18
SPRING HOME & GARDEN • MARCH 2020
THE WINCHESTER STAR
MIXING METAL FINISHES Yes, you can mix metal finishes in the kitchen — but there are some rules. By ELIZABETH MAYHEW (c) 2020, Special to The Washington Post
When Toby Young bought her one-bedroom apar tment in New York’s Gramercy Park neighborhood, she knew she would have very little money to renovate the kitchen. She planned to simply paint the dark brown cabinets white, replace the ceiling light and update the cabinet hardware to chrome to match the existing faucet. It was this last item on her to-do list that confused her; her small kitchen opened directly onto her living/dining room, in which all the hardware - doorknobs, hinges and lighting - were brass. “I had always been taught that, like the color of my shoes, belt and handbag, the metal hardware in a room should
match.” Lucky for Young, times have changed. Restrictive r ules about matching fashion accessories are no more and, to a degree (a few guidelines do apply), the same can be said about mixing metal hardware finishes in homes. Mixing metal finishes is a conscious design choice for New York designer Thomas O’Brien, founder of Aero Studios, and one he even made for his own residence. When he renovated the kitchen in his Bellport, N.Y., home, he painted his cabinets a glossy white and installed satin brass handles, but he opted to use chrome for all the plumbing fixtures. He says that when mixing metals in a room, there should be logic behind each choice. “For example, I chose the brass handles because I wanted
114 N. Cameron St., Winchester, VA 22601 540-662-0323 • www.ColonySells.com John S. Scully, IV, Principal Broker Licensed in VA & WV
The Washington Post
