Expert Tips for Mixing Metals in the Home

You probably don’t even know you’re doing it, says designer Beth Read Pusser.

A gold lamp base here, a bronze drawer pull there, a polished nickel bar faucet, a silver picture frame, a copper kettle; we are metal mixologists in our own homes. With golds and coppers being “warm” and silvers and chromes being “cool,” the good news is there are very few rules when it comes to the alchemy of your abode.

But there are a few.

When I moved into my Vero Beach digs, all the door handles were a very cool modern brushed steel. The hinges, however, were outdated, pitted polished brass. Definitely a no-no. A quick trip to The Home Depot solved that problem.

“Throughout the house, the doorknobs and hinges, the substance really makes a statement but gives away the era,” says Pusser, owner of Oodles of Wallpaper. “A shiny metal tends to look less expensive on door hardware.” She adds, “Are we a builder home or a custom home?”

Besides matching doorknobs and hinges (and their screws), one of the few rules still applies to fittings in the bathroom and kitchen: keep them the same. The tub and shower faucets should match the sink faucets, drains, and flush handle. You don’t want gold faucets coexisting with a chrome showerhead. The best way to mix metals in the bath or kitchen is with a fitting that is designed with both.

Waterworks, which is now part of RH, offers a series called Bond that comes in a combination of metal finishes. In her Southport, Connecticut kitchen, Waterworks co-founder Barbara Sallick used brass hardware and lighting with a stainless steel sink and nickel fittings. “Mixing finishes is easy to do and looks great,” she says.

Susan Schuyler Smith frequently integrates the alloys into her designs. “Metallics bring brightness and life to any room. The reflectiveness is responsible for the changing views of a scene. We are also seeing the mix of metals such as silver and gold and stainless and brass as a break away from some of the outdated rules of design,” she explains.

Silver nickel continues to be one of the most classic finishes, but people have been gravitating to gold lately. Beware, says Pusser: “If you put too much gold in a room it looks brash. You can do whatever you want with the lighting.” The designer recently did a bathroom with chrome fittings, a gold mirror, and wallpaper with gold accents. It works. Underfoot, Artistic Tile and Akdo both offer porcelain tiles with brass or chrome integrated into the design for just enough glamour.

Designers agree: too much of the same metal in a room feels static and looks contrived. There are many ways to introduce the glint and glimmer of gilt into your home. The most obvious and highest impact is wallpaper. Gracie & Sons was among the pioneers of using metallic paint as background on its scenic wallcoverings. Ceilings are the most popular destination for the solid metallic papers. Says Pusser, “Scalamandre and Stark were the first ones to sell foil wallpaper over 40 years ago. Thibaut came out with foils this year—one in gold, one in silver, one a mix of both.”

Furniture can bring a metallic element into a room. A marble cocktail table with hammered gold metal legs captures the light downward. Black barstools fitted with gold ferrules or little metal caps look positively bejeweled where the legs meet the floor. Bronze tacks articulate a club chair. Better yet, mixing old and new metals has a more intentional vibe—your grandmother’s gilt pier mirror flanked by a pair of HomeGoods lamps with silver bases.

No matter what is going on in the room, there are no rules when choosing metal lighting fixtures; whether sconces, pendants, lamps, or chandeliers, whatever you love will probably work. 

Gold accents in decor have the edge right now, according to Sandy Morgan. “Much of what’s happening in design is gilt: artwork, wallpapers, kitchens, hardware. It’s warm, it sparkles; the richness of it is appealing after the cool edginess of polished nickel. Gold is more glamorous,” says the designer.

So go ahead and pile the silver picture frames on the grand piano hood; display your trophies; arrange your pencils in a silver mint julip cup on your desk in front of the gilt wood-framed artwork found at a thrift shop.

“It’s all that glitters,” says Morgan.