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Crave a metal with a little less shine and bit more depth?

As a living material, brass adds warmth, richness and sophistication to the home. Yet, it also offers a lived-in, earthy quality as it oxidizes and wears, especially in the kitchen.

It's a nice change after years of sleek, modern design and decorating the home with stainless, chrome and other cold metals. The copper in brass also makes it antibacterial and great for germy rooms such as the kitchen and bath.

“Brass has such a wonderful quality in regards to the fact you find that it changes over time, things are telling a story,” says Courtney Lake, a 2015 High Point Market Style Spotter and owner of Monogram Décor, an interior design firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The metal, an alloy of copper and zinc, is strong; it won't rust; and it's relatively inexpensive. Brass making dates back ancient times for utensils, jewelry, vases and decorative pieces.

Today's brass is tasteful and elegant, adding a glow to interiors and a changing look as it patinas. Designers and trend spotters are seeing brass in hardware, furniture, faucets, light fixtures and home accents. It's being used in the kitchen on doorknobs and pulls, faucets, range hoods and lighting.

Designer Tobi Fairley recently complete a penthouse with a brass-filled kitchen and other brass elements throughout. She also debuted new product lines at the spring High Point Market.

“It's a natural progression from the cooler metal shades that have been prevalent for so long,” says Fairley, of Tobi Fairley & Associates in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Now the trend is to go with warmer metal finishes, or even to mix cool and warm metals. And it is a great trend that is happening throughout the home.”

Changing out cabinetry hardware or a light are easy DIY projects.

“Or by adding a brass light fixture, bowls for fruit, or other accessories,” Fairley says. “If you want to go bolder, you can also pull in brass with a range hood or by switching out your faucets and fixtures.”

In other rooms, brass is making its way back to beds, ornate light fixtures and wallpaper, Lake says.

“Lighting is one of the easiest ways to swap something out,” he says. “More and more furniture makers are using it in tables and accent pieces.”

Depending on the look, there are three main finishes: shiny brass, burnished brass and a tarnished, or patina, finish.

In its newly cast state, brass has a golden hue that can be polished to a shiny glow. Over time, without regular polishing or a protective lacquer coating, brass will darken as copper molecules are exposed to oxygen.

Brass is fairly easy to care for, especially if you want a more worn look. Brass also can take a lot of wear of tear and holds up better than nickel and chrome.

It depends on the look you're going for – old world and lived in, or warm yet rich – as to which finish to choose, Lake says.

“It all depends on what finish you like,” he says. “It's a living material, so it will patina over time. If you want it to darken, leave it alone and let nature take its course. There's not a lot of maintenance association with it. You know it's going to age, so it can be used for exactly what it's meant to be used for.”

Some brass products are knockoffs or coated with a tarnish-resistant finish that cleans up with a soft damp cloth – no polishing required.

Fairley recommends determining if you're working with real brass or something that's brass-plated. An easy test is to use a magnet and see if it sticks; a magnet will not stick to real brass. Brass-plated products can be cleaned with soap and water.

For solid brass, use a polish or commercial cleaners like Brasso, or simply a mixture of salt and lemon juice. Just buff it with a half lemon coated in salt and then rinse and dry, Fairley says.

In vintage homes, original brass fixtures such as doorknobs and door knockers take on subtle changes in color as the oxidation process occurs. A patina finish is the natural result of aging or can be done deliberately to create an aged, distressed look.

Fairley says brass never really went away. It's been used in home building and decorating for a long time – sometimes in a matte or patina finish, which is popular now, and sometimes in a shiny finish. People may remember its popularity the 1980s – really shiny and more like gold.

Homeowners can experiment with brass by adding a new chandelier in a dining room or foyer or buying a serving tray, picture frame or accent table.

“I think you should use a metal like that if it appeals to you, rather than because it's a trend,” Fairley said. “If you like it, then you should use it. If you just want to update your kitchen with a few newer trends, then think carefully about where you use it and how much you spend.”

Fairley's other decorating tip:

“As with anything else, too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing,” she says. “So don't cover everything in your kitchen with brass and overdo it. Balance is the key to any great design.”

Brass accents in the kitchen are a surging trend. Pulls, light fixtures and faucets are popular choices for adding a splash of brass. Courtesy of Tobi Fairley
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