Steampunk is the past in the future. The genre of science fiction that gained maximum popularity in the 1980s considered an alternative history of technology. What if electricity had not been invented, and instead of the computers we are used to, there were steam engines? Most of these stories were based on the Victorian era, so it is not surprising that the Victorian style will be the basis of the steampunk interior.
In addition, imitation of an airship, steam locomotive or submarine is also popular:The interior of Jules Verne's Nautilus is a classic style.
The latest trend is to mix loft and steampunk, because the styles really overlap in general principles. Such approaches make the interior more like a steam factory. We wrote about a brutal loft in Volgograd, it uses many steampunk elements:
Of course, to embody steampunk, a house or at least a spacious apartment with high ceilings would be ideal. However, even a few elements can create a successful stylization in a small room. In this Taiwanese apartment there is only one partition from steampunk, but it is very atmospheric:
Steampunk in the interior: colors
The basis of steampunk is brown shades from light to very dark. You can’t do without copper and brass colors in these interiors. Cushioned furniture and textiles can be in noble dark shades of green, red, blue and yellow. Choose muted and warm colors.
Finishing
The design of walls and floors is most often borrowed from the Victorian style. That is, it is fabric covering or wallpaper, wooden panels or even masonry. Metal panels with rivets they look authentic, like on a submarine. They can be used to decorate part of the wall for emphasis or zoning. Aged brickwork or even simple painting neutral colors are also good options.
The floor should be wooden or tiled in color natural stone. In the kitchen, bathroom and hallway areas, matte tiles with a color reminiscent of natural stone will look good.
Steampunk does not have specific requirements for ceiling design, but multi-stage ceilings with non-standard elements decorate this style. Here you can experiment with hanging structures, cladding, and decorative elements extending from the walls. Metal slatted ceiling may fit well if you emphasize this material. If you just paint, then imitation concrete texture or metallic paint will look great.
Lighting
This style cannot be called light, so the sufficiency of artificial lighting is very important. Warm diffused light, preferably from gas-discharge lamps, is what you need. It is better to give preference to local lighting, for example wall sconce. Yellow or green lighting is very popular in this style. Read more about interior lighting.
Daytime natural light will not have the best effect on the decor and colors of the decoration, so steampunk is often used for rooms without windows - basements, corridors, toilet-bathrooms or public places such as clubs and bars.
Quartblog Digest
How to create an amazing steampunk apartment: Victorian furniture and steam decor
Tiny chests of drawers, steampunk clocks and poisonous fabric mushrooms - in the Kvartblog report.
Designer Nick Olson created an interesting and eclectic townhouse interior in a house built in 1800. And we will try to recreate this interior. What will complicate our task is that many of the details here are made in op art or steampunk styles.
An interview with Kvartblog was given by the owner of an apart-hotel near the Vystavochnaya metro station, whose nine apartments are decorated in a steampunk style with loft features.
Photos: nividar.com, designindaba.com, ideesdecomaison.ch, amilcook.com, fillyourhomewithlove.com, interiorsbystudiom.com
The steampunk style in the interior personifies a kind of alternative reality in which steam engines and mechanisms, rather than electronics, received the main development. This retro-futuristic style reflects the characteristics of the Victorian era and fantasizes about the development of steam technology.
Designers and amateurs working on the creation of such interiors try to imagine the thoughts of people of the 19th century, who sincerely believed in the success of the development of complex mechanics, and implement these images in individual rooms and decorative details.
Inspiration and ideas for interior design in the steampunk style can be found in books and film adaptations by such writers as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Albert Robida.
Proper design of details plays a role here important role. A thorough approach to design fully embodies the warmth, originality and desire for the unknown that characterize this style.
Steampunk in the interior: conceptual features
- Stylized Appliances, furnishings and decor;
Natural materials in finishing and design. - Original decor. Old maps and globes, typewriters, compasses, grandfather clocks with a pendulum, and other antique paraphernalia.
Ideas to create creative decor designers take from steampunk and science fiction literature dedicated to time travel and alternative reality. - Presence in decorative design elements of steam mechanisms - these can be real interior details or images on wallpaper, posters and paintings.
