Creating a Steampunk Inspired Victorian Library

Novels set in Victorian times very often feature a crumbling manor house full of dark, bookish rooms. The quintessential Victorian library (the room in a home, not the public lending library) provides the perfect setting for mysterious assignations, bookshelves hiding secret letters and undiscovered wills, collections of leather-bound books whose heretofore undiscovered value will save the family from ruin, and occasionally, a murder, a detective, or both!

If you've always dreamed of having such a room in your own home, and you're not a member of the nobility, let me show you how to create one on a reasonable budget. Follow along as I transform a plain, melon-colored room into a gorgeous, Jules Verne inspired Victorian library using thrifted finds, color and lighting tricks, and a warm red and gold color palette.

If you'd prefer to watch this discussion on YouTube (with lots more photos!) instead of reading through this whole, long post, please click here!

Now let’s see how I transformed this empty, strangely-cantaloupe-colored room into a warm and elegant Victorian library that became the backdrop for all sorts of turn-of-the-century themed events.

This space is the first room you encounter upon entering the front door of the house. When we first saw it, it was being used as a staging area for the previous owners as they sorted out their possessions before packing them up to move, which made it a bit difficult to imagine what could be done with the room.