Do All Light Fixture & Hardware Finishes Have to Match Throughout the House?

Matching

If you have the type of personality that likes when all the rooms of your home contain a cohesive design style, go ahead and buy matching lighting fixtures and hardware. For example, in a contemporary space choose chrome or nickel styles with sleek lines. For a more traditionally decorated house, look for a more elegant finish, such as pewter with scroll-work and other carvings. If you like a rustic touch, look for fixtures and hardware that are an oil rubbed bronze or black wrought iron.

Complementary

If you want a different color scheme and a slight variance on style in the different rooms of your house, choose lighting fixtures and hardware that complement one another but don't exactly match. For example, put birdcage pulls in the kitchen in a black finish and birdcage pulls in the dining room in a pewter. Besides matching the general shape, you can also choose to match the finish but contrast the styles. For example, put a retro chrome light in your guest bathroom and an elegant chrome chandelier in the adjoining guest bedroom.

Two-toned Options

If you enjoy more than one finish and style in adjoining rooms but still want the spaces to maintain a flow, two-toned options may be right for you. For example, the drawer pulls on your china hutch could be of a twisted rope design in both silver and bronze, while the chandelier over your table could have a base of chrome and globes with brass trim. To avoid an eclectic look, create symmetry by dispensing the finishes evenly around the space.

Eclectic Decorating

If you love the eclectic look, matching all of the light fixtures and hardware finishes throughout the house is not usually visually appealing to you. It is okay to have completely different styles and appearances in these small details as much as it is the larger ones. For example, if you pick up a light during one of your travels to an exotic place, it needs to be showcased in your home. If a vintage chest of painted drawers is the focal point of your bedroom, changing the hardware to match your retro chandelier would take away from the appearance of the piece.