When it comes to interior design, sometimes the smallest details can create the most striking effects. The right shade of paint or the pattern in the countertops can really accentuate certain aspects of a room or the house as a whole. One small detail that many people overlook is their choice of metallics that are used in home fixtures. These metals can also change the feel of a room a surprising amount. We have a few tips for mixing metals in your home décor to make everything feel a little more cohesive.
Choose a Dominant Metal
Whether you’re designing a whole new addition to your home or just renovating a single room, choosing a dominant metal for your architecture and fixtures is key. Consider your kitchen; if your refrigerator and dishwasher are stainless steel, you want to keep that as your dominant metal since they take up so much space. Having your metallics stick to one major metal creates a more unified look.
Match Metal Tones With the Room
It’s important to consider the other tones in the room when deciding on metallics. If you have a lot of warmer tones throughout the room, contrasting that with a bright silver might be too stark of a difference to your eye. A warmer room needs a warmer metal, so if you have plenty of browns, yellows, and reds, a better choice would be a warmer metallic tone like gold or bronze. Conversely, a room that has a colder tone would look better with metallics such as silver or iron.
Don’t Use Multiple Finishes
The color of the metal you use is only one decision you need to make. A good tip for mixing metals in your home is to have them share a similar finish to each other, even if the colors are different. For instance, you can have a room with a lot of silver and accents of gold or bronze, but these metals should have the same finish. A matte or satin finish to silver will look strange and out of place next to an extremely shiny gold or bronze.
Spread Out, Don’t Cluster
Metallics are great for drawing the eye toward specific places in the room. However, you don’t want this fact to work against you. If you cluster a lot of metallic pieces in a small area, the rest of the room will simply fade away into the background. Sprinkle in hints of metallics all around the room to make sure the eye isn’t too drawn to any one specific area.