One of my readers emailed me about mixing the metals in a house and asked me what I thought of mixing instead of all matching. She thought this would be a good blog post and I agree. What’s the proper way to mix metals? I think it’s probably all very subjective, but things are a-changing in the design world on mixing things up and frankly, I couldn’t be happier about that.
Remember the days when most everyone bought matching sets of furniture, especially in bedrooms and living rooms? How boring was that? In the last 20 years, the trend has totally changed and not too many folks I know buy that way anymore. It’s just too predictable and yes, a bit boring. I think the same could be said for matching hardware in a house. Back when I was growing up, it seemed that brass and chrome were about the only choices out there. We didn’t have the full spectrum of metal finishes that are available today, so mixing things up gets a bit more complicated.
Or does it?
I happen to think that nowadays, most anything goes in mixing those finishes. It especially shows up in bathrooms and kitchens and now that I’m doing my own kitchen from scratch and updating those 70’s bathrooms of mine, I’ve had mixing metals on my mind a lot lately.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s totally OK to mix those finishes.
Do what makes you happy in your own home and I do believe that it will all work out if you do that.
I happen to love dark bronze or black metal for my white kitchen cabinets and love the pop that they give. Someone else with white cabinets could just as easily choose nickel for their knobs and pulls. So, where does that leave the faucet and appliances? Mix it up, I say. In my own kitchen, I have stainless appliances, black hardware on the cabinets, an oil rubbed bronze track light and the pendant over my sink has chrome accents. And I think it will all work fine together.
(from Moen)
My faucet could go either way, but I’ve decided on oil rubbed bronze for that.
(Moen Caldwell)
In my bathrooms, I have chrome in the bathtubs and opted for Satin Nickel for my bath sinks and may go all silvery tones in the hall bath on cabinet knobs and lighting. But, I just might mix them both up, I think it all is fine together. The sink will flow with the chrome that I have at least replaced new on my old bathtubs. But, I do like darker tones on bath cabinets and even lighting. It’s going to be a mix, not matchy-matchy! Thanks to Moen, I got the faucets for my kitchen and bathroom, so grateful to them for that.
(Schlage from Home Depot)
All of my doorknobs are a mixed bag of shiny brass and antique brass and my hinges are antique brass since my house was built in 1979, so I’m leaning heavily towards changing out all my interior doorknobs to antique brass. They will totally pop off my dark brown painted doors. I haven’t gotten them yet, but they are certainly on my radar and I’m leaning heavily in that direction.
In the last 5 years, I had a mostly hate relationship with that shiny builder’s brass that so many of us have lived with for years. I still don’t love that, but antique brass is certainly growing on me and I really like the luster of it.
(via Horton Brass blog)
So, let’s take a look at some real life kitchens and see how the mix works in here. The kitchen above has brass hardware on the kitchen cabinets and what looks to be silver tones on the overhead pendant lights.
(via House Beautiful)
Ballard Designs master designer, Jill Sharp Brinson, has a mix of metals in her fabulous kitchen of satin nickel on the wall sconces and a dark finish on the drawer pulls. Jill knows how to mix with the best of them.
(via Gardenweb)
This is a wonderful old farmhouse kitchen renovation from Gardenweb (Brickmanhouse) that they did a fabulous job with this Ikea kitchen installation and there’s a nice mix of metals in this kitchen as well.
I see mostly silver tones, but the chandy in the background is a black finish and I think the dark island has dark hardware too. Mixing it up gives this new kitchen more of a period feel in keeping with this older farmhouse. It’s beautiful!
(via Southern Living)
Another great example of mixed metals in a kitchen, is this beautiful rustic kitchen that was featured in Southern Living. The dark pulls on the cabinets are a wonderful contrast to those weathered brass pendants over the island.
