Thursday, December 27, 2012

Undersized Urbanite-Style Decided...Finally

Thanks to the winter storm (a lot of snow-no big if you're from Buffalo) I know that I'm not going out for a while, so now's a good time to stay in and talk about my progress on the Cupboard City Townhouse. First, here's what I did after my last update;

Since my sketches are only 8X10in., but the house is 14.5X23.5 in. I decided to enlarge the earlier grayscale version and adjust it to fit the front of the house,

Which involved a little more cutting/pasting than planned. It turns out that the roof was way off.

Ditched the roof for the time being(it was just a sketch), patched a few spots on the front, and...I didn't like it. Some parts I knew would need adjusting (bigger stone pieces, less grout area, fixing parts that don't line up right), but even when I was sketching it out, something wasn't right(and it's kind of boring).

The colors weren't matching and I was struggling with the style/theme. I kept switching between Victorian & modern, floral and industrial. I knew I wanted brass and tarnished metal colors throughout the house, but my brain was not putting it all together. Hadn't looked at the plans since I packed everything up to make room for Christmas, but thanks to after Christmas sales, I decided to make a few final decisions that thankfully sorted out most my decorating problems.


One store had scrap book paper on sale, so I picked out the first floor's 'wallpaper'. Since I really want the brass fireplace to work out, instead of yellow, I'm going with just gold("brass"), and black. I almost never use gold, I don't even wear it, but I'm up for trying new things on this challenge.

So along with a riveted/brass fireplace, I decided on these modern gold/black stripes & a faded floral prints.

Went to basically every craft & hobby shop in the area and got a few post Christmas deals (sort of unrelated stuff-I'll get to later), not realizing that, by deciding on that brass fireplace and color scheme, I had settled on a style without even acknowledging it. Why? Well I came across these at my last stop:

Turns out that I was just a few gears shy of seeing the whole picture.

I'm trying to design a house around a brass fireplace, with riveted details. I'm combining brass and gears with a faded Victorian-esque floral pattern...

...Duh, it's Steampunk.

I'm making a Steampunk house! No wonder my exterior didn't feel right. It needs metal and pipes, and gears. Not the greens and grayish brown colors I've been sketching in. Thankfully I was only sketching up to this point, now I can just change a few things without having to completely redo anything (see, always sketch out your ideas first).

I haven't really tried Steampunk yet, but I know that normal looking furniture/appliances aren't going to look right, and that I should probably do some research before I sketch out the rest of the rooms. For the sake of finishing on time though, I am going to move forward with the sketches I've already started.

Here's the original layout;


And here's how some of my 1:12 scale furniture actually fits;


I am planning on a smaller fridge and a smaller counter/island instead of a table, so this could work. I might have to rethink the door if I can't get everything to fit, but I'm OK with that.

My current to-do list;

Finish sketching out the house
Re-work exterior
Look up how to make a Steampunk refrigerator.


Now I just have to find time to do all of this. ^_^

7 comments:

  1. What a great idea, I don't think I have ever seen an entire steam punk house. I am really looking forward to seeing this house come together! BTW, I grew up in Rochester, and, yes, I am really going to say this, I miss the snow....

    Happy New Year!
    Cheers, Neen

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    1. Thank you.

      I used to love the snow, but then I grew up and had to start driving through it. XD I'd probably miss it too if moved somewhere warmer though.

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  2. what an ace idea-a steam-punk doll house! i cant wait to see what you come up with for a steampunk fridge-the mind boggles! i shall be watching with interest x

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    1. Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of, 'mind boggling', with this project.

      Thank you. :)

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  3. The old style monitor top refrigerator with that coil of copper tubing on top should do the trick. I have a refrigerator that runs on propane only. No electric required. Look in almost any RV and you will find a propane fridge.

    Of course the modern propane fridges don't have the coils on top, they are on the back, but that is what you will need to do to have it look punky.

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    1. That is really helpful information. Thank you. :)

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  4. I'm a total steampunk groupie without actually being steampunk... I have a half finished steampunk roombox that lost it's box and is becoming a steampunk room-shelf. I don't know what a monitor top fridge is, but if you make it looks like a chemistry cabinet I think it would be awesome. as for contraptions you could have some sort of ice or water delivery system from the freezer compartment. tubes, pipes and a crank?
    I'm super excited now and will be stalking for updates!

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