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Your home’s overall style and appearance will be affected by the metal finishes you choose.
The metal and finish options you choose for your home are more important to the overall design aesthetic than you may realize. Here’s how to select the finishes that look best in a farmhouse, in my opinion.
First off, what do we mean by metal finishes? Metal finishes encompass the hardware you use, including doorknobs, hinges, kitchen and bathroom cabinet pulls, and knobs. We also look at items physically attached to the house, such as faucets, showerheads, towel racks, and sink drains. And finally, metal fittings are the things that aren’t attached to the house except by nails or screws.
Mix or Match?
Do you want all the metals in your home to have the same finish? Ultimately, that’s a design decision you’ll have to make based on your farmhouse style. Make all the metals in your home match for a cohesive look, or add depth with multiple metals. You may want to match the fixtures in your bathrooms but have a different finish in your kitchen or even mix finishes within a single room. I like to mix brass and flat black finishes throughout the house.
The Paint Color Factor
Metal finishes for your living space should be selected according to the paint colors on your walls and furnishings. All metal finishes should be in harmony with the color scheme of your interior. In a room with a lot of gray tones, metals like chrome may get lost. Cool colors and warm metals can add interest and style to a drab living space. Combine warm metals, like copper or brass, with cool paint tones and reserve chrome for rooms with a warmer color scheme.
Daily Use
You need to also think about the type of finish that best suits your family’s lifestyle.
A glossy finish is highly reflective. In rooms with a lot of natural sunlight, polished finishes can cause glare. Keep shiny metallic elements to a minimum or to darker areas in your home. You can give your home a contemporary feel by choosing a matte finish, but this finish tends to show fingerprints and smudges more readily than a glossier finish, so keep that in mind.
Avoid matte finishes for fixtures that see a lot of daily use, such as your bathroom faucet or showerhead. Use matte metallics for furniture legs, cabinet handles on living room furniture or curtain hardware. As these elements are not handled often, the matte finish will remain smooth over time.
Samples, Samples, Samples
Increasingly, manufacturers are releasing new and unique metal items for retail because metal design elements are popular. The variety of metal design elements you can choose from can make it challenging to determine which metal will look best in your home.
The products from each manufacturer vary slightly. It is possible for brushed nickel faucets made by one manufacturer to have a completely different color from those made by another manufacturer.
Samples can help you make a final decision! You can view samples in your home to see how each option will fit with your existing interior design.
Farmhouse Style Finishes
These are some of my favorite farmhouse style finishes…
1. Matte Black. A matte black finish is an excellent choice in a farmhouse since it can give off a modern or rustic vibe, depending on how you pair it with other pieces.
2 & 3. Shiny polished finishes give off an air of modernity. Choose a polished brass finish for a more modern look. Choose an antique or brushed finish if you want a more rustic farmhouse vibe.
4. Polished brass will exude a modern feel, while polished chrome will give you a classic look. Chrome is a popular finish for cottage style, so if you like mixing traditional and charming elements in your farmhouse, chrome is a great choice. It is also less expensive than some other metals, making it a good budget purchase.
5. Brushed Nickel. Brushed Nickel is an excellent choice if you want a silver color without much shine. Nickel has a warmer hue than chrome but keep in mind that it is also a more expensive option.
Please share some of your favorite ways of combining metal finishes in your farmhouse in our comments section below! I always love seeing and hearing about different types of metal finishes – we all have our passions, and one of my passions happens to be metal finishes! No joke!
