It's always been a reasonable option. It hasn't trickled down to the mass market/big box stores yet, because the type of thin plated brass that looked really yellow--the type that a lot of what they carried was--is the brass that everyone revolted against.

So it is still offered in the very high-end market (it never disappeared) and it is offered on limited stock in the moderately high end market, but it will be some time before it appears in the inexpensive market in any great quantities in a different form than what people turned against a few years ago.

To get a good brass finish, I think you are going to have to pay a fair amount for it.

"To get a good brass finish, I think you are going to have to pay a fair amount for it."

Or try antique stores. You might find something you like at a reasonable price.

Also, isn't it possible to remove the lacquer from new brass, so that the piece loses its over-shiny look and tarnishes over time?

There are a few choices out there in an antiqued brass finish that do not exactly look antiqued but do look closer to a high-end nice brass finish. I have bought a few such pieces and am happy in my price point.

Good brass never really went away, and it's coming back around as a more "popular" decor choice. In many parts of the country, you can luck out tremendously on Craigslist from people "updating" their house and removing their high quality brass fixtures. It's still difficult to find the non "gold" brass finishes at mass market retailers though. Most of them are still in the "nickel or ORB" as the hot finish for their Chinese made crapola.

This is a case where it really pays to keep your eyes open at "junk" stores and any local "penny saver" type weekly circulars. And a lot of people are sorta holding on to their good quality brass for the scrap value. It still remains quite high. You might try an ad in your local Craigslist for what you might be looking for. I'd bet you'd get dozens of calls from people who have changed out their fixtures and just put them in the attic.

Back or not my DR light that came w/ the house is brass and I'm patiently awaiting the rewiring of it to hang it up again. Bought the house 12yrs ago - hated it then and nearly imediately took it down. Went through at least 2-3 other fixtures since then and then dug it our if the attic again and love it. Maybe I waited long enough for it to come back?

Come on electrician - hurry up!!!!

I love the brass color. It makes me think of options on professional ranges where you can choose brass as your accents. It always makes it look so much nicer in a unique way. JMHO.

I love the brass color. It makes me think of options on professional ranges where you can choose brass as your accents. It always makes it look so much nicer in a unique way. JMHO.

I think of metal as colors not so much what is in or out.
Yellow or gold is never out.
There is bad nickel and orb too. I have all brass and much of it is "good". Some of it is great. The bad stuff is in the basement.
Recently I looked at kitchen faucets at Lowes, HD and a high end plumbing supply. No brass at all.

My kitchen faucet is brass and after 12 years I still love it. I don't know what class it falls into, as I was clueless at the time I bought it, but the finish is wearing in a most beautiful way. It cost around 500 (Concinnity) in 1999.

I started moving toward brass a while back because I was sick of looking at stainless everywhere. I do not dislike stainless or silver metals it's just that it was on my overkill list. When it becomes all the rage to have brass I will probably move to copper, or ceramics or who knows.

I did find a great (IMO) chandelier on craigslist, but dh didn't like it. I think it might be a solid brass too and was cheap at $160 if it is solid. The owner didn't know as it came from a relative's house.

I love certain brass colors. This old cottage I live in has antique authentic brass stuff. I bought new items--door hardware, screws (yes screws), door sills, some strange iron pieces for house....
there is a local place (you have to search far and wide) and they specialize in refinishing in everything metal. I wanted antique brass, and he showed me lord knows a card deck of samples, I almost fainted. toooo many to choose from, and I went home and brought back an older piece--EXACT match. My place looks awesome now. A lot of the wealthy around here do that, so they don;t have to buy new stuff if they really like it when they remodel. (Brass is in if you can afford it.)this process they do is no t cheap, but well worth it.

I'm am a warm vs. cool type , and love soft, muted, glowing brass .
Our new master bath has an elegant/ vintage look : claw foot tub, honed marble with brown- gold veins along with gray, crackle glaze ( yes, well sealed) subway tile , and antique/ aged brass fixtures and sconces only available at the design stores. Due to difficulty finding this finish for some accent pieces, I used orb.....but the copperish- gold kind, not the almost black. They mix nicely. A fav are the glass knob orb hooks from....yes! ...Cost plus! Found the glass doorknobs there, too, at half the cost of ones at Anthropology.
Am actually not looking forward to brass filtering down to the masses, as it's nice to be different.
Marti

imho

Crappy brass is out for good, now that people know better. Really good brass (eg the "living finish" kind that ages) never went out of style. But, it is enjoying a resurgence because now that nickel has trickled down to Home Depot, the high end wants to differentiate themselves yet again.

."..... the high end wants to differentiate themselves yet again."
Hmmm, was that meant for me? Yes, I like having my own style, but it isn't ' yet again', but one I 've been pretty true to for many years.
And fwiw, while my taste may be high end, other than inherited pieces, most all I own have been great ' finds' .
I agree with your take, mtn...., just saying it doesn't apply to moi.

Like anything that is on the upswing, it takes time before the masses 'recognize' it as a new product or the return of an old one. I have several brass(real)lamps, since I never got rid of them cause I always loved the style. I've changed out the shades to the drum shape, and feel that's enough to update them. I could never bring myself to purchase a lamp made of resin, although I have looked at some that were very pretty. You have to do what *you* love, not what others dictate. ;o)

Eh, I don't know that the high end market pays much attention to what's happening by the time it gets down to the big box and discount level.

