Call me old fashioned but I could never dull the finish of a polished nickel bathroom fixture. Real ORB is a beautiful artist's finish borrowed from traditional bronze statuary but its almost impossible to find and prohibitively expensive, What is sold today as ORB is one of a half dozen simulated finishes that contain no bronze and are difficult to repair if damaged. I would not use it where it would be touched a lot. My house was built in 1891 and has aged brass knobs in the first floor living areas, black porcelain knobs in the kitchen and hardwood knobs on the second floor. All bathroom fixtures are polished nickel installed in 1903.

Here's out it turned out. I ordered in several, stuck them up near the sink and new countertops, decided on the matte black with brass accents. Then my husband came home and when I showed him the faucet I picked out, he had a man meltdown over the stainless steel sink and "weird faucet". (He's so 2003) . Sidebar on sinks: I went on Zillow and pulled up houses that are listed for over a million dollars in our city to prove that 8 out of 10 had basically the same stainless steel type sink and it's not "cheap" looking. I'm the plumber showed up today so I had very little time to choose - texted him photos of the 3 faucets, gonna assume he asked around his work peeps for opinions. I texted it to 2 friends that have excellent taste and beautiful houses - they both picked the black and gold without knowing it was my choice . A little while later, he called and said he "guessed the black one would be okay" (code for his work peeps liked the black one too) Here it is , it will look better when I get the pendants installed over island

Jane, thank you for the input. I should have posed my question a bit clearer. I need help with metal for lighting, faucets, etc. I'm looking for suggestions for the entire (overall) look of the bathroom. At first I was going with polished nickel, but the faucet I want to use (Delta/trinsic) does not come in polished nickel. The light fixtures I Iike only come in polished nickel and not chrome. It's just so frustrating. I thought I could do mixed metals, but unsure of that too. I read a number of folks say don't mix polished nickel and chrome. I was thinking matte black, but nervous. My husband won't go for brass (after posing my above question), though I agree, it would be interesting. Thank you again, and if you have any other thoughts, I'd greatly appreciate them. The double vanity is 80" (white), there will be a free standing tub (white), with separate shower in white subway tiles, the quartz counter tops are a medium gray, dark slate floors, and lastly white walls. It's so hard for me to use my imagination and picture different metals in the space.

What is the other LIGHTING in your home? It's more important than your curtain rod, and rather that obsess on that................or what was the reason for gunmetal?? Give us a clue - nothing lives in total isolation: ) https://www.shadesoflight.com/products/harrington-island-chandelier?color=Aged+Brass https://www.shadesoflight.com/products/fired-steel-block-linear-chandelier?via=57e1330169702d78ae0000a5%2C57e1338069702d78ae0002c8 https://rh.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod12700097&categoryId=cat10160012 Antiqiqe nnickel