Have you changed your mind recently on this subject or are you sticking to your decorating guns. It’s amazing how these things change and evolve over time and I’m totally on board with mixing metals now, whereas 10 years ago, I wouldn’t have been leaning in that direction at all. Mixing metals does seem to create that collected over time and vintage appeal that we all seem to love these days.
I want my home to be warm and inviting, whether or not all the metals match or not. That casual and approachable style that I am so drawn to.
So, what do you think? Are you a metal mixer too or do you love all the same tones throughout your house? Let’s chat in the comments!
When we built our house 6 years ago, we went for a very open floor plan. I’ve used different metals in the lighting fixtures to help define the formal and informal areas. For instance, the dining room chandelier and the foyer ceiling light have an antique brass finish which matches the front door. The chandelier in the breakfast nook has an oiled bronze finish. The kitchen pendants have the same oiled bronze as well as the family room. I think it all works together.
Good Morning…I’m a mixer. Oiled bronze hardware on white front door and satin nickel knobs and handles and door handles throughout inside the house. However, the builder put chrome in the upstairs hall bath. So, over the years I upgraded the chrome in Baldwin to achieve a nicer look. Last fix and upgrade is my master bath, which has builder’s brass fixtures in the shower…who thinks that brass won’t “turn” when exposed to water and moisture?! This will become satin nickel one day soon, too! PS The simple chandys in my cottage-style home are white! Thanks for writing this post!
I’ve been refreshing/updating my 20 year old house and we’re just starting a kitchen remodel and I’ve been thinking about the same thing. I agree with you…mixing metals is okay. More than okay. I’ve decided on a mix of brushed nickel and oil rubbed bronze. I’ve decided to use more of the nickel since it feels less trendy to me (therefore less likely to seem dated) than the ORB.
Great post and I’m loving your remodeling pics and stories.
I’m totally in love with mixing. Thinking of changing some of my brushed nickel to black. Just like furniture looks better with the “collected” look I think fixtures give that homey feel when mixed. I have a question on this subject though-would it look okay to mix a stainless sink with ORB faucet?
Was curious if anyone answered your question about stainless steel sink with ORB faucet. I like the look but didn’t know what others thoughts were. I have brass pulls and hinges and black appliances? I like how the faucet pops! I now like the pulls.
Great post! I’m getting ready to replace all the builder grade brass knobs and light fixtures in our 1992-build house. I’m going to tackle it on a monthly basis so it’s not such a hit to the pocketbook. Your photos are giving me a lot of inspiration for my new direction- I’m leaning toward oiled bronze. Kudos!
My house had a mix of metals and I love it. Seems to work fine and it definitely gives more character to the different spaces. Hugs, Marty
I too, am a mixer! I love brushed nickel for my faucets, oil-rubbed bronze for door handles, hinges, and knobs.
I never thought you could pull off a room with varying metal hardware. I’m convinced it could work now. Great photo examples to illustrate that point. I love that bathroom!
I prefere metal mixing….each room, each piece (kitchen cabinets, bathrooms, lights, faucets, door handles, draw pulls) needs what ever will look best in their own environment against what they are being paired with. I think the tide is changing….and I’ve never been all matchy – matchy mostly because it is really hard to do it that way nowadays. Go for what you like in any or all situations throughout your home. I think folks are looking for that overall WOW look vs. the details of everything matching! I love your choices and how you’ve made them individually depending on what you were “decorating” at the time. Go with the chandy’s that you love regardless of metals! Another great post Rhoda!
