Brass is coming back, big.

Remember RH is betting their entire company that everyone in America is going to want 120" couches upholstered in flour sacks. That's the only look they carry now.

I think its due for a comeback. I've seen brass hardware in Martha Stewart ads and at IKEA, and the both seem to have a feel for whats happening.

Me, me, me! I love antique brass. My house has a lot of antique brass fixtures, so when I remodeled the kitchen, I used AB lights, faucet, hardware, etc so everything would coordinate. It was hard finding some of that stuff, though, especially the faucet.

I just got an email from RH that featured a hideous leather sofa and a metal armed chair. Just horrible.

I've always wanted antique brass faucet and hardware in my kitchen! Too bad I'm not ready to buy hardware, yet...sounds like a great deal! :)

If you go to lighting stores they have alot of brass fixtures particularly antique brass. Not to long ago you couldn't find any.

I like it and used it two years ago, but the selection was much more limited than in other finishes. I'm still looking for knobs for my island that I really like.

Totally Confused

RH will soon be offering cabinet hardware made of hobnails sourced from antique boots worn by soldiers from an obscure northern European war.

I too love the brass. I think it was overused in the 80's and a lot of it looked rather cheap. But, I think if you go with the nicer looking fixtures, it can really pop!
Rejuvenation and some of the other old house type of merchants (House of Antique Hardware) still carry both antique brass and the brighter brass finishes as well. I purchased the brass for a basement bathroom and can't wait to put them in. Hopefully by the time I get to that project, it will be back in style! :)

In my renovation I kept some cabinets in the kitchen and utility/mud room and painted them white. I always liked the exposed decorative but functional antique brass hinges. Replacing the dated handles was a bit of a challenge (finding a match) but I like the result. The antique brass light fixtures in the utility/mud room stayed b/c wiith the rest of the updates they looked new again!

Perhaps it depends on the style of the house and furnishings. All antique brass was dating the house. Now as accents it helps the house retain what tiny charm it had before the renovation and updates began twisting it in a new direction.

All of my lighting fixtures and my kitchen pulls and knobs are antique brass. Most of them are real antiques so I guess they're tarnished old brass. Hahahaha. I love the look.

Still scarred by 80s bright ugly brass. Will take years to accept it again ;)

But I do have many asian brass buddha busts and such.. not polished.

Johnny - what about the airplane desk? So... I don't know... contrived, I think. Bleh.

Sayde - we used nickel in our kitchen and bathrooms since that's what was used originally in our home, but we've used a combo of ORB and antique brass to match our time-darkened original hardware and fixtures elsewhere. I think oldhousegal is right - the 80s and 90s gave us some pretty crappy looking stuff, but the beautiful, warm, heavy, real thing is pretty timeless.

Sayde, we used antique brass in our kitchen remodel..we live in a 1901 Greek Revival and the entire house had brass light fixtures, window pulls, and brass handles in the butlers pantry cabinet..we also installed antique brass light fixtures from Rejuvenation Lighting..
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OT--I think that the 120" couches and airplane desk are only for Gary and Elaine's house.

(Does anyone else enjoy Catalog Living as much as we do?)

Here is a link that might be useful: airplane desk is on January 17th

Our house is about 20 years old and all shiny brass. It's looking somewhat haggard now. My friend in Houston is replacing all of hers with ORB. I haven't decided what we will do as I've always liked brass. I'm thinking of maybe doing a combination of ORB and antique brass--but better quality than what we have now. I really hope brass is ready to make a comeback so nice hardware will be easier to find and selection will improve.

Alright! Let's hear it for antique brass! I love the way it looks against wood. I'm wondering if one of the reasons it's less popular at the moment is the fact that white kitchens are so popular -- and white tends to look very good with cooler finishes like nickel.

There seems to be a consensus that Resto has taken a wrong turn and I mostly agree, very sadly.

We are going with a Dark Antique Brass on Farrow and Ball painted cabs. The combo looks great on a sample door. The handles are from Horton Brass Co in Ct. They have a lot of period hardware in light - med - dark brass, nickel, etc.

Here is a link that might be useful: Horton Brass

I'm still tramatized by the ugly 80's AB. If someone mentions it, I think "ugh".
I'm doing a mixture of finishes in current build. SS egg door handles, chrome lights, faucets and cab pulls in Mbath, Nickel or SS cab hardware in kitchen(haven't pulled the trigger on that on yet-I want to see and feel them before I order), kids(teens) have chose ORB for their rooms and baths.(though the SS eggs on all doors except front and back from mud)(black iron scroll in glass on front doors so I went with a simple black and couldn't find a keyless SS entry I liked so went with ORB-matches exterior lights)

All lighting downstairs is silver whether SN, SS or chrome.(kids are up) Ofcourse, most everything at lighting stores are ORB(ordered all lights online)

I just prefer the silver even with warmer colors. I think it's one thing that will not date a house and rarely looks dusty. ORB is ok but I was constaintly dusting it. (I almost went with all black door hardware but decided against it for same reason as ORB)

I have plenty of brass in my kitchen. Some antique. More brushed. A little shiny. I like brass. It's warm and cozy.

Confused,
Have you tried North River Mint? Their bronze finish goes with antique brass very well, and they have some cool knobs.

Here is a link that might be useful: North River Mint

I've seen brass coming back too. I don't think the antiqued ever went away -- just lessened, but bright brass became definitely went into hiding for the most part.

I have both bright and antiqued brass in my home and probably always will. I like the warmth too and think it suits a traditional home better than too much chrome, nickel, silver -- but I have some of those too in the kitchen and kids bathrooms.

not in my kitchen but i bought gorgeous antique brass chandeliers and wall sconces for our gorgeous, chocolate-y brown dining room. i can't wait until they are finally hung!

