Steam Punkin'...

Are you aware of the Steam Punk movement?  

You probably are, but I have been blissfully, 

cluelessly unaware of this strange fad...  

It is a whole twentieth century industrial revolution 

meets Goth and Punk...

  

More accurately, the trend has already passed 

because since Home Depot is selling "vintage look" light bulbs, 

 you know it is no longer avant garde...  

Well, I just discovered Steam Punk

 and it intrigues me...  

I like the industrial-ish light fixtures 

and the iron and wood combination furniture 

with heavy wheels...  

You can find this stuff at Pottery Barn, 

Home Decorator's Collection and Ballard Designs, 

among many others...

And there is a whole fashion world of Steam Punk 

that I didn't know about...

  

Heck, maybe I have found my Halloween costume 

for next year...  

That movie, "Hugo" had a very Steam Punk feel to it....  

So, T$ and I created a DIY headboard 

that is a bit Steam Punky... 

In our current quest to upgrade the apartment unit 

with next to no dollars, I came up with a rustic headboard 

for the apartment bedroom...  

We hit Menards to find cheap, 

rough eight inch boards...
  

We measured the size of the headboard we wanted  

and then purchased enough lumber to assemble it. 

We needed six boards cut to 48 inches long
and two 1 by 4's cut to 60 inches long...

We had a very hungover lumber guy/wannabe rapper 

cut the wood to suit... 

I was just waiting for this guy to sever his hand, 

but thankfully he didn't.... 

 He said he drank two bottles of Crown Royal 

the night before, 

so you gotta question his precision with a saw....  

After we extricated ourselves from Mr. lumber guy/rapper, 
we found brackets 

to assemble the whole thing together...  

I think it took T$ about thirty minutes 

to fire up that headboard....  

He is feeling very Handy Manny these days 

and I am not complaining!  

The headboard looked great, 

but it needed a little zshoozshing up, 

if you know what I mean...

 So, I hit the craft store for a stencil 

that I liked and some gold paint...

It took a couple of tries to find the gold I preferred, 

but in the end, the stenciled images 

has a two tone gold effect that looks pretty...  

Okay, so the headboard was coming along, 

but it still needed something...  

Enter reading lights... 

I have been searching for funky, Steam Punkish 

reading lights for the little side tables next to the bed...  

Of course, everything I want is pricey... 

Then, last week, I stopped in the Halsted Home Depot, 

which has more unique merchandise 

than the other city HD's 

and I found these cute, copper lights for only $24 a piece...  

Add in the "vintage" light bulb 

and you are punkin with steam!!! 

T$ set to work, hard wiring these babies 

right onto the headboard... 

My electrical genius figured out how to make exterior lights 

work in a bedroom

 and I think they look ridiculously good...

 The 40 watt "vintage" bulbs provide just the right soft glow 

while still providing a good reading light source...
  

Combined with the rustic wood headboard, 

we have a thing of beauty... 

We are batting a thousand with our projects so far... 

 I just pray I don't dump over a can of paint or something...