We did all dark finishes. ORB and Copper. I've seen many houses with them mixed up but I do like the hinges to match the door handle. ;c)

As far as doors are concerned, I like the hinges and knobs to match. However, when choosing lighting fixtures, furniture hardware and kitchen cabinet hardware it makes it interesting if you mix and match a bit. We had a professional help us in choosing most things and our home is a mix of ORB, brushed nickel (kitchen and bath faucets), bronze, brown and black metals. In the rooms with brushed nickel faucets, we chose various darker metals for the lighting fixtures and they look great. Remember, a house with every metal the same can look like a builder's model or spec home. Mixing it up creates a more custom look, IMHO.

I mixed ORB, satin nickel and copper. I think it looks nice. I put satin nickel in our master bath plumbing fixtures, but ORB door handles/hinges. I found this great fan that mixed both.

a house with every metal the same can look like a builder's model or spec home.

Absolultely! Ditto toilet and bath fixtures and fittings. I tried telling this to a recent client on an $800,000 home. But they would have none of it. I shouldn't have said a word. It made my job easier.

On my first spec luxury home, I obsessed about having every bathroom fitting in brass--down to the toilet/bidet valves and supply tubes. By the time I did my own current home, I even mixed up the brand of fittings in a single bathroom. And brass is, of course, now often twinned with chrome in fixtures.

I say 100% that the knobs and hinges need to match! LOL! We used brushed nickel and pewter. Little bit of both. I was worried about it at first but now that things are going up I am happy with it :-)

Good luck!

If I liked silver,I would go with ALL brushed nickel,but since I like the darker metals, i'll be using ALL ORB, mainly on faucets and door hardware. To say everything matching looks like a builders spec is okay with me since that's where you see many upgrades. IMO, it's a personal preference, and shouldn't be dictated by what the builder has in a spec home anyway.

IMO, light fixtures should be in the same color *range* as faucets. Something dark, such as black iron, or the rusted look metal would be a good 'match', without coming across as too matchy-matchy. I still like the way the old brushed brass looks with the sparkly prisms on a chandlier~I replaced the shiny brass fixtures in my old house years ago. Again, it's all personal.,

xoxosmom -- sometimes it helps to see a room where several different metals are being used to see if you like it or actually even notice they are different. If you really study the picture of our kitchen below, you might see that we have shiny stainless steel appliances, satin nickel faucets, bronze lights and pendants, and black pewter cabinet knobs and handles(even the running rabbit on the top of the cabinet has a different metal -- gold). However if you just look at the kitchen as a whole, it all blends with the various other colors and textures of the room and the mixing metals do not stand out. We had our house on the parade tour two years ago and no one ever made any comments on how we weren't consistent in our metal choices.

The bottom line is that there are no rules when it comes to this area and I would go with what fixture and metal you fall in love with regardless of its color.

{{gwi:1401886}}

Nice job! All the right elements. Is that unusual stove hood painted metal or lined formed drywall?

DH thought I was being way too picky, but we did match our door handles and hinges, and I'm glad, it's a nice look. Elsewhere we mixed when we felt like it. The eye takes in the handles and hinges at once, so I think matching is a good idea.

I had the same dilema, and posted about it awhile back. Here's what I went with:

Brushed nickel for hinges and door levers
ORB for main (open) areas: living room, dining and kitchen. Also used ORB for exterior door handle and outside light fixtures
Facuets and lighting fixtures in the bathrooms are a mix - chrome in master bath and powder room, brushed nickel in the kids bath.
In the kitchen I have ORB pendants, brushed nickel faucet, and I will more than likely use brushed nickel for the cabinet hardware.

Oh, and most of the 'little' lights for closets and such are brushed nickel (bought in bulk so we saved a bit of $ there).

HTH!

We mixed metals in the kitchen. The rest of the house is ORB.

In the kitchen, the two faucets are satin nickel; the door hardware is ORB; the chandelier is charcoal pewter; the knobs/pulls are a charcoal pewter and the tile insets are rusty pewter; appliances are stainless with black.

I think we obsess over things sometimes that only we will notice or even think about.

I have mixed metals throughout the house, but tried to stay consistent in each room, not exact matches, but in same range, i.e. antigue brass with other dark finish. The kitchen is a mix. The faucet is shiny chrome, the appliances will be SS, the lighting fixtures are a dark bronze or brass (I can't remember) and I've yet to think about cabinet handles. Since the kitchen opens up into the dining area and great room I kept the sconces, chand and fans in the same color family.

The only rooms that are really different from the rest of the house and done in pewter/silver, are the master bath and bedroom. Because of the very silver blue I'll have going on there I thought the pewter fixtures would be very pretty. The truth is the fixtures are actually modern and the rest of the house is more antique, old world style.

I did remember to keep the hinges and door knobs the same on the interior doors. Didn't think of it until after DH hung the back and side exterior doors with hinges that are different than knobs. Guess what though, I've never once noticed it. I don't think people will be concentrating on the hinges on my doors, at least I hope not. HA! Here's something even funnier, I have not noticed the hinges on my new front door and let husband order the door locks and handles. I don't even know if they match and guess what, don't really care. Don't really think anyone will be looking at the hinges on the door, but rather the beautiful glass. LOL

We did a mix throughout. Mainly ORB in the entertaining areas & master bath. Except the kitchen faucet & sink they're brushed nickel & stainless, as well are the appliances.

Worthy -- the stove hood is drywall which DH designed. It has venetian plaster over it same as the rest of the walls in the kitchen.

This is a great post.

We have been doing a little agonizing over this. Our door hinges are all brushed nickel as is our bath hardware. But our Anderson doors ( can only pick Anderson hardware) are whatever their pewter is called. Picked the same finish for our front door hardware. Will use brushed nickel on the doors through the house but I am so attracted to oil rubbed bronze I may use it somewhere... maybe our bath as we have no doors -

Our light fixtures will be lots of things.... I am going to struggle with lighting I am pretty sure. I have been looking a lot..... I like really really simple things and they are hard as heck to find. Even Renvovation is fancy for me! LOL

PD