Windows: I chose white to blend in with the trim. Except in the study which has stained trim-those windows are ORB.

Door hardware is ORB.

Plumbing fixtures in all baths are polished chrome.

Kitchen cabinet hardware, still deciding between polished and satin nickel.

I love satin nickel but with the little bit I have seen of your (beautiful) home, ORB could look very nice.

nutherokie: thank you, but we've been bombarded with snow and today rain ...and expecting two feet of snow tomorrow although i refuse to believe it until i see it! they finally dug the trench for our power. as long as we don't have a major problem with the weather they should begin insulation and sheet rock next week. finish line? what's THAT? our trim is looking pretty stunning but they're missing a few pieces so i don't want to post any pics yet!

i'm so relieved to hear so many of you going with (or recommending) ORB. i just noticed my door hinges were ORB and went a little nuts. i don't remember having a discussion with anyone about finish ...even though that's what i was thinking we should go with anyway.

okay, i feel good about this so i'll move on. THANK YOU!

I have heard good things about Emtek from my architect - he said Baldwin Brass quality at a lower cost. It is a living finish, I know . . .

That Ashley Norton hardware is gorgeous! I saw it recently in a house and had never heard of it - it has gone into my file too!

We have Emtek ORB. Love, love, love it. Had one problem with one handle, but Emtek replaced it for us--no problem. Great company.

My interior door knobs look like white porcelain. The sink faucets match. Just like my childhood memories of my Gramma's house built a hundred years ago. Sorry, I'm getting a litlle misty now!

OT--Kate, are you still building your house!?! :) Ok, I mean this in a good natured way, as another person building a house and being frustrated with delays, but seriously what stage are you at? How long have you been at it? We were giving our builder a little bit of grief the other day bc we have been stuck in a tiny little rental (6 of us and a dog). We're getting cabin fever since it's too cold to play outside for too long, and we just want out of the rental and in our house. The end is in sight though, but I feel like that's when we really start getting antsy bc then, you can almost touch it! Anyway, I've been waiting to see the completed pictures of your home bc I know it's going to be beautiful and bc I know there are some elements to it that are similar to our house.
Back to your post, we're going satin nickel on the interior door knobs and a black matte finish on the exterior door knobs. We would have gone ORB for the interior door knobs, but we had that in our last house, and we found that the finish on the most frequently used knobs (door to garage and front door) started to rub off. The black in the ORB started rubbing off after only 2 years. I don't know, may be our knobs weren't that good to begin with (they were schlage), but we just didn't want that to happen again. So, that's why we went with satin nickel for the interior knobs. We have so many different finishes in the house. It was really worrying me, but now, I just chose not to think about it. I was in a couple of homes that had all kinds of different finishes, and I found that it didn't really look bad. I guess we'll see.
Good luck! :)

I went with ORB throughout my home. Lights too. I did do each bathroom differently, hoever, but left the doorknobs and hinges in those ORB.

Another slow building project here.... I feel like I have been lurking and following progress on gobruno's and kateskouras for a long time and all I can say is that I guess misery loves company :) I am always excited when I click on and see some progress pictures- there are so many beautiful homes going up and I just can't wait to see them when they are done.

We are going on 3 years since we signed to do our house and the foundation has been in for over a year. The end is starting to come into view- hopefully by the summer but I am very tired of our temporary rental (18 months now!) and the snowy winter without a yard is NOT helping.

Way too much time to obsess over decisions and then change my mind over them. Door finishes have driven me crazy but we did just make the "final" decision to do all interior doors as brushed nickel and exterior doors will be black matte.
My decisions on lighting are across the board- pewter, ORB, natural iron, etc.
My latest obsession if Hubardton Forge! I hope that using the brushed nickel for all the doors will help things blend and that I will like the way all the finishes go together. Like gobruno, I am a little worried but when I am in other peoples' homes, I like the way it looks :)

I had originally planned to use all ORB but had heard/seem bad reviews on how the finish wears. I really love the look of it but was too nervous. I guess time will tell if I made the right decision.

Well- continued good luck to all and keep the pictures coming. I love seeing how everyone homes are coming along and it gives me hope that someday, I'll be posting my own "we are moving in" shots!

All white house both inside and out. I am doing the opposite of gobruno: black matte interior knobs and satin nickel exterior knobs. Also, have satin nickel on bathrooms just so I can say, "Third door on left with silver colored lever" rather than the bedrooms which have black round knobs. I also put these really cute industrial looking door latches on the bathrooms that show "vacant" and "occupied". There are some super cool and cute things at this British website called Willow & Stone--wish I could buy tons of things there but only have two little latches :)

Post some pics of your progress Kate! Still obsessed with that pic of the big pendant lights over your table.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vacant/Occupied latches

Ours is brushed nickel upstairs
ORB on the main floor. I was told they make the finish permanent now. ??
And black on the lower level.

gopintos - the ORB varies I think. Emteck and Baldwin are both living finishes. I think whether the living finish works (the idea being that they age over time and actually look better with time) depends on what is under the ORB. If it is brass - not so great. Copper can look lovely as it starts to peek through

Antique brass door knobs for me.

We put inexpensive (Schlage) antique brass door knobs in our current house nearly 20 years ago when AB was very popular. The door knobs all still look great including the ones on exterior doors. The mechanism has failed on a couple of the indoor knobs - thanks to a beagle who somehow discovered she could open doors if she jumped up and caught the door knob just right in her teeth and didn't care that when she caught it WRONG she could break the darn thing! - but the AB finishes still look fantastic.

Over the years we've also replaced a lot of the plumbing and lighting fixtures in our old house with AB (none of it very expensive) and all of still looks fabulous too.

So, for the new house, I decided to stick with AB for all plumbing and lighting fixtures and door/window hardware. No problem with door/window hardware but, wouldn't ya know it, AB is no longer "popular" so in many cases AB lighting and plumbing fixtures can only be had for a premium price that is WAY out of my budget.

So, I had to compromise and blend in some ORB plumbing and light fixtures. I have my fingers crossed that the ORB stands the test of time. Or at least that, if it doesn't, by the time it starts looking too tacky, I'll be able to afford to replace those items with AB.

Sure WISH the powers that be would decide AB was "popular" again.

Bevangel, I don't pretend to be a psychic or anything, but I think that you may get your wish! I swear that I am seeing a resurgence of AB and brushed brass. I am noticing a lot more things with that finish, and I would not at all be surprised if in 3 years or so, it is more popular than ORB. The other day, I was looking at a few things with a brushed brass look, and I'll have to admit that I found myself gravitating toward it, and I have never really considered it before.

gobruno - ya think???

It really torques me the way manufacturers keep changing the available finishes on things. And the plumbing fixture makers and the lighting fixture makers and the door/window hardware people CAN NOT even seem to all get together and agree on what finishes they'll make available THIS season. It really makes it hard for those if us building homes to coordinate our finishes... particularly those of us whose builds are taking WAY to long to get done. LOL.

ORB Baldwin door knobs and hinges, but white latches on the windows (Marvin) because they are white and so is all the trim. the light fixtures changed by room, but many are ORB or black iron, or antique bronze. faucets also changed by room based on the designs (ha!) I envisioned :)

gobruno is right! Saw an interesting article about some top designers and how they are moving back to AB for it's warmer color. Kelly Wearstler had some room with it, Jonathan Adler too.....I am sure that it be coming back around!

