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&#;Knob snobs&#; might tell you unlacquered brass is the most authentic; a finish touted by designers as the final word in a timeless style. However, it might surprise you what unlacquered brass is really like once you have it in your home. I took a risk and chose this finish for our kitchen. I&#;ll admit &#; I am still shocked at how quickly the brass ages!
Brass is a common finish enjoyed by just about everyone. But unlacquered brass&#;s unique properties make it not universally loved.
What is unlacquered brass? It is simply brass with no protective coating. This allows for fingerprints and smudges, that eventually give way to the entire surface being a lovely, antiqued, duller color. This is the tarnish people speak of (the aged look is referred to as patina). It&#;s a living finish because it changes over time!
Most brass available in stores is lacquered, unless specified directly. Assume your typical brass has a thin coat of varnish of lacquer that protects it from darkening.
our Emtek entry set in an unlacquered brass Will unlacquered brass corrode?Solid unlacquered brass will tarnish and darken over time as it oxidizes, but it will not corrode or rust. Brass is a durable metal.
How long does it take for the brass to patina?Brass patinas at a rate that depends on how often you are touching it, the oils on your hands, minerals in water, etc. This means the hardware you frequently use will look darker and aged, where as the hardware you touch the least will remain polished.
How to clean unlacquered brass?Do you like it shiny? Polishing unlacquered brass will restore the brass back to its&#; original shiny finish again!
To clean and polish unlacquered brass, use a microfiber cloth to rub in Brasso or Bar Keepers Friend, and you&#;ll have your brass shiny again in minutes. (But if you are polishing frequently, better to consider lacquered polished brass with no maintenance!).
If you like the patina, leave it alone. That&#;s all there is to it; you will find it low-maintenance!
Before and afters of unlacquered brass plumbing and hardwareBelow you can see our faucet after 8 months (made by Waterstone, tour our entire kitchen here).
See in the photo above how unlacquered brass tarnishes at different rates, with the aging mostly happening at the top? It is just depending on how often each one is touched, but somehow it all still works.
Especially around water, there is the possibility that your brass can have some green in the patina! Our kitchen faucet hasn&#;t shown any green, but our bathroom faucets have a lot! I polish the green off from time to time, but it doesn&#;t bother me.
Our guest bedroom&#;s bath:
Waterworks brand faucetThe powder bath faucet is used the most by our family. Can you tell!?
You can find this exact Rohl faucet here in several finishes.
sourceThe funny thing is, unlacquered brass was actually considered old school and out of date several decades ago. Americans began sealing raw brass to avoid tarnishing.
In today&#;s world, we consider unlacquered brass hardware a luxury, with a higher price tag as proof. But this living finish is not called beautiful by everyone. Truthfully, it grew on me! I went from thinking but why did it get dirty so fast to it looks so antique.
We picked a raw brass finish for our front door hardware too.
Out of the box:
One month later, full of fingerprints and smudges not yet turned into pretty patina:
Update: A full year later, the entire surface aged to a dull finish.
Beauty is subjective of course, but in my mind this is the perfect stage of aged brass.
source Skip the headache of matching all the brassA major benefit to using unlacquered brass is the universal finish. Regardless of the manufacturer &#; genuine unlacquered brass will look closely the same out of the box!
Hardware Sources:
Bin Pulls: one | two | three
Appliance Pulls: one | two | three
Drawer Pulls: one | two | three | four
Cabinet Knobs: one | two | three | four
Rules on using unlacquered brassThere&#;s no hard and fast rules to using a living finish, but like anything else it does fit into certain styles of homes best.
When we changed out our nickel pulls for brass in our new construction home, unlacquered brass hardware wasn&#;t the right choice for our brand new kitchen. The vibe in our blue and white space was new, with a fresh, coastal feel. Unlacquered brass gives off an old world feel, or a collected style, in my mind.
Unlacquered brass vs. polished brassHardware such as polished brass, satin brass, brushed brass or even antique brass is generally lacquered (unless specified). The finishes are not living &#; the color remains the same.
Antique brass is a finish to look into if you like a patina &#; it is a brass that comes already aged, but won&#;t age any more. My office doorknob:
Don&#;t miss my 24 Brass Flush Mount Lights post, see our Visual Comfort Darlana + Linear Pendant Up Close (with knock offs too) &#; or see all the lighting we picked out for the upstairs of our home.
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A Report on 9 Top Kitchen Trends in
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I often get asked how to combine metal finishes in lighting and hardware. The look of matching all your finishes is long gone (even when working with brass). Here are a few guidelines to help you mix metals like a pro.
Thank you to the Washington Post for including my bathroom in a recent article about timeless colours!
It&#;s a question we receive in my eDesign department all the time, &#;how do I combine finishes for my lighting and hardware?&#;
It&#;s official. You can buy almost anything for the home in black now.
From hardware to lighting to faucets, black is everywhere and here to stay &#; that is, for at least 6-7 more years while this trend runs its course.
And it&#;s quickly replacing gold, but gold is one finish I hope becomes a classic. It warms up so many really neutral interiors.
When it does stop trending, like it did in the 80s, I am moving it into the timeless category for hardware and lighting. It&#;s definitely required to warm up all bathrooms that will be installed next with too much black. I remember, when not so long ago, I couldn&#;t talk anyone into brass lighting or hardware. WOW, how things have changed! More on that below&#;
In all honesty, this post on how to mix metals long overdue.
