In almost every room in our home you’ll find lots of neutrals, loads of texture, and usually a mix of metal finishes too! My natural tendency has always been to match things so mixing different metals together in one space isn’t something that came easily to me. I baby stepped my way into doing it and now there’s hardly a space in our home where stainless, gold, and other metals aren’t all thrown into the mix. While there are no hard and fast rules for using mixed metals, I thought I’d share some tips that may help you step away from matching and start mixing it up! (post includes some affiliate links – see my full disclosure statement {here})
Stick to Two Metals + Use Each Metal More Than Once
A good rule of thumb for newbie metal mixers is to stick with only two different metal types in your room and use each metal in more than one place. Are there rooms that break this rule and are amazing? Absolutely! But if you’re baby stepping into mixing metals, this is a good rule to keep your room from looking like a mismatched mess. I’ll use our new bathroom as an example – I love the mix of soft brass with brushed nickel so I used both metals in our space. I also used each metal in more than one place: our bathtub filler, shower hardware, and vanity faucets are satin/brushed nickel:
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but our mirrors and vanity lights are brass
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Sprinkle, Don’t Cluster
Make sure you’re sprinkling the different metals throughout your room instead of clustering them together on different sides of it. You don’t want one side of your room to have brass accents and the other side to have silver – mix them up within your space. It can even be a small metal accessory that you mix in that makes the difference! For example, my vanity area is a good mix of brushed nickel and brass but my shower that’s across the room was solely brushed nickel so I added shampoo and conditioner pumps with brass tops to bring that metal into the mix:
Sources: Pump bottles (16 oz white/gold) | Body brush | Sea sponge | Hexagon tile
Don’t Mix Two Metals in the Same Color Family
Mixing two metals that are in the same color family but have different undertones/sheens (for example, the combination of brushed nickel + chrome or the combination of shiny brass + brushed gold) is usually going to look like you tried to match your metals but failed. Instead, you want contrast in your two metals!
Two things to note though – (1) subtle variations of metal tone within the same color family are totally fine. For example, the mirror and vanity lights in our bathroom are both gold/brass but they’re definitely not identical in appearance – luckily the variation is subtle so it works. (2) Different brands sometimes call almost identical looking metals completely different names so don’t go by the names, go by what the metals look like.
And one last thing – I have seen some really well designed rooms that break this “rule” and totally get away with it but it takes skill to pull off. As a mixed metals newbie, following this tip will make your metal mixing attempts more likely to succeed.
Know that Dark Metals Are Every Metal’s Friend
Iron, gunmetal, and other dark metals work as neutrals and mix well with brass, stainless, chrome… pretty much anything and everything! The combination of black metal with gold or brass is a personal favorite. I mixed the two in our master bedroom remodel when I topped our black metal nightstands with brass swing arm lamps:
And did you notice that in my bathroom I actually broke my own rule of only two metals? You probably didn’t because the third metal is the dark bronze chain of our woven pendant and it just blends right in and lives happily with all of the other metals in the space:
Sources: Woven pendant | Tub filler | Bathtub | Stool
Keep Trendier Metals on Low Commitment Pieces
I often get asked whether I’m worried about using a lot of brass in my home because it’s “trendy” (I actually think soft brass will be around for quite a while but that’s a whole other post…) and the answer is no because I’ve mostly kept it on low commitment pieces that would be easy to switch out.
For example, when planning our kitchen remodel I was tempted by a range with brass accents that I thought was stunning, but decided to stick with more traditional metals for our range and other big money items (appliances, faucet, & pot filler). I still brought some brass into our new space but only with our cabinet pulls, pendant lights, and a few accessories that wouldn’t be too difficult or expensive to swap out if a new homeowner wasn’t a brass lover:
Sources: Pendants | Large appliance pulls on drawers | Counter stools | Marble & wood cutting board | All other sources are in my kitchen reveal post {here}
Did you notice I said I’ve “mostly” kept it on low commitment pieces? One kinda higher commitment place where I brought in brass was with {these brass and crystal doorknobs} that I added throughout the first floor of our home:
It was love at first sight and they’re just SO me that I went for it – I do keep resale in mind when decorating but I also have to follow my own heart in my own home!
Spray Paint and Rub ‘n Buff Are Easy Fixes for Mixed Metal Fails
The great thing about experimenting with mixed metals is that if you try a combination of metals out and it just isn’t working in your space, it usually isn’t anything that a can of spray paint or tube of Rub ‘n Buff can’t fix! The large round mirror over our bedroom dresser came in a bronze finish that was beautiful but just didn’t work like I wanted it to with everything else going on in the space. Luckily it was an easy fix – in just 15 minutes (and without even taking it down from the wall) I was able to change it to a gold leaf finish with nothing more than a dry cloth and this tube of Rub ‘n Buff (I used the Gold Leaf finish).
Sources: large round mirror over our bedroom dresser | Gray drapes | Acrylic urn lamp | Framed butterfly print | Black & white grid box | Knobs on dresser | Cherry blossom print, dresser, and bust planter not available
You can also see how I used Rub ‘n Buff to change the finish on wall hooks in our entryway from the garage {here].
Still nervous about mixing metals? I’ll leave you with one last tip as a great way to start! Buy a bunch of different sized metal photo frames in a variety of metal finishes and mix them together on a shelf in your home. It’s a great baby step to mixing metals plus you can play around with them a bit and see for yourself which combinations you love and can be more confident about bringing into the rest of your home! Hope this has been helpful -let me know if you have any questions for me!
XO,
I love that dresser – where is it from?
The dresser was actually one that we’ve had for over ten years (It originally came from Crate and Barrel) but I painted it when I did a makeover of our bedroom yeears ago – you can see the before and after pics here: https://www.drivenbydecor.com/one-room-challenge-master-bedroom-reveal/
This was a great post! Thank you for all the great hints. Mixing metals can be daunting.
I’ve been looking at my island pendants that are brushed nickel along with my pulls on cupboards. Albove my Kitchen table is a farm style chandelier. It was a dark bronze to start with but I covered it with paint to be a grey color to tie in with pendant lights. Then in family room. (all three rooms are hooked together to an open plan) is a fan that is a
Dark bronze bronze color with goes well with couch and my shiitake paint color. But looking at all together doesn’t look right. What do I change? I’m puzzled. Kitchen table and chairs are dark brown and white cabinets and counter tops throughout. Thanks so much
TT
Excellent, helpful post. Thank you! I’ve started mixing some metals and will continue to as I do more redecorating. I love your style and decor taste!
Such a helpful post! You are giving me courage to try some new things.
Hi Kris,
What is your go to white paints? Walls and trim?
: )