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You use each room in your home for a different purpose, which means each room has additional lighting requirements. Some areas need functional, task-oriented lighting (kitchen or laundry), while others need ambient, indirect lighting (living rooms or bedrooms).

The type of fixtures, the intensity of light, and the lighting location should differ between each room. Confused? It’s okay; we can help. Here at Brass Décor, we love matching the perfect lighting fixtures to each room or area in your home and have a range of options available.

Read on to learn more about choosing the proper lighting for every room in your home.

Living room

Often the largest room in the house, the living room should be a warm, inviting space for you and your family. A well-lit living room typically has layered lighting that creates a pleasant atmosphere. Your living room lighting can include a mix of ambient, accent, and task lighting (think chandeliers, wall sconces, table lamps, floor lamps, recessed lighting).

Kitchen lighting

As the heart of the home, kitchen lighting needs to be functional and flexible. The lighting should allow you to perform tasks during busy periods of the day and transform to ambient lighting when entertaining or relaxing at the end of the day.

Bedroom lighting

Stylish, ambient lighting should make your bedroom feel cosy, calming, and safe. Try to avoid harsh overhead lighting fixtures, opting for lighting fittings that create a relaxing mood. If you have a dressing table in your room, classic, tasteful Hollywood lights around the mirror can make make-up application easier.

Bathroom

When it comes to bathroom lighting design, you need good task lighting for everyday grooming and ablutions but adding a dimmer switch allows you to create a relaxation zone if you want to soak in the bath.

Exterior

Exterior lighting is as important as interior lighting. Exterior lighting is functional, allowing you to move around safely a night, but it also creates a relaxing atmosphere. The lighting and light fixtures you use outdoors should reflect the style of your home, so choose wisely. We have a range of exterior lights and light fittings available to choose from, all designed to complement your period or heritage home in Perth.

Complete the look with Brass Décor

Our extensive range of light fittings and switches are available in styles such as antique brass, bronze, and chrome. We also stock light fittings and switches in brushed and antique nickel and glass and hand-blown glass. With countless modern and period house lighting options to choose from, we can’t wait to show you what we have in store.

Please find our full range of light fixtures and fittings in our Nedlands showroom at 169 Stirling Highway, browse our product catalogues online, or call us on (08) 9386 6057 to find out what’s in stock to suit your home.

For thousands of years, we have used metals such as brass, bronze, copper, pewter, iron, and tin to create everything from household objects and jewellery to industrial machinery and artworks.

Here at Brass Décor, we adore brass, and we are thrilled that it is back in fashion. Brass antiques are beautiful, and they are also hard-wearing, affordable, and rich with history. Here’s everything you need to know about antique brass.

What is antique brass?

Brass is formed from a blend of copper, zinc, and other minor elements. Each piece of brass may look slightly different. This is because brass’s essential blend alters depending on its intended use. From fireplace equipment to lighting fixtures, more copper results in a rosier colour, more tin resulted in a paler brass.

More about brass

Brass is more robust than copper and less likely to fatigue, making it a common material choice for decorative domestic wares. Most antique brass dates back to the mid-18th century when Birmingham was the UK’s main metalworking centre. Brass antiques made after the 19th century typically display a rougher finish. A pair of genuine antique brass candlesticks from the 19th century can fetch hundreds of dollars, depending on their style and age.

What colour is antique brass?

As we mentioned before, variations in the composition and alloys of brass can change the colour of each piece of brass. While colour variations are common, antique brass is generally a heavy, deep golden brown. It is not naturally bright and shiny.

How do you clean antique brass?

Tarnishing is relatively typical with vintage and antique brassware. Brass is naturally prone to oxidisation as it reacts to skin oils and oxygen in the air. This can be cleaned off. Your piece of brass may have been lacquered at some point to prevent tarnishing, but over the years, this can result in uneven wear. Older items may also show patches of dullness or small cracks.

Regular polishing will keep your brass antiques well maintained. We recommend cleaning brass by hand. Apply brass and copper polish with cotton wool and use a soft cloth to remove it. Don’t be tempted to create a household alternative as cleaning solutions such as lemon juice and baking soda will destroy your piece’s patina and avoid using water to clean your brass. Water can seep into the solder of the brass and erode it.

The Brass Décor team can bring help you with any questions you may have about your antique brass.

Why choose Brass Décor in Perth for your antique brass?

Our friendly and experienced staff will bring new life to your old brass hardware and accessories. Brass Decor has been working with interior designers, architects, and home renovators in Perth for over 25 years. Brass Decor is Perth’s period lighting specialist. We can help create a lighting plan to suit any renovation or restoration from Federation, Edwardian, Victorian, and Colonial to Art Deco, Hamptons style, and Modern homes.