- Original lighting. Modern lamps and chandeliers are not suitable for decorating a steampunk interior; they are replaced with unusual sconces, lamps and floor lamps, which can be styled independently or to order.
Finishes and materials
Wood, metal, glass, stone, ceramic tiles, leather and natural fabrics are the main materials used for finishing and decorating rooms in the steampunk style.
Walls in this style are often covered with wood, plastered, painted, covered with photo wallpaper in the steampunk style or imitating brickwork. Brick walls You can leave it as is, without finishing.
The ceiling is whitewashed, painted, and covered with wood.
Lay on the floor ceramic tiles, parquet board, parquet or laminate. 
Style colors
The color palette of the style involves the use of warm and restrained tones - from light cream to red-brown and black. They decorate not only walls or ceilings, but also individual decorative accent details.
Metallic colors often used are copper, silver, brass, bronze and gold. Heavy metallic colors can be diluted with smoky blue, green, blue, indigo and light gray shades. 
Style furniture
Furniture in the Victorian style will organically fit into the steampunk interior: leather sofa chesterfield, large comfortable chairs with copper rivets, secretary, etc. 
Furniture equipment will be complemented by open metal shelving filled with books, forged chairs, creative coffee table in the spirit of steampunk and other stylized furniture. 
Furniture pieces assembled by yourself, for example, shelves made of iron tubes or an all-metal table, will make the room unique. 
Decor and accessories
In order for modern household appliances to fit more authentically into such an interior, you can stylize them as antique; alternatively, you can repaint them in copper color or enclose them in wooden case.
Stylized household appliances Black and white photographs and paintings in metal frames will be an excellent decoration, original panels from gears, tubes, chains and plates, as well as other futuristic DIY crafts.
Don't forget about vintage maps world, globe, drawings, as well as a telescope and compass, which will bring the spirit of travel to your interior. 
Let's look at examples of what other decorative details accompany a steampunk interior.
Steampunk is a mix of modern and futuristic details and ornate Victorian elements. This style is most accurately defined by the phrase “the future from the past.” And this is all you need to know about steampunk, because there are no special rules that need to be followed, and the flight of fancy is not limited in any way.
Steampunk in the interior - a mix of old and new
Originating as a literary movement in the 1980s, steampunk has evolved over time into its own style, primarily related to fashion, but also used in interior design. Steampunk is especially suitable for the interiors of bars and modern cafes. Dim lighting, mystical atmosphere... Thrilling sensations even with a cup of coffee. And in Lately even apartments began to be decorated in steampunk style.
An individual approach to steampunk design
When you set out to create a steampunk interior, try to imagine yourself in the shoes of people from the early twentieth century. Surely you can roughly imagine what it looked like interior decoration Victorian era houses. Now try to imagine how people who lived a century ago saw the future. What would things that had not yet been invented look like to them? What would a computer look like if it existed by then? Combine these fantasies with furniture from the 19th and 20th centuries, and the beginning of steampunk design has already been laid!
You can create steampunk furniture with your own hands, only slightly changing the existing one
Steampunk style does not accept things modern look. Furniture, accessories and even gadgets and household appliances such as computers, stoves and ovens must certainly have a “retro” tint. A computer, for example, may have a keyboard that resembles a typewriter. A vintage frame will work for the monitor, and you can use an old gas stove instead of a modern stove.
Industrial accents
Like many other styles, steampunk manifests itself in the little things. This means that equipping the premises does not require large expenses. Gears that can be hung on walls instead of paintings or floor lamps on a “leg” made of metal pipe create the desired atmosphere. By the way, in the bathroom, do not hide the pipes behind the walls, take them outside. Steampunk at its brightest.
Materials and colors
In this style there is a certain list of “must have” materials: brass, leather, wood - materials typical of the beginning of the twentieth century. They evoke a slight nostalgia for times gone by, which is the goal of steampunk design. As for colors, they are very characteristic of this unusual design natural shades - beige, brown, and black. But bright “futuristic” accents will also find their application in a steampunk interior.
Living room in steampunk style
A steampunk interior does not always require deliberate, eye-catching accessories. If you are leaning towards a more restrained design, an example would be the living room design in the photo above. Individual small elements can create the same mood as lush decorations. Metal floor lamp stand, furniture on wheels, rusty plaque on the stairs industrial look, and the air is filled with the romance of English factories from the era of Queen Victoria.