Because gone are the days when it was a simple case of matching all your metal finishes. In fact, if you simply choose the builder grade brushed nickel everything, the look is sure to be disappointingly dull.
Okay, so before we go any further, notice how I mixed metals in my master ensuite (above). I installed chrome faucets, repeated them again in the towel rod and knobs (which were a combination of glass and chrome). And for the gold/brass, it is repeated in the lighting, mirror and accessories.
Let&#;s start with brushed nickel, which is a preference that is more often being checked off lately in our kitchen and new build eDesign packages:
Let&#;s talk about brushed nickel. There is nothing technically wrong with brushed nickel. There may even be an uptick in interest in the more meek and modest of the silver finishes lately. The problem is that it has been the generic builder grade go-to for way too long. Yes, it&#;s versatile, but it has to be used on some pretty new and sexy looking fixtures and shapes to look current, fresh and interesting.
No one is rushing to install brushed nickel fixtures like this:
Brushed nickel looks good in this bathroom below layered with brass, but the faucets could just as well have been shinier polished nickel.
What do you think? Is brushed nickel going to overcome its generic reputation and begin trending again?
Driven by Decor
This bathroom (above) is a very good example of successfully mixing metals for a very fresh look.
The main thing you need to understand about mixing metals is to repeat each metal finish at least once. In this bathroom above, the mirrors, lights and knobs are brass, and the shower fixtures (not shown) and faucets are brushed nickel. Each finish is repeated, which is the not-so-mysterious reason that they work.
All the metal elements also all have similar modern styling. Making sure the STYLE of the fixtures and hardware make sense together allows for layering in a few different finishes and the overall design still look like they belong together.
When choosing metal finishes for bathrooms and kitchens, I recommend that you start with the faucets. I prefer to stick with classic chrome or polished nickel for faucets in kitchens, especially to relate to stainless steel appliances.
Choose the same chrome or polished nickel for bathroom vanity faucets as well to relate to chrome or polished nickel shower/bath hardware. Stainless or brushed nickel are ok too, just a bit dull in my opinion.
Plumbing is more expensive to change out typically, so it makes sense to stick with a timeless silver finish. You can then layer in one or two more metal finishes in decorative lighting, cabinet hardware and mirrors. These decorative elements are easiest to switch out when trends in metal finishes change.
I much prefer the soft and timeless look of chrome faucets to coordinate with stainless steel in kitchens. The kitchen above is by Jean Stoffer Design
I don&#;t see the matte black faucet trend as having legs, meaning it&#;s not going to be around for a long while.
In my estimation, black faucets are more of a fad because they are high contrast and jarring, making them not that easy to live with. Fads that pass quickly are the ones that demand so much our attention right away, that we get sick of them much faster. My hope is that black faucets are a flash in the pan.
Black faucet via Home Bunch
Here&#;s the trick to decorating with black. It&#;s so powerful, in a bathroom or a kitchen, that you only need to repeat it ONCE.
And speaking of trends in metal finishes. Brass and gold have been going strong for some time now, and many of you may be fretting about the trend&#;s longevity.
Is brass going out??
Well, I don&#;t think so and I sincerely hope not. And this is why:
Mixing metal finishes add so much interest and warmth. And in spaces like bathrooms, where opportunities for creating interest are somewhat limited, it&#;s important to consider your metal finish combinations with care.
Studio McGee
In this bathroom above, for example, all silver metal finishes would have been a bit flat. But black finishes would be too harsh for the delicate look of the wallpaper. Brass metal finishes add the perfect touch of warmth.
And with olive and muted forest greens trending along with cognac, mustard and terracotta, the warmth of brass is the perfect metal accent at the moment. It&#;s lovely how it picks up the gold veining in the marble in the kitchen below.
Hunker
And while we are seeing many creative trends for kitchens including scads of cabinets in natural white oak and painted rich colours, the white kitchen (and white bathroom) is still fundamentally timeless, and brass is a lovely way to warm up an all-white room.
Brass, wood and rattan warm up a classic white kitchen &#; Serena and Lily
Bronze metal finishes have always been around. Bronze hardware and lighting brings in a just the right note of rustic charm. It reads almost black, but softer. As long as people are drawn to hint of nostalgia in their interiors, bronze will stick around. The trick is to make sure you choose bronze fixtures that are current in shape and style. I prefer to use bronze for hardware and lighting, and definitely not in faucets.
Bronze hardware and lighting &#; Rejuvenation
The silver finish has been used on the faucet here to tie in with the stainless sink. The lighting and updated rustic hardware in bronze deliver contrast and a touch of rustic styling to this all-white kitchen (above).
Bronze in light fixtures is often fairly interchangeable with black. So if you fall in love with a fixture in black or bronze and your hardware is the other, order it anyway (as long as it can be returned) and it may relate together just fine.
Remember this post from years ago when black wasn&#;t available? Just Blink Twice and It&#;ll be Black
Yes, there are absolutely a million ways to mix metals. BUT, if you don&#;t designate materials and finishes all day long giving you the experience to break all the rules like a pro, here are the best guidelines to follow:
Hope this helps, I know you&#;ve been asking for this post for a while!
Over to you my lovelies! How do you feel about brass? Do you like it as much as I do?
If you&#;d like help creating a classic, bathroom, kitchen, renovation or new build check out my eDesign packages here.
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