Like most things in life, there is brass, and there is brass.

I like the unlaquered brass thats not so YELLLOOOWWW. I am using antique brass in my kitchen, along, with nickel, orb, and mercury. Of course I have no colors, so its ok, I hope.

For my girls bathroom, i selected matching sinks with mismatching faucets, but both brass. And they have a clawfoot tub with the whole apparatus, mounted faucets, handheld, pole and rainshower .... all in brass. They are only 7 and 8 and they like "gold".... lol

I like brass, both antique and yes, even the shiny. I love your hood, pillog!

I'm a brassy girl, for sure. Did all AB hardware and light fixtures, and still love it! It matches the (true) antique brass hinges and doorknobs.

I have polished nickel faucets, however, and they join the mix just fine. Both finishes have a timeworn, classic, traditional look to me.

We have had the supershiny early 90's variety, too-THAT I am happy to leave behind.

Just threw out the latest RH catalog WITHOUT LOOKING AT A SINGLE PAGE. I stopped looking about three seasons ago when they moved into the bleached wood/steampunk phase that was cool for about five minutes.

Also, Rejuvenation just introduced antique copper and brushed brass, in addition to the three brass finishes they already carried, so I think it's safe to say brass isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Restoration Hardware, on the other hand... (They're based in my area so of course I wish them well, but they have a store down the street from my office so I often wander through on lunch breaks, and in recent months they really have had *nothing* that I'd want in my home, save some of their cabinet hardware and bathroom fixtures---but even those have gotten really expensive! Hopefully they'll figure that out soon and change course.)

We have antique brass in our master bath, and I love it.

Our LR lamps have shiny brass, and now that I changed out lampshades, I can deal with them much better. I agree, they're so out, they're in.

The Am history theme in decorating right now is for Craftsman/arts&crafts and Titanic-era stuff, with a lingering Victorian for some and of course midcentury modern is now strong. Bright shiny undecorated brass isn't particularly used in any of them. The Arts and Crafts period liked hammered stuff, their attempt at faux Middle Ages. Art Deco is out there, but it was strong on shiny silvery/chrome and a lot of clear glass. The Colonial and the Federal were bright brass periods and today's repro stuff in those eras tends to be dulled brass or wrought iron. The small boomlet in Gustavian/Swedish is heavy into pewter gray and bright silver even if it uses Federal/Biedermeier antiques and repros.

Poor bright brass. There's a mound of it in the Goodwill and the ReUse Center around here. As for "antique brass," it's less of a pariah and it's still got a modest audience.

Am seeing a dulled silver in stuff lately--looks like chipped up, tarnished silver or like beat up silver leaf. Lots intriguing light fixtures. Am actually excited about it. Has a gold-ish aspect to it.

Good quality brass never went away. IMO it is still the best choice for traditional homes. We have mostly brass with some chrome in bathrooms. I did brushed nickel in the mudroom and regret it, wish I'd used brass. But changing the knobs and hinges would be about $400, not a priority right now. A lot of the stuff in the 80s wasn't brass, it was brass colored plastic, or really thin cheap brass.

Some of my favorite things in our remodel are the antique brass light fixtures and hardware!

My antique brass Hamat faucet:

I have 3 of these Visual Comfort pendants over the island:

And the bronze North River Mint knobs that look like brass:

Sayde! I haven't read the kitchen forum for ages, and here you are!

I have antique brass in my kitchen, which is now 3.5 years old!

OT: Sayde, I didn't want to start a new thread and can't find your old one - must have rolled off? Anyway, just ran across this blog linked below. Is that the calendar you were going to frame? Looks great.

Here is a link that might be useful: calendar ?

You know, we had planned to buy antiqued brass Ephram pulls from Restoration Hardware for our recently completed remodel, and the sample we bought had an uneven finish, like the "brass" was peeling off. We suspected that was why there were being clearanced, and opted instead for the ORB. Which ended up being it's own special disaster . . . apparently, the RH stores barely carry a hardware inventory anymore, so it was a total hassle actually even getting samples in different finishes. And of course, there weren't even samples of heat registers and the like - all special order now. I even weepily suggested to them they they just change their name to Restoration Bath Towels, if that's what they now apparently focus on, and decided when I was done with the kitchen, I was done with RH too.

But I digress. We loved the look of the brass. One of my favorite kitchens (and an inspiration pic for me) had also used the brass pulls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anne Turner Carroll's Kitcehn

Wow, so much fun reading the love for AB and seeing the pictures! And Allison and Vicki -- so good to hear from you -- I just messaged you both!

still_lynnski....ROFLMAO!!!

I don't like shiny brass unless it's on a musical instrument. My circa 1990's house has it EVERYWHERE. Imagine my husband's surprise when I bought a bunch of shiny brass knobs and cup pulls from my local hardware store. They had filled a huge bathtub with all their discontinued knobs. This thing was almost overflowing. But the price was 2 knobs/pulls for a buck. So I did it. I was searching for a looooong time. I didn't dare check the clock, but several people came by and offered to help,

So, my plan was to get solid brass, remove the lacquer and age/darken them. I've found the instructions online. Admittedly, I don't know if all the pieces I bought are solid. So, it's one great big experiment, we'll see how it turns out.

I told my husband, if the color doesn't quite turn out, I'll just spray paint them with ORB spray paint and save up for the really good stuff.

carrie_eileen I'm so disappointed to hear about Restoration Hardware and their lack of hardware. The store near me closed a little over a year ago. When I got their re-vamped catalog, I assumed it was the furniture and decor style they were changing and nothing else. I didn't realize they were changing everything.