If you’ve flipped through a decorating magazine lately, you may have noticed something familiar making its way back into beautiful rooms: brass.
Although around here, we’re not entirely convinced it ever left.
After years of cooler metals and perfectly polished finishes, homes are feeling warmer and more collected again. We’re seeing rich woods, pretty fabrics, old paintings, blue and white, and pieces that look as though they’ve been gathered over time. And antique brass fits right in.
We Like It With a Little Age
The wonderful thing about old brass is that it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Over the years, brass naturally darkens and changes color, developing what we call patina. You may see darker spots, little scratches, or places where the finish has softened from years of being handled.
Once upon a time, we might have polished all of that away. These days, we’re much more likely to leave it alone.
After all, that beautiful old finish took decades—sometimes more than a century—to get there.
A Little Brass Goes a Long Way
You certainly don’t need a room full of it. In fact, we think brass is best when it looks like it simply found its way into the house over the years.
An old candlestick on a stack of books. A brass tray on the bar. A pair of lamps on a sideboard. An antique jardinière filled with a big fern.
It adds warmth without trying too hard.
And don’t worry about matching every metal in the room. Old brass is perfectly happy sitting beside silver, nickel, iron, or whatever else you already have. The most interesting homes rarely match perfectly anyway.
So, Is Brass Really Back?
It certainly seems that way.
But the best old brass pieces have been sitting in beautiful homes all along, quietly getting better with age while the decorating world moved on to something else.
Maybe that’s the difference between something trendy and something timeless.
Around Marsh House, we’ll happily keep the old brass—patina, imperfections, and all.
— Marsh House