In the old days, people only thought about bathrooms as utilitarian. But these days, bathrooms in homes showcase finishes, design and believe it or not, hardware for cabinets is an important detail. When the trend changed to bathrooms becoming more than just functional, manufacturers hired designers to come up with finishes and multiple designs. Now all their designs have names. The same concept is happening with lighting and plumbing. Size variance options include gold, bronze, black flat or shiny, nickel, and chromes. When we designed a commercial site last year in Asheville, we chose hardware that resembled tree limbs. The finish was important because we used an aqua glaze finish on the cabinet and honey bronze (gold) tree limb hardware was a great color accent for the aqua. We texturized the space. We used a honey bronze faucet and warm glass stacked subway tile as the backsplash in the bar area. We mixed-light wood finishes with this concept and custom-built the waterfall island in wood. Three pendants hang over the island and roped them together while the finish depicted another texture of black and gold. This was an awesome commercial design that we welcomed to our portfolio.
It is important to remember that because each piece of hardware is manufactured by independent entities, the finishes only blend and do not match perfectly. Designers do not mind the mix, but sometimes customers remember the nineties where brass all matched, but that is not the case today. That is why it is important to layer. Layers of texture are what make any design work, therefore accessorizing with hardware is essential.
-
Photo courtesy of June
-
Photo courtesy of June
-
Photo courtesy of June
