Bronze Interior Design Tips

Less is more

Bronze is a material best saved for the final touches. Think bronze switches and sockets, bronze tabletop decorations and vases, lamp shades and the legs of furniture. It’s not a shade that suits overuse – so keep it sparing and it’ll catch the eye. It’s also important to stick to one or two shades of metal, otherwise you risk causing clashes.

Space it out

Building on the point above, you need to keep your metallics spaced out across a room. Having too much in one space creates clutter and claustrophobia. Metals work best as accents and details – so keep them spread out evenly in a space.

Metal meets organic

Dark Antique Bronze, a Wandsworth Finish, showcases the best of the more brooding side of bronze – a metal that can often look ‘heavy’. It evokes a sense of lavishness and luxury – but works best as a contrast with organic surfaces such as wood and stone. The deep sense of style provided by darker bronze makes it an enticing shade, but without organic materials to offset it can become almost overbearing. Houseplants also help liven up rooms featuring bronze.

Heritage is best

Antique Bronze is a shade beloved by heritage movements such as Victorian era design. For that reason, it is a fantastic tone to use in heritage properties – but also in modern homes seeking to evoke a historic style. If you’re considering, for example, adding the traditional ‘roped edges’ and ornate style of Georgian style to your house, you should already be planning where you’ll place bronze accessories and furniture to help nail the era.

Warm things up

Perhaps the most important bronze interior design tips involve how to handle the shade when using other metals. Other metallics such as nickel and copper are all classed as ‘warming’ tones – so they’re ideal when paired with rooms that may feel traditionally cold such as white, grey and light pastel shades. Add in some bronze accessories and the space will immediately feel warmer and any natural light will create a soft glow.

Play with patterns

In 2020, the rise of geometric patterns is expected to continue – and bronze accessories look simply amazing as a way to make these styles stand out. Consider, for example, a bronze coffee table sitting on a white and black geometric print rug. The two conflicting shades draw immediate attention yet avoid clashing – instead creating the latest ‘must-have’ in contemporary style.

Try different finishes

Metal is textured in a variety of ways. Our antique finishes create a weathered, heritage look – but there are also brushed and polished bronze styles of furniture. As long as the shade is similar, you can use different textures to create an interesting sense of vintage elegance to your room.

Add ‘soft’ surfaces

Bronze can be a warming metal, but it’s a ‘hard’ one – which is why many designers use throw rugs, thick-pile rugs and other ‘soft’ surfaces and objects to soften the room and create a pleasant interplay between metal and comfort.