If you have a passion for Steampunk then Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaums home is an outstanding place on earth. The couple has authentically restored their Victorian home retaining its rich heritage and classic beauty while completely modernizing the homes systems.  They changed the functional layout of their Victorian home to accommodate the conveniences available in modern homes.

They started their own Mod Vic (Modern Victorian) Home Restoration in the year 2007 mainly aimed at combining Victorian high designs and craftsmanship of that era with modern functionality and convenience. Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum share a common love for Steampunk aesthetic and made good use of this in renovating their home.

Their home originally a craftsman style Victorian built in 1901 has a great deal of history and antiques of the craftsman’s era. Let me give you a walk through their Steampunk home-To start with the Kitchen. Here the old Victorian heater was replaced by David Erickson.

Bruce worked hard on restoring the Victorian stove by repainting, cleaning and re-plating the bright work made from Nickel. He even added a firebrick lining to retain heat in the stove for years to come. Bruce even built the fire back and hearth true to Victorian era and complimented this with the stove.

He did a fabulous job by installing stained glass windows to retain the Victorian look. The stone of the hearth looks like real fieldstone from outside the house. The antique printer’s bench occupies the center of the kitchen. This bench is topped with engineered quartz stone.

An extra pedestal was added here and serves to store the dog’s food. The bench has several drawers to store kitchen utensils and is partitioned to efficiently store cutlery and other supplies.

The Kitchen door has a small Doggie door according to modern day convenience. The Kitchen stools are Victorian and may someday have high antique value. The switches are eye catching and one would love to toggle the modern switch/dimmer combination.

The couple has decorated their house with amazing pieces of art and craft, like the clock which resembles a vintage piece, a steam whistle, fire nozzle and an old hat on a coat stand.

Bruce’s living room is perfect example of the Victorian era designed with modern sci-fi equipment. Here there is a Victorian era mantle piece with a Plasma TV fitted in place of the Mirror frame. Below this is a fireplace inserted and sub woofer for surround sound installation. Lastly, Bruce’s house is truly fabulous and magnificently mod.

Via SteamPunkWorkshop.

Amidst the beautiful Mirabell Gardens, in Salzburg, Austria, the “Dwarf Garden” (‘The Zwerglgarten’) is located. It was built by Prince Archbishop Franz Anton Harrach in 1715, to commemorate the dwarves who were the models of entertainment, served in the Prince’s court. It has an inspiring history for the foreigners and the peasants of the town.

The Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria had a misconception taking the dwarves, in concern for his wife and their unborn child. Perhaps he assumed them to be ominous and ordered for their seizure and removal from the Dwarf Garden. But its great value to the Salzburg’s cultural heritage was forgotten, and the sculptures got auctioned.

But the Salzburg Society for the Preservation of Local Amenities had taken great interest in restoring back the iron sculpts from the city councilors, and got the dwarves placed at the more deserving place.

Today, some of the retrieved ones are placed in the Bastion Garden, waiting for the remaining sculptures to join them.

Via Flickr.

Hey you geeks out there! Are you looking for some cool stuff for your apartment? Robolamps are sure to add that geek touch to your home. Robolamps are lamps that look like robots. These Robolamps may look like a robotic dog, a robot machine, a robotic centipede and many more. They are very realistic and look very similar to robots. Think of a Robolamp that resembles a robotic dog.

Robolamps were created by a famous Croatian artist names Robert Maystick. He has taken geek art a step further by creating lamps that look like robots. The robolamps may cost anywhere from 40 to 110 euro’s.

These lamps are made from various plumbing devices and light bulbs and are in high demand; therefore the prices are high too.

Via Robert’s Facebook page.

Artists are known for their creative eccentrics but Mike Stilkey is someone quite different. Mike is an artist from Alta Dena California, who paints exquisite portraits of life on spines of stacked books.

Mike always had a fondness for painting on old books that he even got published under the name ‘100 Portraits’. However later on, he had an innovative idea- to draw on book spines. Gradually he started drawing on a mass of stacked books.

The result was spellbinding and Exquisite paintings came to life through his drawings. Overnight Mike Stilkey became a legend, when he presented his paintings at the second Artist’s Annual group show.

