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.
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February 26th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Sorry, not a lick of punk in that steam. This is what Pier One calls Faux Steampunk
February 27th, 2010 at 1:49 am
I like this idea a lot and really wish the author of the article had done a better job. The explanations weren’t matched to the photos, and the article read painfully like a high school student essay.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:28 am
Love it!!
March 9th, 2010 at 6:18 am
I think a 5 year old wrote this article.
January 16th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Hmmm. I wouldn’t say that that house is particularly Steampunkish. or very Victorian, for that matter. I mean, in terms of interior decoration, the Victorians loved very vibrant, bright colours contrasting with deep shades – and they certainly didn’t have one-note rooms with clean, modern, minimalist lines in. If the owners of the house added some neo-classical, art nouveau or rococo moulding on the doorways and crowed around the ceilings as well as some more floral grape-and-vine effect wallpaper, the interior would look more authentic.
After all, it’s the walls that define the room.
But, all in all, I reckon their efforts so far are pretty excellent though