Our designer, Preston McMath, is here to discuss a common question; to mix or not to mix metals?
While this is not an age-old question, it is one that more and more people are asking themselves when designing a new space. This trend of using more than one metal finish in a space is relatively new, becoming popular within the last few years.
Personally, I love to mix metals. It helps add a little extra color, intrigue, and depth to a space. However, it could be a big mistake if you aren’t careful.
First, we need to understand what metals are. The metals are anything in the space, from plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, and cabinet hardware made of metal. These metals come in a variety of finishes and colors.
Standard finishes include satin, matte, and chrome. Common colors are venetian bronze, champagne bronze, black, nickel, silver, and gold. Traditionally in design, you would only choose one color and finish and use that same combination for all metal items throughout the space.
This decision helps the space look and feel more unified and connected, which is why it has been the norm in design. However, it is becoming increasingly popular to introduce more than one color or finish within the same space.
Before you decide to jump on the mixing metals train, it is essential to ask yourself, “do I need to mix metals?” Of course, the answer is entirely up to you, but I hope I can help guide you in this decision.
First, consider the design style of your space. If you are going for a traditional, rustic, or farmhouse style, I recommend not mixing metals. These styles are relatively straightforward. Using only one metal color and finish will streamline the design and help keep it easy on the eyes.
Mixing metals fits better into more modern and contemporary styles. This trend will fit in much better with modern, transitional, or industrial design styles. I recommend mixing your metals if any of these styles appeal to you. However, these styles will look good and complete should you choose only to have one type of metal.
Another question: “Do I want to make an effort to coordinate different metals?” Mixing metals takes planning and forethought; some people want their design process simple. If you want simple and easy, stick to one metal and know that is perfectly okay- your design won’t look dated if you go this route. But if you want to take your design to the next step and don’t mind the extra work, mix away!
To mix metals properly, there are a few simple rules to follow (as I mentioned, it can be easy to mess up mixing metals.)
First, you should use at most two different metal finishes. Having three or more metal colors can be confusing and bring too much to a space and overwhelm it.
Second (and this one is critical), fixtures of the same purpose get the same metal. For example, all your plumbing fixtures should be the same metal, while all your light fixtures should be the other. In addition, all your hardware (i.e., towel bars, cabinet knobs, etc.) should have the same metal finish.
Doing this helps keep your design consistent and unified. This also helps give you some guidance so you aren’t just picking random metals for random fixtures. For example, having two different light fixtures be two different colors will likely look odd.
Can you mix Brass & Gold?
No, you should never mix two metals of the same color family. To make mixing metals look good, they need to be distinctly different from each other. Here are some examples of metals NOT to mix: brass and brushed gold, chrome and brushed nickel, oil-rubbed bronze, and venetian bronze.
Using metals too similar to each other can make your space look sloppy and inconsistent. Some better metals to mix would be brushed gold and brushed nickel, champagne bronze and matte black, or chrome and matte black. These combinations give your space tasteful depth and visual interest.
Mixing metals is still a trend, meaning it will likely age and go out of style eventually. Knowing how much staying power this trend will have is challenging, but I don’t see it going by the wayside anytime soon. The good thing about mixing metals is that even if it goes out of style, replacing fixtures with a different metal or color in the future is relatively easy and inexpensive.