Contact us for advice regarding your antique brass.

You may not realise it, but lighting is the subtle element that brings your interior design to the next level. We are passionate about light fittings and fixtures here at Brass Décor and love sharing tips on getting the most out of your lighting options. From glistening chandeliers and bespoke ceiling lights to lamps, wall sconces, brass light fittings, and more, read on to learn about different types of light fittings and fixtures.

Types of lighting

Gone are the days of stark overhead strip lighting (the 80s were terrible). Instead, layer your lighting to create different moods. Here at Brass Décor, we stock a wide range of light fittings and fixtures destined to make your interior space feel welcoming and luxurious.

There are three main types of indoor lighting, and a well-designed room will include all of them. They are:

Ambient: This is also known as general lighting, and this light fills the majority of the room, allowing you to move around safely. Typical forms of ambient lighting are recessed lighting, track lighting, or wall-mounted fixtures.

Accent: This is used to highlight a focal point. Standard accent lighting includes picture lights, wall-mounted-fixtures, or track lighting. Ask for these lights to come with dimmers so you can change the room’s mood, depending on how you are using them.

Task: this type of lighting is used to assist in the completion of a particular job. Common types of task lighting include desk lamps for work, pendant lights in the kitchen for cooking, and outdoor lights, lighting the path to the front door.

Consider the size and aesthetics of your lighting fittings and fixtures

If your house is a mid-century design, consider pared-back simple fittings and fixtures that don’t overwhelm the space.

If your house is a traditional cottage, consider featuring period pieces to accent and complement each room.

Choose your fixtures to match your home

We all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but try to ensure that whatever fittings and fixtures you choose match the style of the rest of the house. And remember, your light switches are as important as the lights you choose. Make sure they fit your preferred aesthetic.

Brass Décor strives to ensure that our lighting range is affordable and brimming with variety. Our light fittings and switches are available in styles such as antique brass, bronze, and chrome.

Tapware and bathroom accessories

Good lighting is also crucial in the bathroom. Bathrooms are a vital part of your everyday routine, and you need to make sure every element in your bathroom fills you with joy. Brass Décor has a range of tapware and bathroom accessories available to match your lighting options. Enjoy the sleek finishes of our bathroom fittings, including brass, chrome, satin chrome, bronze, black and white porcelain, nickel, and copper. All styled to match your lighting fittings and fixtures.

Why choose Bras Décor for your lighting fittings, fixtures, and bathroom accessories in Perth?

As trusted suppliers and experts in the business, Brass Decor has an incredible range of products for you to consider. We pride ourselves on providing only the finest products available.

Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you find the perfect products for your home.

Of all the steps in renovating or building your home, many people might consider choosing door furniture an afterthought. But, it’s worth remembering that you’ll probably use each door handle multiple times a day, so they need to be functional and long-lasting, and they need to match the look, feel, and style of your home. A carefully selected door handle or doorknob will last for years and will accent each room to perfection.

Badly designed, poorly made door furniture will annoy you every time you use it. But how do you choose the right handle or knob for your home? Read on for Brass Décor’s top tips to picking door hardware for your doors.

First up, you need to decide whether you want a handle or knob?

These are two different things, with pros and cons to each.

Door handles

The lever on regular door handles helps increase grip and allows people with limited strength and dexterity to easily use them rather than grip a smooth round doorknob. This lever is perfect for those living in their forever home, ensuring accessibility for years to come.

Doorknobs

Doorknobs are typically round or square and are operated by grasping and twisting to open the mechanism. For older people or those with reduced strength, doorknobs can sometimes be challenging.

When deciding between a door handle or a doorknob, it often comes down to personal preference and how they match your home’s overall style. There are many different designs and finishes for both, including material (brass, wrought iron, etc.), finish (antique brass, bronze, chrome and brushed or antique nickel), style (Colonial to Modern periods and including the Edwardian, Art deco and Mid-Century Modern) and colour.

Interior style

Is your home modern and contemporary? Or is it a heritage-listed cottage in the foothills of Perth? Each home will have a different style, and the door furniture should accent and complement this style. It would look strange to have ultra-modern, sleek metal handles in a home that has been renovated to traditional standards.

If your house contains a mishmash of styles, blending old and new throughout, you consider choosing door hardware room by room. Here at Brass Décor, we specialise in supplying hardware products and accessories for homes built in Perth from the 1840s -1950s. With over 25 years of experience in all facets of lighting and door décor in Perth, you are sure to find your perfect handle or knob with us.

