Haught says she recently removed some elaborate French candelabras that had decorated her own fireplace mantel for years, because she’d grown tired of them and wanted a more streamlined look. But she could imagine incorporating gold into a room in a simpler shape, perhaps in a small piece like a side table or in combination with other metals.
Gold and other metals bring an ethereal, almost magical quality to a space, she says. “They’re the jewelry of design.”
And as such, they’re best used judiciously.
Pearson’s McConnell, for example, likes the idea of bringing gold in via accents. A sofa upholstered in linen, for example, could be updated with throw pillows made from a fabric shot through with gold metallic threads. Or a bathroom could be updated by replacing the cabinet pulls and faucet with brass or bronze.
Color consultant Horn thinks such restraint is wise.
“The gold metallic (trend) is kind of a flash,” Horn said — fine for items that can be changed easily, but not for more permanent elements such as flooring or wallcoverings. She might put wall covering with gold details on an accent wall, she said, but she wouldn’t paper an entire room in it.
Haught and fellow interior designer Eric Jones agree.
Haught doesn’t foresee gold metals coming back in popularity to the point of becoming common in such widely used elements as door hardware and plumbing fixtures. And Jones, of Akron’s Jones Group Interiors, said most clients still cringe at their use.
“Anytime you suggest brass to someone, the answer is, ewwww, no,” he says.
©2013 Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)
Distributed by MCT Information Services
