhaps a dining room, or on a smaller scale in a powder room.

J. Morgan Puett's "Mildred's Lane" Home (NYT Article)

While I was on vacation (sorry for the dearth of posts), the New York Times published this article on "Mildred's Lane", the home of artist J. Morgan Puett in Pennsylvania, which both Mr. Von Slatt and Daniel were so kind to send to me.

A collaborative, handmade home on 96 acres, she considers her home a work of art:

"It's not about nostalgia or re-enacting," she said. "I believe that all of these time periods and histories are pressing in on us at once," contributing to the complexity of our present and future experience. "What I'm really interested in is the future and what it looks like," she said, and "in inventing a future through history and material culture and art."


[I]nterior walls and ceilings are made from blue steel treated with a darkening chemical — “like the kind used in antiquing jewelry,” Ms. Puett said — applied in a drippy, hand-washed style and then sealed with linseed oil. “I’ve always been in love with industrial metal,” she said.



Toward the back, in the kitchen and dining area, there are hand-hammered metal tables and chairs covered with old flour sacks. Cowhides have been stitched together as floor coverings. Stacks of antique white china fill the metal shelves and the floors are made from smoothly polished concrete. High narrow windows on either side of this space make it feel like an old church.


Ms. Puett’s vision reaches even into the refrigerator, which she has transformed into a strange, constantly shifting vignette of fresh food, old textiles and unusual scientific vials. “I buy beautiful and grotesque foods and try to put them in a new context,” she said. A broccoli floret sits on an antique candlestick, a pomegranate and brown eggs in a glass vase, carrots in ceramic pots. All liquids are decanted into glass measuring vessels.



Incredible, isn't it? If you like Puett's aesthetic, you can view more of her work at the Alexander Gray Associates Gallery website. You should also read the article and view the slideshow for many more details.

credit: Photos by Phil Mansfield Photography.

Harmonie intérieure

French company Harmonie intérieure creates vinyl stickers and mounted pictures that are creative and romantic. The Time Passing collection has some that I thought would appeal to steampunks.

For the steampunk engineer, an early suspension bridge:


For the explorer:


This one is reminiscent of Verne's Mysterious Island:

Maximalist Steampunk: Roger Wood's Studio, redux

And just in case I horrified you yesterday with my minimalist and decluttering posts, here's some images of Roger Wood's -- the original steampunk magpie -- Klockwerks studio. (just for you mouthful...)

The above is from a flickr set by Cory Doctorow, documenting Roger's studio. The below is one of a group from flickr user Studio-Eleven.



You can't have steampunk both ways, but you can have it your way.

Earlier posts on Klockwerks:
Roger Wood's Studio
The Klockwerks Newsletter

Pushing my buttons

Ben got me a great birthday present: A push-button light switch from Rejuvenation. It makes a delightful "clack" noise when you push the mother of pearl inlaid button.

Now for a switch plate to cover it. Luckily for me Rejuvenation was out of their simple brass switchplates, so I've ordered the Victorian brass one from House of Antique Hardware. They have the best selection of push-button switch plates I've been able to find online. Their Art Deco switch plate was also very tempting, but I'm slating the new light switch for a hallway where I'm going with an over the top Victorian feel, and this switch and switch plate will bring a nice turn of the century "electricity worship" feel to the space.

Submarine Playroom

Whilst researching things for 20,000 Leagues week, I ran across this charming playroom on the Better Homes and Gardens site.





Unlike many of the other rooms we've looked at in the last week, this one is done entirely in paint -- down to the rivets and pipes. If you're not so artistically inclined, you could achieve a similar affect with fish Wallies -- wallpaper "stickers" that are easy to apply.


Index for the Jules Verne Week Extravaganza.

The Air Ship -- a Musical Farce Comedy for your Wall

As we were purusing our morning electro-papers this morning over coffee (half a mile apart, sigh), Mr. Brumfield kindly pointed me to this posting on Paleo-Future on The Air Ship: A Musical Farce Comedy. Now musical theatre is not the focus on this blog, but since this particular show comes with some lovely posters, I thought I would share.



Don't you just adore the bicycling airship mother with twins?

Matt at Paleo-Future points out that there are many places online to buy posters like those shown below but I would recommend downloading the Library of Congress files here and here and bringing them to your favorite photo-printing establishment that can handle poster-sized prints.

Given the appropriate framing, and perhaps with a small novelty airship hanging close by, this would make a lovely addition to your wall.