7 Tips On Decorating With Brass in Your Home

If you're of a certain vintage you may remember the TV ads for Copperart.

The cheesy commercials typically showcased shelves upon shelves of shiny brass vases, bowls, planters, artwork, tables, and ornaments and in my opinion, the sight of it all was so overwhelming it probably set public opinion against using ANY sort of brass in your home for decades.

And yet, now the metal finish has had a huge resurgence.

If you're wondering how you can successfully decorate with brass, read on.

1. Brass adds warmth
Unlike the metals silver, chrome or steel, brass adds a visual warmth to your room without the glitziness of gold.

2. Choose simple shapes
To keep your home looking up-to-date, simple shapes such as brushed brass dome lampshades for table lamps or floor lamps, or polished brass rod drawer handles allow you to incorporate it easily into most decorating schemes.

3. Brass adds texture
A brushed brass finish helps add much-needed texture to your room, it looks even more impressive when you add further texture, such as a sheepskin rug, a suede cushion, a marble tray, a woodgrained cabinet or velvet throw.

4. Brass works with most colour schemes
As a yellow metal, brass looks amazing against a green, blue or teal feature wall. It adds incredible warmth to orange, pink and red rooms, and yet it blends so remarkably well with classic neutral colour schemes of beige, cream, white and tan that it almost acts as a neutral in itself.

5. A couple of pieces is enough
Brass is a perfect example of less is more. It would be visually overwhelming to have a room filled with brass handles, chair legs, table frames, photo frames, table lamps, floor lamps, pendant lights, wall sconces, tapware, trays and candle holders - even worse, it would look like a Copperart ad!

Pick one or two brass-finish items and blend with other materials for a balanced mix.

6. Choose brass for durability and health 
Brass is a metal alloy made from copper and zinc. Adding zinc to copper increases its strength. Brass is corrosion-resistant and has antibacterial properties making it ideal for doorknobs and bathroom fixtures.

7. Mix with another metal of opposite finish
Interior designers avoid using the same finish on different metals in the same room ie polished brass and polished silver together as it often looks like an oversight. Instead, they prefer to pair materials which offer visual contrast, such as a brushed brass pendant light with polished nickel tapware in the kitchen, or polished brass doorknobs with matt black metal curtain rods.

Enjoyed this? Discover 5 Fast Ways to Introduce Colour To Your Home