I think the high end market doesn't want to differentiate itself so much from the masses, as it wants to do something Different than what they themselves did...10 or 15 years ago, really.

I would rather use "trendsetting" than high end, so I will switch to that...

If the trendsetting end of the market is anything like the fashion design industry, and I think to some degree it is, it often Starts at the "street" level.

Interior designers, even pretty successful ones, usually don't make near the money their clientele do (at the trendsetters level) --some of the famous ones were never "rich" like their clients, unless they had family money to begin with. This is a bit different now with more merchandising opportunities. Anyway...

So interior designers often use what's cheap, available, and flooding the resale market, for their own experiments in design and then they start to integrate these pieces in to client's projects as well. Years ago, I saw a picture of Miles Redd's apartment, which at the time was probably a studio in the Village or Hells Kitchen, old, clotted with layers of paint with new wiring and cables on the surfaces of the walls painted over: it was VERY much the work that he does now for a premium, but at the time it was most likely furnished from the Chelsea Flea markets (which are mostly gone).

No, MartinCA, I am not even quite sure about what you mean when you say "does it apply to you". It probably applies to me LOL. Sorry for any confusion.

I was just trying to be droll and observing that, IMHO, once a trend is on sale at Home Depot, it loses its luster. Meaning it has become ubiquitous. When people ooh and ahh over decor, it is, in my experience, usually because it is something that have never seen before. That is sort of the brass ring (no pun intended) in decor. And, frankly, if you are spending a few times the average on a faucet, you'd be pretty unhappy if it was barely distinguishable from a HD faucet.

I bought a nickel faucet probably about 12 years ago, and in my then neighborhood that was considered very au courant. Today, no one would notice or comment on a nickel faucet or nickel hardware. If you wanted it to get noticed, you would have to chose something different.

What do you think of this brass chandelier, in this room, with this table (but not those chairs), and this fabric on the windows & door?
{{!gwi}}
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Anyone? I really like this chandelier, but my husband thinks the part with the lightbulbs makes it look dated. Does it? Would shades help?

This is a craigslist item and I'd like to pick it up tonight or in the morning if I get it.

Marti, I hope you get some replies. I think the reason you haven't is because it is hard for those in the "quality brass" camp to see what the finish is like. The picture is a bit dark. From what I can see of it I would say it looks nice. Do you have any more pictures?

Sorry, I had no connectivity for a bit.

The color is yellower than Id like, but what bothers me more is what seems to me to be an odd chunkiness. I can see chunky with your table, but not this one.

HTH!

I like the chandelier as it seems a little less fancy than some others I've seen. I like the chunkiness. I think it could work in your space. You could always try the shades, which I also think will work.

What matters is, do YOU like it, and I think you do. :)

That's the only picture I have. The seller offered to take more photos, but it is no longer hanging.

Dh doesn't really like it, and not because it's brass. I see light bulbs like that on new lamps, so I wonder if it is the chunkiness for him too? Hmmm. Yes, I do like it, but I also like some newer lamps, and some that aren't brass. I just don't really want nickel or ORB in there. I like the soft finish on well-rubbed brass.

Is it a good deal? I would get it if it is and buy some shades for it. If your husband does not like it after its hung you could always hang onto it for awhile and sell it for a good profit down the road when brass really catches on again with mainstream.

I don't know what it started at, but it is down to $160. I would buy it if it were $50 and do just what you said, but that is over my limit of buying things without discussing with dh first, and he isn't loving it.

Email them and offer $50 all they can say is no.

I don't like it and would keep looking. Fifty dollars is still fifty dollars....not a bargain if you don't love it. It's too chunky/clunky looking for me.

I'm going to keep looking I guess. It's not worth the argument to win dh over. I just showed him a picture someone else posted on another thread and he liked it. So we can agree on something, just have to find it.

I just found another one, and dh likes it. I don't love it, but I like it ok. Is it too wagon wheel-ish? Also, it's on sale for $300, was $600. I wonder if it's that cheap stuff that starts discoloring. Is there any way to tell?

I don't love but it's not my home. I sort of want to start singing that country tune real slow...I wanna... be... a... cowboy

Just keep showing him lots and lots of lights. After a while he might get fed up and then you can pick what you like.

LOL jterrilynn, I've been doing that tonight and just asked him how he feels about the CL light now. He still doesn't like it.

I'll keep looking. We haven't got the ceiling finished yet.

I don't care for the second one at all. It's partly the color, which seems kind of light yellowish; it's partly (mostly) those shades.

I like the first one (the one your husband doesn't like), and I like it precisely because it is chunky....mtnrdredux - how about if I say I like that it's "solid" or "substantial"? Will you like it then? ;)

marti8a, that "part with the lightbulbs" that your husband considers dated....are you referring to those white plastic thingies? I've never liked them either, as they really do detract from the overall look.

This discussion reminds me that we have an antique or antique-looking brass chandelier that we have not found a place for yet. We really should; it's quite lovely, and someone even made brass thingies for it to replace the white plastic ones.

I like the first one. You can change the candle sleeves to creamier ones and it will make a world of difference. We did that with ours.

{{!gwi}}

before

after

not sure what i am doing wrong.
here is after

texanniew, that looks great. Did you just spray paint them?

I'm not sure if it's the white part or what that he doesn't like.

marti, no. i bought them from my local lighting store. think they were about $2.50 - $3,00 each. here is a link for an online place http://www.beeswaxcandlecovers.com/