Steampunk Laundry Room Reveal!

It's done! IT'S DONE!! My creation, it is done! Mwuah-ha-ha-haaaa!

I'll post details and quasi-tutorials for a lot of this later, but for now, let us bask in the dimly lit, poorly photographed glory of my new laundry room/pantry:

 Bask, you fools! BASK!!

 :D

Our water heater is now a faux steam boiler, and the tangle of water lines and electrical cords that used to drape across the walls are hidden away inside those big black pipes:

 

 

Made from a $4 wall clock and an antique gas lamp valve from my junk box. The rusty metal paint job has been my labor of love for the past two afternoons - and I feel like it needs more, so it's probably not done yet.

The left side of the room:

The shelf brackets are made with lead plumbing pipes. The second black box on the wall is covering more water lines, shut-off valves, and electrical wires.

The hinged door allows us easy access to the shut-off valves and surge protector.

 Both "metal" boxes are flimsy wood panels that easily lift away from the wall. John did a stellar job on them, don't you think?

Some things I couldn't hide or theme, but I guess the cat genie & vacuum prove this really IS a functioning laundry room and pantry. Heh.

The right side of the room:

Would you believe I've had that wall art tucked away in a closet for years? They're actually big stickers, so there's no frame to bonk the barn door when it opens. (If you missed it, you can see my tutorial for building your own sliding barn door here.)

The hooks are for my mop, broom, and duster, but my current ones are too ugly to photograph - and if you think I'm buying all new cleaning equipment just to match the theme of my room, then you are absolutely correct. :D I just haven't found the new ones to buy yet. (Next project: steampunk a Swiffer.)

This room redo gave us so much extra storage I actually got to re-shuffle most of the house's closets to free up room elsewhere, plus I *still* have an empty bin up top and room behind the barn door.

This shelf may look just decorative, but it's actually valuable storage; everything here was in my "brass box" of junk and bits I plan to use for future projects.

Up top are some recent antiquing spoils:

I fell in love with that vintage band hat a few weeks ago, and determined that I will someday build an entire costume around it. (I WILL.) 'Til then, though, it's nice to have a place to display it. It's sitting on a leftover bronze vase from my closet, and the little lamp is an ice skating lamp, I think. (None of this stuff is expensive, btw; the lamp was my biggest splurge at around $20.)

In fact, everything here except the basket and bins is from my storage closet, so even decorating helped me free up space!

 The fabric bins were about $5 each from Walmart, and the big metal ones were more like $20 each (ouch) from Home Goods:

K, one last photo, and then I'm off to play hooky. It's a gorgeous day, the sun is shining, the breeze is breezy, and - oh yeah - Bioshock Infinite just came out. :D

I hope you guys liked all the pics! More later!

 ******

UPDATE: To all of you disappointed in my non-steampunk-ified washer and dryer: I KNOW. I'm metaphorically nudging John in the ribs with every comment. Ha! My original plan DID involve painting/covering them like the water heater, but since they're older and may be replaced soon that took a back seat to the more permanent parts of the room. Now that you guys are putting the pressure on, though, maybe I'll convince John to let me at 'em with some rivets and copper paint after all. ;)