Bronze Brilliance: Embracing the Warmth of Bronze in Contemporary Décor

A few years ago, rose gold entered our homes as the latest “It” metallic finish for our interiors, with everything from ornaments, hardware, and furniture all being laced with rose gold. Now as trends change, we are seeing a slower and more considered rise of bronze. Bronze is a less demanding trend and with it you can have small sprinklings of this metal finish scattered throughout your home without the need to replace your whole interior. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t some rules to help you incorporate bronze with your existing finishes though. Let us take you through some of our recommendations when it comes to incorporating bronze into your home.

Mixing metals

When it comes to styling bronze with other metals you already have in your home, we would advise sticking to a focal metal, and then mixing in dashes of other metals as your secondary metal of choice. In a large room like a living room, choose one hero metal and 1-2 supporting metals. For a smaller room, one focal metal and just one other colour and finish of metal would be our recommendation. For example, your light switches, plug sockets, door handles, and door hooks may all be matt black, and you choose a dining table with brushed bronze accents, like our Calenzano dining table with bronze leg accents, as well as a pendant light and a picture frame with bronze finishes. This would give you a rough breakdown of around 70% matt black metal, to 30% brushed bronze in your room. The matt black in this case is clearly the hero of the room, and the other metal is supporting it but not competing. 

The above example could be flipped to 70% brushed bronze, 30% polished chrome. What makes them work is sticking to a rough ration of 1 hero metal with 1-2 supporting accents, as well as bronze’s ability to look good with most metals whether they are warm or cool toned.

Mixing Finishes

Another rule if you are mixing metals is to avoid mixing finishes. If you were to pair glossy and matt black metal shelves, as well as glossy and brushed bronze hardware, it would be aesthetically overstimulating, with all of them fighting for your attention. If you follow the rough 70:30 rule to get you started, just like the 70:30 rule for your colour metal, you will quickly see what works and what doesn’t. We would also say only ever go for one metal in a glossy finish, as glossy items will naturally draw the eye, as well as being harder to maintain.

Mixing metals isn’t a new trend as such, and in most people’s homes it’s unusual to have only a single metal finish. In fact, with many metals it can be challenging to match colours and finishes. For example, brass can vary greatly from one retailer to the next, whereas chrome or stainless steel are much more standardised. For metals which are much less standardised the biggest tip we can give is to steer away from these, or make sure you source all items with that metal and finish from the same manufacturer. Getting two metal finishes that are closely matched but not exact looks like an accident, whereas layering different metals in a room looks deliberate.

Whether most of your home has warm toned metals like brass, copper, or gold; or you prefer a cool tone like chrome, stainless steel or silver, bronze is a great choice to try pairing with your existing metals. Functioning as a neutral, bronze can be a perfect hero metal or supporting your other piece’s.  

Interested in incorporating bronze into your home? Follow our recommendations and browse our range of bronze accented furniture for a contemporary way to introduce this to your interior.