It’s Now Cool to Have Mismatched Fixtures

By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

A home with a mix of chrome, nickel, brass, and bronze fixtures may prompt some home buyers to pause. But such mismatches are actually on trend. (Good news to those remodelers who may not have gotten around quite yet to updating all of those fixtures to the same color!)

That means pretty much anything goes for plumbing, lighting, cabinet hardware, and appliances these days. Sure, there are some clear favorites emerging this year: Black steel and burnt-colored metals, such as oiled bronze and wrought iron. Brass is gaining more popularity, and copper fixtures are holding strong.

Regardless, “homeowners alike no longer have to worry about matching all the fixtures in a home,” Elizabeth Hagie, regional vice president of sales for the North Carolina office of Builders Design, told BUILDER in a recent interview on the trend. “In fact, embracing this trend can give personality and depth to space allowing the character of a home to shine. This universal trend can be incorporated into any style, from contemporary to traditional depending on the main hue.”

For example Hagie says using warm gold tones can compliment a more traditional home and layered easily with cool accents. On the other hand, cooler hues, which tend to be more contemporary, can be accented with warmer gold and copper tones to add depth to a room.

OK, hold on … before you start out swapping every fixture to a different shade.

“You certainly want to take the size of your room into consideration and try to limit yourself to four hues while deciding which you prefer to be main finishes and which can be accents to the space,” Hagie says. “As you select your metal accents, consider blending warm and cool tones. Warm-toned metals, like brass and bronze, add an eye-catching accent of color and when used in conjunction with cool toned metals like stainless steel and aluminum. This opposition is what maxes mixing metals impactful within your space.”

See more of Hagie’s tips as well as examples at BUILDER online.

Also, view two good examples we found of the mismatched metals from designers featured on Houzz.