I'm no decorator, but a friend of mine is, and she told me that "all my metals" should match. Since then, in the rooms where I've been able to match all the hardware to light fixtures and other metal trim, I can see that she's right. It looks more coordinated that way. The one exception is where (on my friend's advice) I have purchased or painted a ceiling fixture to match the ceiling so that it "disappears". Again, it looks better then before.

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.

ditto to what Fun said. even if you can remove the brass fireplace cover (if you can, even better) throw a large painting tarp down, get some plastic and tape off everything, within 3-5 feet, but the brass. use this spray paint in the matte black, and give it 2-3 light coats. It will look perfect. touch up any areas with small artist brush and some of the paint otherwise, mixed metals w/frames and such are fine.

Thanks, everyone! Copper would definitely be a great complement to the oil rubbed bronze, but unfortunately, it's not one of our "builder grade" options. I also love polished nickel - it has a warmer tone that would probably complement ORB better, but it's pricier and more difficult to coordinate with our options throughout the home. I do agree that black and oil rubbed bronze can work together - in fact, our front door is a black metal double door with oil rubbed bronze edging. I do have some brushed gold decor items/accents that I will incorporate (i.e. an etagere, end tables, etc.), but I think we are still limited to some combination of ORB/brushed nickel or ORB/chrome for our kitchen faucet, cabinet hardware, and lighting. So which of those is better? Brushed nickel or chrome?