Opening statement: hardware manufacturers are offering fabulous finishes to satisfy the anything-but-brass crowd - Windows & Doors

Building Products, May-June, 2003 by Sharon O'Malley

Just as a pair of glossy gold cuff links adds a finishing flourish to a Saturday-evening dress suit, the hardware on an entry door is the jewelry that dresses it up.

"The experience someone has at the front door starts the impression of the home right at that moment," notes Joyce Mason, vice president of marketing for Pardee Homes, a Los Angeles production builder.

Dominating that experience until recently was shiny polished brass hardware. Today, however, builders and buyers alike are gravitating toward warmer, darker, matte hardware finishes like the popular oil-rubbed bronze, a "living" finish that wears to a lived-in patina, as well as satin nickel, black, and powder-coated rusts and coppers.

"It's like comfort food," suggests Eric Cohler, a historic preservationist and Manhattan designer who advises manufacturer Baldwin Hardware on its product lines. "We like to look back at things that remind us of the place where we grew up. We want a connection to safety valves that are solid."

NEW FINISHES

Consumer demand for anything-but-brass came on suddenly. "The high-end market is running away from brass as fast as it can go," says Clint Garwood, spokesman for Kwikset, whose upscale Society Brass collection features nine finishes, including three released this year. "When you get into higher-end homes--custom homes, specifically--owners are looking for finishes that are not the finishes that are on everyone else's homes."

Even buyers of production homes are running with the anti-brass pack. In response to the changing tastes of customers, Pardee Homes, which builds 2,200 houses a year, is staying away from polished-brass knobs in favor of muted nickels and chromes. Still, about 25 percent of Pardee buyers pay extra to upgrade to fancier finishes like pewter and distressed bronze.

"It's design elements like those that make their homes look more custom even though it might be a production-built home," notes Mason.

Indeed, some production builders install the most inexpensive, run-of-the-mill polished brass door hardware knowing that most buyers replace it the minute they move in. Manufacturers in recent years have perfected a finish that perpetually preserves the shiny-new look, as polished brass is not a "living" finish that homeowners expect to fade or change color.

Still, polished brass remains a favorite among some, "and thank goodness for us," notes Charlie Lawrence, vice president of marketing and product development for Baldwin Hardware, which counts polished brass as a bread-and-butter product. Yet the company has added 20 alternative finishes over 10 years.

"With the economy we're in right now, it's causing people to spend a little bit more time at home and to think about their home a little bit more," Lawrence says. That's translating into a demand for "things that are more distressed because they give that feeling of being around for a while, an older feeling," he says.

DISTRESSED IS BEST

Manufacturers have responded with more ornate, history-inspired door garnishes and by distressing their finishes with genuine nicks and scrapes created by shaking the knobs and knockers in a tumbler. They also have introduced "living" finishes like the auburn-hued oil-rubbed bronze, pewters, and brasses that assume a weathered, well-worn look within a matter of months.

"It's almost like an extension of an art collection," observes Linda Bauman, administrative manager for Canadian manufacturer Southwest Forge. "They're looking for something where each piece has been touched by an artisan's hand ... instead of the stamped, same-old finishes. People are going to things that are a little more unique."

In fact, trends in outdoor hardware finishes usually nip at the heels of popular interior styles, notes Rick Julian, vice president of marketing for Emtek Products. The firm recently added cabinet hardware in finishes that match its door accessories in response to customer requests.

"It's more and more closely tied to the general trend of matching things in a decorator fashion throughout the home, and more closely tied in the advance in finishes that become in vogue in the bath industry," says Julian.

Even more important, he adds, is the visual--and tactile--first impression of high-end door hardware. Builders, he says, are reporting that consumers are more demanding about "things they can feel and touch. You can say all day long that you have R-40 insulation in the walls, but if you come back and put in ordinary hardware that anybody can buy in any home center, a lot of consumers see that as a big negative. They want to see the quality on the exterior where they can see it as well as on the inside where they can't."

And some homeowners are paying dearly for what they perceive as quality Handlesets come as cheaply as 520 but run as high as 51,800, notes Bauman.

Ashley Falls, Mass., builder Steven MacLeay says buyers of his $300,000 to $2 million homes shy away from spending more than a few hundred dollars on a handleset because there are so many fabulous fakes--brass products with faux finishes that mock their pricier competitors--although he installed one $600 unit.