It’s hard to choose just one. And in selecting Coastal French metals, we don’t. We mix it up!

Like adding textures, mixing the metals in Coastal French design adds some interest for the eye. Without being too loud, metals provide a range in color where the Coastal French color palette leaves off.

Coastal French Metals List

That said, there are only so many metals considered seaworthy. Those are the handful we deem ‘coastal’ in Coastal French design:

1. Brass
2. Bronze
3. Copper (and its patina version, verdigris)
4. Gunmetal
5. Iron (boats of old)

In modern times, steel is the name of the boatbuilding game, but at Skating Pond, interiors lean more Old World. In our house, the only things in stainless steel are the appliances and a single faucet. That faucet is in a high-traffic powder room, and it keeps the look monochrome with a gunmetal mirror and light fixture.

Our Favorite Pair

Of the five, we largely gravitate to brass and iron. Combined with wood accents, brass lends warmth to the cool tones of the Coastal French color palette. In our kitchen, we used Brizo’s Luxe Gold finish. It’s unique — brass in color, with bronze (orange) undertones and a satin finish.

We use a lot of iron instead of matte black because it has that pitted texture, too. These Pottery Barn holdbacks and curtain rods are perfect examples:

Iron comes in gray, but also black when it’s wrought. You see wrought iron all over Paris (those balconies!), so that’s where the ‘French’ comes in. (That, and the verdigris green you get when copper patinas — think the Statue of Liberty .. a gift from the French)!

French Gold is left out of discussion. There are exceptions, like our master bedroom. If you want a room to feel more French than Coastal, that’s your prerogative. Go ahead and throw that gold and gild in there!

Let Me Finish

As for the finishes of metals, we like that rustic look. Dark gray gunmetal tones are one option. At the other end of the spectrum are the latest PVD-coated satin or burnished finishes. They’re attention-grabbing without being shiny. Polished fixtures look a little inauthentic and unrealistic for the Coastal French life — unless you’ve got a crew of cabin boys, or servants in the chateau to keep them shipshape and spiffed up!