Object of Lust: Enzo Floor Lamp

Reminiscent of the vintage Kaiser Idell and European counterbalance task lights I often stalk on eBay, Anthropologie's industrial-chic Enzo Floor Lamp has me drooling.

It's $398 right here.

Etsy Find: Munstre Lightboxes

Loving these cool lightboxes from Etsy seller Munstre (aka Boston crafter Chris Elsasser). Each is handmade from Munstre's custom graphics or from vintage x-rays and medical lithographs and each is mounted in a ready-to-hang, solid wood frame with a pre-installed lightbulb and plug. Above: Follow Me to Heaven, $95

En Cloude, $70

However Long the Night, the Dawn Will Break, $130

Old Fashioned Bicycle, $95

Lift Your Skinny Arms to the Sky, $140

Anatomical Heart, $65

On a White Lake, $140

See all of Munstre's Etsy offerings right here -- and check out more of his lightboxes, prints, and other creations here.

Cool Stuff: Criss Cross Lamps

I love a good Bubble Lamp, and am especially digging these new reissues of George Nelson's Criss Cross Lamps. They're just like the midcentury design icon's classic Bubble Lamps -- but, you know, fancier.

The Criss Cross Lamps, which run $359 to $405 apiece, are available from Modernica.

Cool Stuff: IKEA Maskros Pendant

I know -- you're getting whiplash trying to keep track of my ever-changing stance on IKEA. Let's just say that my feelings about the Swedish superstore are ... complicated.

Top photo by Timothy Hartley Smith; bottom photo from The Brooklynist

Right now, I'm edging toward a "love" phase in my cyclical love-hate relationship. And all because of the Maskros Lamp -- part of IKEA's long-awaited PS 2009 Collection, which was shown at New York's recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair. The collection has been available in Europe for months, but it's finally headed stateside, and should be available at select U.S. IKEA outposts in August.

Photo by Pascal \o/ - lagarde

The dandelion-like pendant measures a generous 31.5 inches across and retails in the U.K. for £65 (about $103), so my guess is that it'll be among the more expensive lighting options at the blue giant this summer. But wow -- what impact.

P.S. You can get a sneak peek of the entire PS Collection here.

Cool Stuff: Schoolhouse Electric Clear Glass

Really liking this new collection of clear glass shades from Schoolhouse Electric. The glass gives a clean, modern edge to the Portland, Oregon company's line of vintage-style light fixtures.

The mix-and-match shades range from $21 to $115, and the accompanying fixtures are $75 to $129 right here.

Cool Stuff: MissPrint Lampshades

Colorful, covet-worthy lampshades from London's MissPrint (aka designers Yvonne and Rebecca Drury). Clockwise from top left: Berry Lime, Catkin White, Exotique Orange, Panache Pebble, Box Bush Slate, Fleur Lime, Pennyroyal Slate and Sunflower, Nectar Cherry, Saplings Slate and Sunflower, and Trailing Flower Pistachio.

The handprinted duppion silk shades are £59 to £140 apiece (about $89 to $212), and each pattern is available in several sizes and colorways.

See them all right here -- and while you're there, be sure to check out MissPrint's equally awesome cushions and wallpapers. (I'm seriously lusting after Saplings, above, in Sunflower Yellow or Turquoise and Gold, about $83 per roll.)

Cool Stuff: Slip Lamps

Fun and funky lamps with candy colored bases and mix-and-match fabric shades, $187 to $290 each from Slip.

Objects of Lust: Yellow Goat Lighting

Though they're likely named after the shelters for a completely different creature, these delicate metal and natural-reed Coop Pendants from Australia's Yellow Goat Design remind me of antique Japanese fishing traps. I think I'd like one for every room in the house.

Or maybe what I really want are these vaguely kelp-like Pequeno Pendants.

Or perhaps these organic modern Wicker Pod Doubles ...

See all of Yellow Goat's out-of-this-world lighting right here. No idea about pricing, but I'd hazard a guess that they cost a pretty penny. Anyone feel like buying a few for me?

(Via If the Lampshade Fits.)

Cool Stuff: Flake Lamp

Spotted at Supermarket: The Flake Lamp from Tokyo's Tai Design.

Assembled from interlocking pieces of polypropylene and equipped with a 6.5-foot cord, the lamp resembles a cherry blossom or a snow crystal, depending on your perspective.

Available in white, blue, and pink, they're $50 each right here.

Objects of Lust: Jayson Home & Garden Fantasy Shopping Spree

Sorry I am so, so late with this post today -- I have an awful flu complete with ear infection and ruptured eardrum, the pain of which made childbirth pale in comparison. Nick, bless his heart, got the kids off to school this morning so I could sleep until the absolutely unheard of hour of noon. (He is the best nurse, and his kindness and patience with me makes my crankiness and impatience during his own recent bout with this virus all the more unforgivable.)

