Thanks, Mongo. I know that all such rules of thumb are not hard-and-fast -- I just wanted to make sure I was understanding what you were saying correctly. In our case, these are standard 30" white-painted paneled wood interior doors, with two bedrooms, a smaller hall linen closet, and the bathroom in question in close proximity around the landing at the top of a stairway. Only the closet opens out into the hallway; the other three open into the rooms. It's just my wife and I in the house except when we have guests, so most of the time, all the doors (except the linen closet) are open -- meaning the eye sees the hinge leaves rather than the knuckles. So I'm thinking the outer doorknobs and hinges should all probably match, even though that means when someone uses the bathroom and closes the door, from the inside, the knuckle will not match the other hardware in that room. The split-finish hinge would solve the problem, but even with all the "what's a little bit more money to do it the way we really like?" rationalizations I make during renovation projects, I don't think I'm ready to splurge on big bucks for this! Although... ;) -- Eric

First of all, nice hardware choice there. Very classic. Second of all, I think having two finishes is the right option in this case. As for the faceplate ... well, flip a coin. I don't think it matters. My first thought was the nickel, but then I thought that the unlacquered brass will develop a nice patina over time and look more "original." Either way I don't think you can go wrong.

The light fixtures, in particular, do not have to match the door hardware. They don't have to match anything really. The matching faucet is kind of a recent thing, and its not necessary absolutely, but you couldn't go wrong with something that went with the stainless steel, like a SS faucet. Are you using pewter on all the room door hardware? I would just be consistent throughout the house. In terms of what is the "trendiest" well, if you look at the most expensive faucet that Kohler offers, the Karbon, the newest finishes are gold, and a pale gold bronze, and trends usually start at the top of the price range and work down. But I wouldn't worry about that, I would pick something that works well with your other finishes.

I am not trying to be argumentative, but the problem is that the cheap silver drive in grommet is what a lot of people consider standard. You can walk into almost any new construction here that is on the market for $500K and the cheap silver drive in grommet is what you get. The owner of my practice lives in a house that is worth more than $2M and it has this on "secondary" doors like bathrooms and closets and $12 pocket door hardware. You have a higher level of expectation of what "standard" is. Frequenting Houzz and other sites has developed this. That's fine, and I am in complete agreement with you about what sorts of details are important. But what you desire is no longer "standard", its above the standard, at least in my experience, and I look at a lot of real estate and look at details such as this. Sometimes I wish sites like Houzz didn't exist, because it takes my already high expectations and makes them higher: we are seeing photos of work that people are particularly proud of, not photos of work that is standard or average-particularly if they show details such as this.