Sorry, ORB = oil-rubbed bronze! :) Our backdoor hardware is oil-rubbed bronze, which I hated at the start of our remodel, but which actually looks more at home now that it's done--it plays off of the black fixtures, I think. (We also replaced the door with a stained rather than painted door, which helped a lot too--so rather than "random finishes," we have the nickel on the cabinets, the ORB on the stained door, the brass on the painted doors/windows, and the black on the lights and accents (stove grates are black here too). Plus I totally forgot about the stainless hood, so yeah, we are not sticklers for matching finishes! (We do also have an older house, though, which I think gives us a little more freedom for finishes to vary than a newer house where everything was matchy-matchy to start with--even our windows and doors with original hardware vary in that some of the hardware and hinges have been painted over and are now "white" and some of the hardware is still brass.) Our kitchen is not open to any room except our breakfast nook, so we did match the fixture finishes there. But I don't think we needed to do that, necessarily. I would wait on your dining room fixture till the kitchen is done and see how you feel about matching versus not at that point.

IMO it really depends upon individual situations. Proximity weighs in, too. Of course, all the same finishes is fine; but that does not mean mixing isn't to be done, just that it needs to be done thoughtfully. A mix can draw attention to what you want to be focal points and can make a room be more interesting visually. In our guest bath, all of the finishes are brushed nickel, except the TP holder. But the TP holder is attached to the side of a dark wood vanity, and I did not want to draw attention to it. The antique bronze blended in perfectly, yet does not look out of place because it is visually an extension of the vanity. Along those lines, shower curtain rods, shower door handles and toilet levers are often not a design feature you want to accent, so I would use what would make them visually less noticeable. Ceiling lighting and sconces generally are the same finish, but I believe you can successful pull off an outstanding antique bronze chandelier, for example, by having utilitarian sconces and faucet fixtures in a nickel finish. Items on the same impact level, such as faucets and towel bars, I would usually try to keep the same finish. If the faucets are the focal, they could be one finish and the balance of the other items in the room be something else. As for proximity, I believe all the finishes inside the shower can match, but be different than the finishes in other areas of the room, IF there is a reason/point of doing so. A shower head in one finish and the shower knobs in another would be trickier to pull off but may work if the finish of the knobs blended with the tile so the shower head becomes a focal point. Some finishes mix better than others. And the design style of the features in the mix matter. As does the backdrop, as mentioned above.

My grandfather was a carpenter. He was born in the 1880s. I don't know if that had anything to do with his taste or if it was the fact that he was a carpenter, but he did like nice wood finishes. He was of the school of thought that baseboards, door frames, and crown molding should be walnut or mahogany. When I was a little bitty girl, he made me a dresser, using a small washstand as a guide. My dresser had two wide drawers and a mirror. Papa made it out of scraps. The body of the dresser was an old Philco mahogany TV cabinet, the drawer fronts were really nice Walnut, the side pieces were some kind of veneer that eventually bubbled and buckled, and the supports for the mirror were probably fir. I got so excited when I saw it that I threw a fit and I *had* to take it home right away. The mirror frame was not yet finished, it was raw wood. The drawer fronts and side pieces were finished walnut, and the top was mahogany. Papa made my father promise to finish it. When I was 16 years old, it still was in its original condition...except for the small Beatles sticker in the corner of the mirror. I painted the dresser white. My mother shook her head and said, 'I'm glad Papa it's not here to see you painting that bewwwtiful wood." I still have that dresser. It is still white.

Everyone wants to pick paint first...well, not everyone, but too many. Paint should be the last thing picked because there are hundreds of color variations and I have even had paint custom mixed. Furniture has far fewer choices of colors. Find furniture you love and want to live with because it is beautiful, comfortable, in your budget, and fits your space. Paint is the least expensive part of this puzzle. After you find the furniture, drapes, lamps, etc for your room, then pick a paint color that works with your decor and the particular light in your space. For example, I moved from Florida to the Midwest—my new colors are influenced and dictated by the different quality of the sunlight and the grey winter sky. What works in your room might not work on the opposite side of the house. A gallon or two of paint and one weekend will make all the difference with the bonus of acquiring a new skill.