Anyway, to distract myself from my clogged head, aching body, and hacking cough, I indulged in a little fantasy shopping spree at Chicago's sublime Jayson Home & Garden, putting together a virtual ladies' salon that's equal parts refined and romantic.

The elements, clockwise from top left: Caravan Chandelier, $1,295; Lotus Flower Dishes, $24 to $48 each; Antique Carved Mirror, $11,995; Barnard Lamp, $575; Vintage French Chair, $1,150; Cerise Pillow, $315; Frank Table, $3,695; Faux Zebra Hide Rug, $1,095; Amalfi Sofa, $2,316; Vintage Wooden Shoes, $295; Petrified Wood Table, $1,495; Moroccan Wedding Blanket, $795; and Factory Light Sculptures, $85 to $225 each

The grand total for my fantasy space? A mere $25,703. Le sigh ...

Cool Stuff: Vintage-Style Utility Lights

Old-school, but so cool. These Vintage-Inspired Utility Lights (an exclusive at online shop Site Design) are super industrial, a bit steampunk, and totally unique.

Fit them with amber-tinged filament-style bulbs and hang a trio over a kitchen island, a pair on either side of the bed in place of bulky lamps, or a single specimen over a lonely wingback chair in a shadowy corner. Then party like it's 1899.

They're $125 each right here.

Cool Stuff: Floral Aluminum Lamp

I'm smitten with this Floral Aluminum Lamp from "eco-tailer" VivaTerra. When lit, its floral cutouts cast a delicate pattern of light and shadow all around.

The pendant lamp with a 12-foot cord is $89, and the shade only is $69 right here.

Cool Stuff: New Glass Lighting From Jonathan Adler

Luminous new lighting from Jonathan Adler: The designer's Capri Collection is crafted from richly colored glass in a range of irresistible summery shades.

I'm especially taken with the Genie and Bottle Pendants, $195 each.

The Teardrop and Bottle Lamps are 26 to nearly 34 inches tall and cost $275 apiece. (Don't ask me why I'll drop hundreds on a hardwired light fixture without batting an eye, but tend to balk at anything over $75 for a table lamp. Still, if you've got the cash, these are pretty drool-worthy.)

Check out the entire collection right here.

Inspiration: Steampunk Style

Photo by Phil Mansfield for The New York Times

Though it has its origins in the literary world, steampunk is picking up speed as a lifestyle and a subculture. The New York Times recently ran a feature and accompanying photo essay on the movement, and its visual aesthetic is making inroads into fashion, technology, and now, home design. (In fact, at this writing, there are more than 20,000 items described as "steampunk" on Etsy, and more than 2,000 tagged with the term on eBay.)

Still, steampunk is a bit of a slippery concept. SteamPunk magazine, the house organ for enthusiasts of the style, defines it thusly: "Steampunk lives in the reincarnated collective past of shadows and ignored alleys. It is a historical wunderkabinet, which promises, like Dr. Caligari's, to wake the somnambulist of the present to the dream-reality of the future. We are archaeologists of the present, reanimating a hallucinatory history." Umm, OK ... Writer Richard Morgan puts it much more succinctly: "Steampunk is the future as dreamt by the past."

Aesthetically speaking, the definition is loose enough to incorporate everything from high Victoriana to 1930s Moderne, with generous doses of fanciful futurism, vintage industrialism, Edwardian dandyism, and romantic goth thrown in for good measure. Think part gentleman's library, part mad scientist's laboratory, part tinkerer's workshop, and part elegantly decrepit Victorian parlour. Add a jigger of Cabinet of Curiosities and a dash of Memento Mori. Then haul out the clock gears and magnifying glasses, vintage labware and hourglasses, steamer trunks, antique globes, aged brass and dark woods, apothecary bottles and bell jars, surveyor's lamps and factory pendants, campaign and directiore furniture, industrial antiques, mercury glass, and odd botanical specimens. In other words, steampunk is dark and slightly strange and most definitely not cute.

Here, an armchair tour of steampunk spaces and other visual representations of the style:

Photos by Phil Mansfield for The New York Times

Mildred's Lane, the rural Pennsylvanian home of artist and fashion designer J. Morgan Puett, is a feminine, romanticized take on steampunk.

Photo from If It's Hip, It's Here

In his Habitat Machines photo composite series, Canadian artist David Trautrimas imagines what steampunk domiciles might look like. Above: The artist's digitally enhanced Sprinkler House.

Photos via The Datamancer and Newsweek magazine

From a philosophical standpoint, steampunk endeavors to humanize the everyday technology we've come to take for granted. These ornate, customized laptops by Richard Nagy are a classic example of the "retro-futuristic" aesthetic.

Photo by Kat Bret (via the Brass Goggles blog)

Aviator goggles, corsets, and lace-up boots figure prominently in steampunk fashion. (Note: If you are, by chance, my husband, you can put your tongue back in your mouth now.)

The sets of the films The Golden Compass, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and City of Ember showcase archetypal steampunk stylings.

Photos by Caroline on Crack, via LAist

Los Angeles' Edison, a nightclub housed in a derelict power plant, sports an uber-steampunk look. (One assumes that absinthe is the libation of choice here.)

The Steampunk Tree House (designed and built right here in Oakland!) is a travelling installation that's made appearances at Burning Man and Coachella.

Photos from Because We Can (via Wired magazine)

The offices at San Francisco game company Three Rings were designed by Oakland firm Because We Can to resemble the Nautilus in Jules Verne's steampunk classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Photos by Moi

Designer Will Wick's library at the 2008 San Francisco Decorator Showcase had a strong steampunk vibe, with its strikingly dark palette, vintage wing chairs, curious objets, and industrial lighting.

Steampunk has largely been a DIY movement, but retailers are taking note: In addition to the Restoration Hardware items I featured earlier today, it's easy to find steampunk-inspired furnishings at a variety of other brand-name stores.  Anthropologie, for one, has many pieces that would work in a steampunk scheme, and Sundance and J. Peterman also offer a wealth of steampunk styles.

A selection of my faves (and while prices on many of these items are prohibitive, rest assured that you can find steampunk-y decor bargains on eBay, at your local flea market, and maybe even in Grandma's basement):

Vintage Goth Bar Cabinet, $1,895, and Elliptic Library Cabinet from Jayson Home & Garden

Vintage Postal Desk, $2,995 from Jayson Home & Garden, and Draper's Cabinet, $1,895 from Sundance

Vintage Medical Cabinet from Get Back, and Oakley Display Cabinet from Sultana

Cabriolet Leg File Cabinet from Sultana, and Whitman Chest of Drawers, $2,995 from Jayson Home & Garden

Clockwise from top left: French Settee from Woodson & Rummerfield’s; Amelie Sofa, $2,898 from Anthropologie; Velvet Double-Sided Sofa from Horchow; Leather Tufted Settee, $3,200 from English Country Antiques

Clockwise from top: Baxter Loveseat, $4,200 from Jonathan Adler; Antoinette Fainting Sofa, $575 from Urban Outfitters; Snooze Sofa from Ochre

Clockwise from top left: Conversation Chair from Sarlo; Vintage Industrial Drafting Stool, $600 from Get Back; Vintage Chair and Ottoman, $2,995, and Napoleon Dining Chair, $475, at Jayson Home & Garden; Cotswold Chair, $1,000, and Corrigan Chair, $1,998 at Anthropologie

Clockwise from top left: Industrial Two-Tier Cart, $2,200 from Get Back; Armillary Sphere Tables, $7,800 from Downtown; Campaign Side Tables; Adjustable Cast Iron and Glass Table, $18,000 from Get Back; Normandie Side Table, $625 from Plantation Home

Clockwise from top left: French Counter Balance Wall Light, $1,500 from Sarlo; Photographer’s Lamp, $265 from Jayson Home & Garden; Eureka Lamp, $65 from Sundance; Architect’s Boom Floor Lamp, $495 from Jayson Home & Garden; Transit Lamps, $170 to $330 at Velocity; Equilibrium Lamp, $695 from Sundance

Clockwise from top left: Halo Chandelier, $270 from Velocity; Jade Rise & Fall Light from Marston & Langinger; Edison Chandelier, $399 from Pottery Barn

Clockwise from top left: Greetings From the Ministry of Travel, $175 from Etsy seller Winona Cookie; Cora Mirror, $998 from Anthropologie; They Are Always Watching Print, $20 from Etsy seller Attempted Artistry; Vintage Aviator Goggles, $75 from Etsy seller Velvet Mechanism; Belljars, $14 to $35 at Paxton Gate; Shoemaker Doorstop, $18 at Anthropologie; Illumination by the Inch Candle, $25 from Sundance; 19th Century Sprockets from Hamptons Antique Galleries; Vintage Books, $40 from Jayson Home & Garden

Of course, taken literally and adopted whole-hog, the steampunk look can be dark, heavy, and cartoonish. But before I'd even heard the term, I was drawn to certain aspects of it -- namely the battered industrial objects and factory lighting that are key to the aesthetic. I think a few steampunk pieces placed in an eclectic, carefully edited space can lend a hefty dose of mystery and romance.

What's your take on the trend? Do you like it or dislike it? Would you incorporate elements of steampunk into your own home?

(P.S. If the look appeals, be sure to check out The Steampunk Home, a blog devoted exclusively to steampunk in the domestic sphere.)