Steampunk in the bathroom
If you decide to decorate your apartment in the steampunk style, of course, you cannot limit yourself to just one room. The same applies to the bathroom with toilet. However, there is no need to think long here: exposed brass pipes and a metal sink will create the right atmosphere. A marble countertop will add elegance and take care of the vintage feel that goes so well with an industrial accent.
Modern bedroom
This unusual bedroom is distinguished, among other things, by its light design in the steampunk style. Retro details are complemented by a gear wall decoration, an old battery and wooden doors in shabby chic style. Unplastered brickwork along with a gyro-shaped chandelier highlight the steampunk design of the room.
Accessories from a submarine
The details, as if taken from an old ship or submarine, fit our style perfectly. Valves, portholes and propellers as decorative elements can also add bright color accents to the interior - just paint them in your favorite color. In addition, the lighting can be any color scheme, which suits your liking.
Gears on the wall
We have already talked about gears: they are an ideal accessory for a steampunk interior. The combination of gears of different sizes overlapping each other, like in an old mechanism, looks especially good. Can't find gears to decorate your wall with? No problem, you can stick to wallpaper or wall art. This will give the interior even more nostalgia.
Gray kitchen in steampunk style
You can imitate not only gears, but also metal. Moreover, this is true not only for the kitchen with the interesting retro refrigerator that you see in the photo, but also for any other piece of furniture. Several rivets and grey colour, giving off a metallic shine, truly work wonders! Don't forget about the appropriate accessories - a vintage faucet, for example.
Victorian and industrial
By the way, any kitchen in the Landhouse style can be easily filled with a steampunk atmosphere. Vintage household appliances, metal chairs, brass elements, and you are already close to your ideal!
Crazy design
The number of accessories used in the design of the room depends solely on your taste preferences, as well as the size of the available space. However, don't overdo it. There can be a lot of details in the steampunk style, but they still need to be skillfully distributed. The result will be crazy, but still full of style.
Ideas for a steampunk bathroom and toilet
The bathroom is ideal for using a lot of metal elements in its equipment. However, please note that only stainless metal can be used, otherwise high humidity can destroy all efforts. Metal surface on the walls can be imitated with appropriate tiles, as in the photo above. While looking a little rusty, it reflects light like real metal and looks very authentic.
Pendant lamps and “Ilyich bulbs”
In any style, lighting plays an important role. The ideal atmosphere in steampunk design is created by “Ilyich bulbs”, emitting warm light. They can be screwed into pendant lamps, create tube lamps or make your own industrial-style lampshades.
Lanterns
Another one great idea- lanterns that create subdued diffused lighting. Hang them in a row, for example, over a kitchen island, dining table or a bar counter. Here's another tip: the dark surface of the lamps goes well with brown leather.
Steampunk office interior
Antique desks not only look beautiful, but are often more comfortable than modern ones. Add here a metal shelving unit and matching wall decorations. Rusty corrugated sheet steel replacing roughly plastered brick walls forms a magnificent accent wall. Large gears can simply be hung on the wall, or you can make a clock out of them.
Unusual dining table
A similar table, having at the base a certain metal structure, can be made to order. Old engines are ideal for this purpose. And so that the mechanism is clearly visible, a glass tabletop is placed on top. Cool metallic tones are softened by brown leather chairs, dark wood shelving and plenty of books.
Computer in steampunk style
Modern technology doesn't quite fit with the atmosphere we're trying to recreate with steampunk, so it needs some changes. In the photo you see interesting idea for computer. Monitors are inserted into frames, speakers are mounted into gramophone horns, and the keyboard resembles the keys of a typewriter. And all this is not on desk, but inside a small organ.
In the interior new apartment or when repairing an old one, many designers advise paying attention to the steampunk style when choosing an unusual design. In accordance with this style, the decor of the apartment is selected so that you can enter a world where alternative history allows you to fully experience the effect of moving in space.
For modern residents, the main thing in the interior is the unusual style, combined with coziness and everyday comfort. These features are endowed with the steampunk style, which is a fusion of the comfort of the Victorian era and the atmosphere of the adventure novels of Jules Verne.