Mike Stilkey had brought a new revolution in the world of interior designing. Gone are the days of multitude of stacked books that looked dull and boring. With his work of art, these walls of book stacks came to life with striking paintings and portraits. He has also inspired other artists to look a little beyond their imagination.

Via FecalFace.

How would it have been if today’s popular internet websites and their web applications were artistically reinvented and designed as the 1960s book covers, so as to provide an insight into how these social networking sites may look if they were designed about 40 or 50 years ago? This innovating and enthralling series of images, in fact throw light on the illustrator’s creative thinking-process. The famous French autodidact graphic designer Stephane Massa-Bidal whose leading concept known as “Retrofuturs” (a mix of past, present and future), normally creates his designs with a minimalist approach and a retro touch.

His present creative series “Web Services Covers Therapy” is definitely worth viewing taking the viewer in reminiscing that 60s era for modern networks like YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia, MySpace, etc. These vintage images of today’s internet sites provide a virtual fusion connecting both the eras and are surely worth watching out for, for someone who cherishes such creativity as an addition to his vintage collection.

FFFFOUND!

Flickr

Linkedln

MySpace

Twitter

Youtube

Facebook

Wikipedia

Via Flickr.

The Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester’s fashion retail shop in the Gangnam district of South Korea’s capital city Seoul brings some new dimensions to the Green concept. Seoul which is the second largest metropolitan and a major global city in the world, can surely boast of this that provides colors to its already existing metropolitan culture.

This unique green shop is the blend of the modern artificial and natural architecture, which is basically a multi-storey building that uses geotextilkes planted with herbaceous plants to form the living walls and the stupendous green roof system.

The aim is to cover the structure with the real green roofs and green living walls both externally and internally, smearing off the lines between the landscape and the building. The glass covering amidst the whole green concept provides the required elegance to the structure.

The basement is a ‘multi-shop’, the ground floor comprises of the hot collections from the designer, and the second floor has a restaurant.

Via Ann Demeulemeester.

Foosball, commonly referred to as ‘table soccer’, is a popular indoor sport all over the world. It is improvised soccer, played at a table with handles and rods with figures that control the ball .The players have to strive to push the ball towards the opposite goal, at the same time blocking their own goal.

This may have been the first virtual game created by man. It has all the elements of competition and excitement and never ceases to entertain. Commonly the foosball table is made up of wood and common metals much unlike ‘the Rolls Royce’ of all foosball tables.

The Foosball Table of Kings -Lux Gold is the world’s largest foosball table .Considered as an ultimate luxury toy worth approximately $29,724.

The metal in the table is stainless steel that can be gilded in different colors including the most popular color being gold. This luxurious toy is coveted by all foosball lovers.

Via OddityCentral.

The New York was worth watching between 1920 to 1960. A glimpse of the vintage pictures, take you down into the bygone era, an era that was classic, traditional yet glitzy even after those black-and-white memoirs the people had with them.

Those black-and-white photographs still remind us of how the Americans always paid attention to the wonderful architecture and the marvelous construction of their skyscrapers. It displayed their advanced thought-process and progressive approach in various fields.

The skyscrapers surely remind of the Spiderman series, with no reflective glass elevations but with false sky intervals along with the presence of overly done stone walls. The active night clubs, the subtle smells from the Jewish restaurants also used to add color to the citizen’s lives.

What is more fascinating is the way the old postcards and preserved pictures simply provide a beautiful insight into the amazing history of this beautiful city in the traditional landscape.

The Hudson Terminal Building, one of the largest office buildings in the world, was massively built covering 2 square blocks, making the WTC towers stand upright on this space later. In fact, majority of these skyscrapers are more than a century old, and are still standing tall and high compared to the structures in different places.

The yesteryear architecture too has its own appeal with contemporary landscape.

Image Sources:

Avi Abrams Flickr Photostream

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Shorpy 2

Scott Wade is an artist with a difference! He paints exquisite pictures with extreme detail work but the difference lies in his choice of canvas and equipment. Believe it or not, using only dry dust, oil, a few paint brushes and his fingers, Scott Wade paints his portraits on the back of cars. He uses a special kind of dirt that he sprays on the back of the car using a simple hair dryer and oil, and Eureka! Within a short time using only his fingers and paint brushes, he creates a masterpiece.