Shop online at Brass Decor

From brass pull handles to oversized pulls, Brass Decor has what you need. We proudly offer Perth’s largest selection of architectural hardware and light fittings in a range of metal finishes. If you are looking for brass, chrome, nickel, copper, stainless steel, bronze, or hand-finished old brass door handle or doorknob, contact our team today.

What makes a period home? Is it the brickwork or the windows? Is it art deco door handles, federation-style terracotta roof tiling, burnished brass pull handles, or the paint palette?

The answer is ‘all of the above’. Period homes have a unique character blended from an easily definable set of design elements and a much more inimitable feeling of character and charm.

Every small detail, like the door handles we’re focusing on in this blog, offers an opportunity to re-capture a period of Perth’s rich architectural history with high-quality modern touches.

Benefits of maintaining and restoring period homes

Drive through some of Perth’s older neighbourhoods and you can see pockets of history preserved for a century or more. The suburbs around our Nedlands showroom has plenty on offer, from federation style workers’ cottages built between 1900 and 1910, to art deco which defined the 1920s and 30s.

Each of these design eras represented a time in Perth’s history. Preserving those memories in the character of your period home means remembering the charm that attracted you to the house, and carrying on a century-long legacy of unique design.

Easy ways to capture the charm of period homes

Know the style of the house

Before you go putting an art deco door handle on a Victorian home, it’s worth finding out more about the era your period home falls into.

• Early Victorian: c.1804-1860
• Mid-Victorian: 1861-1875
• Late Victorian: 1876-1901
• Federation: c.1890s-1915
• Art deco: 1920s and 1930s
• Post-war: 1945-1950
• Mid-century modern: 1950s and 60s

Of course, it’s possible for a Federation-style home (also called Edwardian after the King of England at the time of Australia’s Federation) was built after 1915. And art deco still inspired architecture well into the 40s. There are even some gems of modern architecture which echo those eras.

But knowing what year your home was built gives a good indication of whether brass pull handles, Gatsby-style art deco door handles or more decorative and delicate federation finishes are most appropriate.

Consider colour schemes

Over time your period home may have seen a renovation, re-painting or additions. Capturing its original character can be as simple as matching the right federation door handle to the classic red-brick exterior and pressed metal ceiling.

Cohesive design aesthetics depend on the overall look and feel as much as the individual details.

Material selection

Hardware used in the original construction can be influenced by the location and environment of the house. An art deco home in Perth is likely to use native timber in the joinery and locally sourced metal for window frames, for example.

Keep in mind when you browse the Brass Décor catalogue that our Australian-made products are hand-picked to suit life in local neighbourhoods:

• Made to be durable in Australian climates
• Supporting local industries
• Finished to Australian Standards
• High safety and performance benchmarks

Bring it home with Brass Décor

From brass pull handles on interior doors, to art deco door handles that welcome guests with a classy touch of belle epoque bourgeoise, Brass Décor’s range of period door handles is the perfect finish to any character home.

Find our full range of federation door handles and period-specific finishes in our Nedlands showroom at 169 Stirling Highway, browse our product catalogues online, or call us on (08) 9386 6057 to find out what’s in stock to suit your period home.

Home renovations, even small bathroom makeovers, can be truly transformational and thoroughly enjoyable – if you plan properly. From the big jobs like removing walls, to the smallest details like the right tap handles and brass light fixtures, there are many benefits to good planning:

• Eliminate delays
• Save on labour costs
• Renovation is finished faster
• More cohesive design
• Less disruption to your life

We’re focussing on tapware in this blog because it’s one of those often-overlooked details that elevates a period home transformation from drab to delightful.

Plan tapware early at the same time as plumbing

One of the first steps in planning a period home renovation is the logistics for things like plumbing and electrical. If your restoration is contained to the bathroom or laundry then you might not need to factor in an electrician, but you still need to source a plumber.

DIY plumbing is not just irresponsible, it’s actually illegal – you can face big fines for attempting your own installation.

However, this gives you a great opportunity to take care of an important detail. Sourcing tapware early makes it easier for a plumber to provide an accurate quote (without hidden cost contingencies) and has several significant benefits during the renovation process.

5 great reasons to source brass tapware in the planning stage

There is nothing more heartbreaking than discovering a fixture doesn’t fit, or your pipes aren’t plumbed correctly to accommodate your brand-new tapware. Sourcing tapware early, at the same time as planning the plumbing, ensures everything comes together with no avoidable delays or unexpected costs.

1. Avoid delays caused by missing materials
2. Get the exact brass tapware you want
3. Save on re-working and labour costs
4. