Metal as an Accent

This holiday season, did you decorate with gold and silver? If you did, doesn’t it look good? It shines and reflects and celebrates the life in the room. To take it down seems a shame. Well, you may not have to, at least not entirely. You can enjoy the luster that metals add without keeping your Christmas decorations up all year round. During the holidays or any other time of year, ramp up some brilliance in your home by adding some metal.

The options for decorating with metals are as varied as the metals themselves. Want a refined, traditional look? Use those rich and wonderful classics, silver and gold, in decor such as tabletop art and metal wall art. You don’t have to use genuine silver and gold-plated items to achieve the look; polished stainless steel can be as beautiful and is more versatile. It works in mirrors, table and floor lamps, hanging lamps, picture frames and even drawer knobs and handles.

Metals don’t always have to be polished and shiny. The metal look is versatile and can be luxurious, homey or anything in between. A brushed, antiqued or distressed finish, or even a naturally rustic material such as wrought iron, expands the opportunities to mix metals into your interior design. This is especially true in metal furniture or wooden items with metal furniture legs. Coffee tables and sofa tables can show off a bit of the shiny stuff. Metal barstool legs come in all types of finishes. There are metal-legged kitchen tables and trestle dining tables. When pots and pans hang from hooks on a kitchen wall, that’s another version of metallic decor. You can go “all in” with a homespun kitchen by complementing with some metal and wire shelving. Even the bedroom can get in on the act with fancy metal bedframes and metal wall art.

These different choices will build an elegant style, a contemporary look or a rustic feeling, depending on what you want to achieve. Any of them will enhance your home by adding a new and original touch.

Can I mix metals?

If you want to listen to outdated opinion, no, you can’t. Conventional thinking used to be that you designated one metal, be it silver or bronze, and that was it for your room. No other metals, no secondary choices. Thankfully, we don’t see things that way anymore! Metal schemes are like color schemes: no one would say you have to stick to just one color. But as with color schemes, a few guidelines will help you blend in metals to get the look you want, whether that look is traditional, modern or homespun.

Just because you’re now free to mix and match metals, don’t go overboard. Don’t use more than two metals or maybe three. As you would with color, start by choosing a dominant metal. With your second metal, avoid similar tones and strive for contrast. Within your chosen metal or metals, vary finishes. Combining polished, antiqued and brushed finishes creates the same kind of harmony as using multiple shades of one color.

Think about the ambiance you want in the room you plan to “metallicize.” In a refined living room, it’s tough to beat gold and silver. For a more modern look, consider chrome and copper. For a different take on contemporary, try stainless steel, particularly in a high traffic area. If you’re aiming for a rustic look in the kitchen (or in any room of a cabin or farmhouse style home) you might like brass and wrought iron. The right table and chairs can create the feel of an industrial kitchen, as well as stools positioned around a counter or island.

What else do I need to think about?

Here are a few tips to consider as you embark on your metal adventure.

• Start small. Try a few metal accents in your room and add more as you see how things fit.
• If you use two metals, look for a piece that “marries” them. For example, metal wall decor containing both silver and gold ties together those elements in a room.
• Choose furniture with mixed media appeal, such as an accent table with a wood base and metal legs. Take it a step further by choosing a table with a glass top.
• White and gold make for an elegant combination.
• Don’t forget black metallics. Lamps, whether floor or tabletop, are a good place to choose black.
• Don’t put all your metals in one part of the room. Balance them.
• Metal display shelves or floating shelves are great to show off a collection.
• Grouping metals with florals softens them.
• Use “softs” such as mohair, velvet and wool pieces to balance metals.
• Geometrics and pieces with multiple facets are especially appealing in metal decor.

As you can see, there are many tremendous choices as you set out on your metallic adventure. Pick a room, decide on a dominant metal and set about your foray into polished (or brushed, or antiqued or black) creativity.