My rule of thumb is everything "utilitarian" should match. Any items that are "featured", may or may not match. If they don't match they should be high quality items that can stand on their own. In general, 80-90% one style a few different finishes sprinkled in.

If you have budget constraints, spend your money on things you touch everyday (faucets and knobs), save money on things you don't (light fixtures).

I thought it was interesting when we visited the Congdon Mansion in Duluth (he was a shipping magnet for the Great Lakes) that their interior hardware did NOT match.

Each room had matching hardware throughout the room, but the doorknob might be a different finish on each side. Now that was a GRAND house with so many different rooms you could never expect to match everything, and who would want to?

I like to mix it up a bit too. I think different finishes give a house personality.

Our house is a traditional Nantucket Colonial, so I went pretty traditional. The door knobs are mostly Emtek glass with antique brass (I think they call it French brass). Most of our hardware, lighting, etc. is antique brass or natural brass (which will get a patina with age). The bathroom on the first floor is done in antique brass, but the full bathrooms (upstairs) are done in polished chrome. The mudroom is brushed nickel door hardware with polished chrome schoolhouse lights. The kitchen has brass lights and hardware, but a chrome faucet (it was traditional to have a chrome faucet in older houses). I may change the faucet to antique brass, but I'm having trouble finding one that will fit the drilled holes.

I am not a fan of brushed finishes, especially in traditional houses. To me brushed is very utilitarian (the reason I used it in my mudroom). If I had it to do over I would have used the brass in the mudroom as well, but those light fixtures are too expensive to replace (3 schoolhouse lights plus a wall sconce).

I wouldn't get hardware at HD.

If you have brass in one room and chrome in the next, make sure you get split doorknobs (brass on one side, chrome on the other). The hinges should be the color of the hardware of the room the door swings into.

I am using brushed nickle in baths and oil rubbed bronze in kitchen... just love the look with my granite in there. You may want to mix it up from room to room too.

Faux antique finishes are difficult to match and maintain so they should be carefully selected; don't just accept a vague name for a finish, find out how it is actually made (see link below).

A "French Brass" finish is solid brass with black nickel plating that has been rubbed to expose the highlights of decorative filigree. Emtek's French Brass finish is probably a simulated finish.

Here is a link that might be useful: problems with faux antique metal finishes

I'm actually been having the same problem!! Mostly with figuring out what my style is and like jnjmommy, should everything be pretty consistent across the home? I love the ORB look, but when I decorate, I want to have more contemporary furnishings. That tends to lead me more down the path of some type of silver or brushed nickel. Our designer (who works with our builder) has told us that the door hardware should be the same throughout, but that the light fixture and the faucets should really be the ones to match. She has ORB door hardware on all her doors and then chrome in her baths. She says that a few years ago, around here, brushed nickel was more in style, but now it's the ORB. That makes me think that it's safer to go with chrome or brushed nickel since the ORB might "go out of style" easier than the others....I like chris8796's utilitarian approach.

I think matching [or not] is very much a matter of personal taste. I do feel that the designs should be within keeping to the house style, that is, very ornate is suitable to a Victorian-style and very plain to a Craftsman style. But there is so much cross-over of styles and so much faddishness involved in many of the designs that I think it is more important that you select what makes you comfortable.

Personally, I prefer to have finishes match within a room, yes, right down to the door hinges. OTOH, my personal taste is for non-ornate designs just as I prefer to live in the plainer of Craftsman-style houses. That's me and that's my taste. Others should choose to suit their taste, and not be swayed by those who have different preferences.