His art includes portraits of celebrities like Monalisa, Albert Einstein or drawings that simply represent humor in daily lives. Scott Wade is well known for his creativity. People often stop to admire and take pictures of his paintings.The only drawback here is that, whenever it rains the art is washed away. As this doesn’t pull down Scott’s spirits. Scott wade sees this as an opportunity to create more art. Scott wade belongs to an era of artists who envision art beyond the ordinary.

Scott Wade is an artist with a difference! He paints exquisite pictures with extreme detail work but the difference lies in his choice of canvas and equipment. Believe it or not, using only dry dust, oil, a few paint brushes and his fingers, Scott Wade paints his portraits on the back of cars. He uses a special kind of dirt that he sprays on the back of the car using a simple hair dryer and oil, and Eureka! Within a short time using only his fingers and paint brushes, he creates a masterpiece.

His art includes portraits of celebrities like Monalisa, Albert Einstein or drawings that simply represent humor in daily lives. Scott Wade is well known for his creativity. People often stop to admire and take pictures of his paintings.  The only drawback here is that, whenever it rains the art is washed away. As this doesn’t pull down Scott’s spirits. Scott wade sees this as an opportunity to create more art. Scott Wade belongs to an era of artists who envision art beyond the ordinary.

Via Scott’s DirtyCarArt.

This is an era of computers where we see latest technologies emerging every day. Something that would have been unheard of is an amazing computer with a difference! A Lego computer was built in 2003, with HP pavilion. The entire body of this computer is built with Lego bricks, without using glue or screws. The budget was eighty dollars and the building time was about a month. The builder uses ventilation and air to minimize the effect of heat on the system.

The entire structure is designed like a plastic town that is custom built with tiny people who give the illusion of working in the system. There are marked streets- an ATM, Postoffice, Fire hydrants, Basketball courts etc. The Lego computer is mostly used for emailing purposes.

The entire town appears busy with real life. There is a built in CD drive along with plug-in for wires and hard drives. The main CPU is placed inside this Massive Lego structure. In other words this bright colorful, Lego computer is an accurate example of innovative vision.

Via LegoComputer.

Often people are fascinated by a beautiful scenic spot of land and decide to build their dream house there. But those who dream and are fascinated by a beautiful hilly land, they build their homes on the hills. And these people did not wish to obstruct the natural appeal of their surroundings. Believe it or not some people did manage to do that, they built a lavish home that was all underground! Located in Vals, Switzerland, this house is built inside one part of a hill providing a breathtaking view of the hills.

The rooms are large and airy with skylight windows in the den .The bedrooms have exquisite window seats and custom built wood furniture and beds. The entire decor of this underground house is done in soft earthy, pastel shades and colors, all in the Endeavour to camouflage it into its natural surroundings. The best part of this house is its lavish courtyard complete with a hot water tub, spot lights for security and lounge chairs for sunbathing.

Via Arbitare.

A toothpick may have been used for many imaginative purposes, yet none matched the innovative creation of Terry Woodling. Terry Woodling, a 72 year old artist from Warsaw in Indiana, dedicated fifteen years of his life towards his vision-’A life sized stagecoach made with toothpicks’. Using his creative eye, skillful hands and patience, he managed to glue together 1.5 million flat toothpicks into a colorful, eye catching and attractive stage coach. This impossible feat attracted attention of people from faraway places. Yet sadly it did not qualify for the Guinness book of world records.

The reason behind the rejection was the use of glue in the process of making the stagecoach. Mr. Terry Woodling, also referred to as Mr. Toothpick, was undaunted by this failure and graciously donated his creation to the local Warsaw museum. Later on it was recognized by the Ripley’s Believe-it-or-not hall of fame. At the first glance, people can hardly guess that this colorful stagecoach is made from mere toothpicks. It is an exquisite piece of handiwork with extreme detailed work. The entire stagecoach and its wheels are designed as per the Victorian era depicting a time before the automobile invasion, when stagecoaches pulled by horses were the only means of transport.

Via Ripley’ NewsRoom and Wane.