This amazing synthesis looks organic not only in the photo, but also in reality. A design in this style is suitable for offices, living rooms, it fits perfectly into the interior of the bathroom, and if desired, the bedroom will look cozy in an unusual design.
The steampunk style appeared about 35 years ago on the wave of the next popularity of classicism and science fiction. For most fashion styles It is characteristic that they are first promoted from fashion catwalks, but the steampunk interior is perhaps the only one created based on scenes from works of art. The apartment will fully comply with the steampunk style if the design is made using two methods.
- It is necessary to use antique items and various technical units in the interior, which in their origin belong to the Victorian era.
- The interior will match the style if you make it old with your own hands modern furniture and use materials that completely imitate natural ones when decorating walls.
An apartment in the steampunk style has certain characteristics; by just seven signs you can determine that the design you created with your own hands is fully consistent with the fashion trend. These signs include the following.
Subjects
A room decorated in a steampunk style should show what our life would be like if development followed the path proposed in 19th-century science fiction. It’s not difficult to achieve this effect on your own if you have a colorful photo corresponding to the theme in front of your eyes during the renovation.
Fantastic works of that time glorified power and strength steam engine, the greatness of airships, so the apartment can be crowded with sophisticated and not always clear devices powered by steam. IN modern interior It is preferable to use imitation of these units.
Colors
The interior, corresponding to the steampunk style, contains predominantly brown shades, as well as golden or red brown. The entire design stands out with color accents: rich shades are widely introduced into the interior - emerald, royal blue, wine.
Finishing materials
Steampunk interior – collection natural materials. The room or the entire apartment should be decorated with wood different breeds, glass, metal, natural stones.
Rich red-brown shades in the interior are fully respected thanks to furniture sets made of cherry, mahogany, and oak. In the photo of such an interior you can see ceilings lined with wood.
For those who prefer light decor, you can choose delicate shades for decoration, the main thing is to maintain an atmosphere of isolation from the real world. The room will look somewhat ominous if its interior is complemented by a door or ceiling, the covering of which is covered with sheet iron and a huge number of rivets.
Besides wooden lining Steampunk decor can be achieved if the apartment or a separate room is covered with dark paper or fabric wallpaper. Intricate or even rough patterns (heraldry or monograms) on the wallpaper will bring the design of the premises closer to the intended image.
You can see steampunk in the photos of spacious loft apartments. When decorating such premises with your own hands, the walls are freed from finishing materials and reveal the rough brickwork. A complete match with the steampunk style is achieved by building a partition from a special type of London brick.
When choosing modern materials designers recommend choosing laminate, linoleum, veneer or acrylic surfaces. Their surface must imitate natural stone or wood, this choice will allow you to create a design in a fantastic style without any special financial costs.
Furniture
For the living room, you can choose a leather sofa, the decor of which is represented by carvings and lion paws. In the office, it would not be out of place to have a table made of two cabinets and bookcases, such interiors can be seen in the photo of the recreated Victorian era.
Real furniture of that time was made by hand from ebony or mahogany, leather, and bronze. Next to familiar-looking objects there should be strange screws, units, parts of steam boilers or submarines, elements of airships that you can create with your own hands.
Lighting
Lighting also plays a role in creating a gloomy atmosphere. Dim light is achieved using gas discharge lamps, which may flicker or hum slightly. The decor of the lampshades and lampshades is selected in the Victorian era.
Accessories
The steampunk style will fully manifest itself and sparkle with all its colors if the entire decor contains original elements. You can buy them not in stores, but at markets or auctions; photos of such things can also be viewed on the Internet.
Antique compasses, geographical, worn maps, drawings of incomprehensible instruments, photographs or daguerreotypes of ladies, clocks with a pendulum, globes, barometers - these things fully correspond to the steampunk direction. The room will be transformed if you build an aquarium into the wall with a porthole instead of the front glass.
Technique
The steampunk style attracts many people with the possibility of combining original details with modern household appliances. However, devices can also be disguised as antique units.
The keyboard can imitate a typewriter, the speakers can imitate the horns of a gramophone. Even a bathroom transformed with your own hands into an antique style fully meets the modern needs of household members.
Steampunk style is unusual, original and at the same time the utmost comfort for those living in the apartment.