We sold our old house last May and one of my comments was, "I hate all the brass--I want the pretty silver like at Restoration Hardware"....but now I know I may have caught the tail end of this trend and should have stayed with my old home!

our window handles are built in since they're vinyl milgards, but for doors we chose a matte black finish. Originally we had decided to go with oil rubbed bronze, but what we found was a wide spectrum of oil rubbed bronze colors that didn't match from manufacture to manufacture.

i love AB but i agree bevangel, it's difficult to find. i really like the color in comparison to the ORB which seems so stark in comparison. i have to thank you for bringing it up.

i've been inclined to go with ORB not because i'm in love with it, but because when our french doors appeared on our build the hinges were in the ORB finish. i'll have to speak with the GC about the possibility of changing them out. our windows are in but there is no hardware up yet. i suppose this would be the time to change if i were to do so! i can't remember if emtek has an AB finish? anyone know?

athensmom: do you know what the emtek knobs are made from? trying to determine how they'll wear since i like the ORB finish MUCH more when it wears. the living finishes appeal to me more than the sealed.
i've never seen or heard of ashley norton hardware so i'll have to check that out too!

firsthouse: did you know i was thinking of using those latches on our mudroom bath? have that site bookmarked but was hoping to find a supplier in the US. i think they're FABULOUS. just one of those little details that really make a home! also was planning on using a shop bell for our secondary entrance as a doorbell but that's not quite working out with my husband's high tech alarm system. somehow he has talked me into the need to speak to whomever is ringing the bell before i actually open the door. i suppose it's a good idea in theory. (?)
what pic are you talking about? i purchased our kitchen pendants from williams-sonoma home and posted a pic of them several times but they are not installed yet. maybe you're thinking of an inspiration pic? i'll post some progress shots soon. i need to get ready for trip next week so there are a BAZILLION other things that need doing right now!

thanks so much for all the comments and direction. this is really an overwhelming project and it's just too easy to make regrettable decisions. i don't think i can go wrong with either the ORB or the AB though. they just seem too timeless to ever be considered a mistake.

I don't know what the emtek knobs are made of . . . we are very very early in this process.

The Ashley Norton knobs were used in the attached house . . . they also have a more rustic sandcast bronze which are great looking also. I think they are high quality stuff but don't know how they compare to emtek or baldwin etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bishop's House

I am going with the ORB finish, still deciding on the brand though. Usually we use Schlage but I have seen a couple others that might be possibilities. The whole house will be levers.

GLORIOUS house, athensmom! simply stunning. i'm going to file that one in my eye candy file!

emtek has a finish called medium bronze that i think i like. still have to get out soon and look though. i looked up the ashley norton knobs; gorgeous, but considerably more $$$ than the emtek. don't think i can swing it but i'd love to see them IRL. most of the photos of the emtek ORB i've seen are shot AFTER they've been worn a bit. when i saw them at a nearby retailer (brand new) they are flat black ...which i don't love. the only problem i have is they all won't wear the same (if at all). so torn...

Kate~

Cannot wait for your house to be finished!

Although I would have loved to have vintage glass doorknobs, we went with matte black. I like the simple contrast of the doorknobs with the creamy shaker doors.

Katie

We have black matte knobs and hinges, polished chrome for all faucets, white interior trim and moulding with shaker fir natural stain doors.

Thanks for the link to my blog! I noticed a lot of people were coming over there from Gardenweb, and now I know why!

We are going with some sort of nickel tone for our bathrooms, but I am not sure what we are doing for the door hardware. My designer likes that nickel is both warm and cool, versatile and neutral.

I have heard great things about Emtek. My SIL used it on her house, and another house I saw while evaluating builders used it. My architect likes a British brand that he calls 'the British version of Baldwin'. I love Bouvet, but I have the feeling it is expensive, and some of the products have a 6 month lead time. But every time I see a picture of this beautiful door knocker from Bouvet, it makes me happy...

I love Bouvet too :)

The more I look at the Bishop's house the more I love the little things that make it so special - all the nods to the bishop :) Makes me wish I was buying a former "something" house so I could do the same thing . . .

That is the thing about door knobs - differences in price really add up when you figure out how many you need!

...any thoughts on the schlage aged bronze as a finish?