Wonderful post! Thank you so much for touching on this subject. I am considering ORB spray paint (ack!) on my ugly brass door knobs throughout the house. The hinges have some patina and will require a coat as well. I, too, love the look of black with white/cream cabinets and will probably go with an ORB kitchen faucet. For the baths, I’ll replace the brass with nickel. Right now in the guest bath, I have a brass faucet, a nickel toilet paper holder, and ORB shower rod and hooks. LOL Definitely eclectic in there right now, but in a bad way! I consider myself a savvy home decorator in my own home, but sadly I have never questioned matching the light fixtures as well. I took down the ugly brass ones when we moved in, but never thought about matching the new ones with other hardware in the house. I just bought and installed what I loved. It seems to be working. Rhoda, you are such a sweetheart for sharing your home and ideas with us. Thanks so much! 🙂
I never understood the whole idea of matching metal colors throughout an entire house. The only thing I would keep the same is door knobs unless you are in an historic home, and you can have the glass ones (those usually vary slightly anyway). However, I do like keeping with the style of the house meaning that I would not put modern hardware in an restored farmhouse. I think it is all a matter of personal preference though.
The larger the room, the more metals you can mix. For a bathroom or tiny kitchen, I wouldn’t recommend using more than two different metals.
Rhoda – Interesting blog. I have different metals in different rooms. I feel like each room has its own personality. I’ve gotten to where I don’t want anything to be matchy-matchy.
Judy
I went through this same dilemma when we were renovating our master bathroom. Before we renovated we added a polished chrome water saving shower head. When we went to renovate, we decided to keep the shower head and the chrome faucet, but we went with nickel for the other bathroom accessories. After debating over if we should get chrome or not we thought it would still look good and save us some money. It’s all a matter of taste in my opinion and if the next homeowners don’t like it then it’s an easy replacement!
Great post! Mixing metals can be tricky and it’s a question I get a lot too. I think as long as it is repeated more than once in a room, it is okay. Also, I don’t like to have more than 3 metals in one room at a time either.
What do you think about putting an oil rubbed bronze candelabra chandelier in a foyer, which opens up
to a dining room that is in antique bronze (chandelier has alabaster stone sonces). Right now the chandelier in the foyer is an open brass candelbra cage (builders special 22 yrs ago, although it is nice).
What concerns me is that I have antique brass frames on a mirror and a picture in the foyer. I am in a quandry because I found a chandelier I love at a great price~and I am ready for a change up! The foyer
is 8 ft wide and open to the second floor, the staircase is all open to the hallway above. Any advice?
THANKS!
Carla, it sounds to me like all of that would flow just fine, with the oil rubbed bronze and the lighter antique bronze. I really don’t see a problem mixing those 2 at all.
Carla I will have ORB hardware throughout my new home. I have many gold framed pictures and would really love to do antique brass light fixtures. Would that work?
You can definitely mix it all up in a house. Mine is mixed too.
Unless you have deep pockets anyone who lives in a 20+ year old house probably has a mix because replacing them all at once would be so expensive. It’s great that mixing is okay, matching everything is boring, why not metals too? Let call it trendy to mix metals and then those of us in old houses can have trendy homes too!
I’d say mix metals with a few caveats. With the exception of exterior doors, I think door knobs (and hinges) should be exactly the same throughout the entire house. Personally, I like traditional shiny nickel for faucets. We live in an area with hard water and those ORB fixtures look like they would get crusty with mineral deposits. I’m all for having fun with cabinet pulls and knobs, especially in smaller bathrooms.
We have/will have a mixture of metals in our house, so glad that it’s not a faux pas! We’ve got ORB on the knobs to all our doors and brushed nickel on all cabinets and a variety on dressers.
Shoot! I wish I had had the courage to mix my bathroom fixtures that I updated a few years ago. I love brushed nickle, but because we weren’t changing out the chrome faucets in the bathtub, I went with chrome faucets on the sink. I love the antique brass, too. I wonder if that is coming back again in the not distant future. I loved them on the dark wood island.
BTW, Jill Sharp Brinson’s kitchen is perfection. If I had that kitchen, I would move my bed in there and just live in it. Those black metal windows are incredible.
Great post Rhoda! I agree mix it up! I mix up the metals in my jewellry too…it’s all about whatever you as an individual loves! I think each home has a sort of ‘personality’ too which has to be considered as well….some finishes just lend themselves naturally to the age/style of a home. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this topic 🙂