Hardware and lighting can really make a difference in a home's decor.
Mostly, I see hardware and lighting as the elegant supporting actor. Otherwise your house looks like: "hi I am a light," everywhere you look. Of course there are times when calling attention to hardware and lighting are called for. Go crazy with the dining room chandelier. Spend money on your front door pull. Ultimately there are no rules….but the last thing you want is a jumpy home with too many elements fighting for attention.
Working with clients, we usually start with the big items and work down to make a whole out of cohesive parts. Typically the hardware is selected after everything else.
For this project, we started from scratch and did a 3 BR condo in Boston. Although it was a luxury high rise, the builder put in big box type hinges and hardware on the doors. If you don't look, you don't really notice. But over time, it started to bother the home owners. They gave it some time to see if they could get used to it but decided in the end to change.
We wanted something with grace and elegance. On the modern side, like the decor. With some sparkle.
Here were our choices:
We chose the one in the middle. In real life, the finish and the detailings were just divine. But you really couldn't go wrong with any of the client's selections! They have good taste.