We’ve all flipped through home design magazines and websites only to stop on a photo of a eclectic room with a variety of metallic finishes assembled to perfection by an interior designer. If you’re like me, you love how they make all those different finishes work together. Do you want the look for yourself without it looking like a cluttered mess? Us too.
As Lisa Porta outlines in her video, there is no hard and fast rule for using metallic finishes, or as LaPorta calls it “house jewelry”, in your kitchen or bath design. But there are a few basic guidelines you can to follow to create a polished look.
Stick with a theme: Layering polished chrome, brushed nickel, or bronze finishes works as long as it is consistent with the overall theme of the room. If you’re kitchen says Parisian Bistro your object shouldn’t scream modern art. On the other hand, brushed nickel, bronze, and even ironware all go well together.
Grouping is odd: One of the basic rules of interior design holds true here too — odd numbers are more appealing to the eye. Place your items of different finishes into groups of 5, 7, 9, etc.. For house jewelry, three spheres of different finishes makes a nice grouping, where if they were all the same shape and color, it would just blend in.
Vary Size and Height: Objects of similar shape and size all run together. But if you place them relative to each other in size and height, you can create a visually pleasing set. This is a copper set, but it works just as well with mixed finishes.
Now that you have your groupings set, use the Pfister online Design Center to search for a faucet that matches your selected style and pair it with another finish elsewhere in the room.
For instance the brushed nickel finish on the Pfister Virtue EPA Watersense certified 3-hole faucet on this vanity would match well with a Tuscan Bronze tub faucet from our Treviso collection. Both fall into the Traditional or Transitional style. Put them together and you have a turn of the century vibe with current appeal.
Do you have a set of mis-matched finishes in your kitchen or bath? Share photos of your results on our Facebook wall.
I was always convinced you shouldn’t mix metals but now I’m excited to give it a try. ORB faucet and stainless appliances!
Oh my gosh all these are beautiful! I never knew odd numbers were more appealing to the eyes. I love this and I started looking around my home and your right when I do this it is more appealing thank you!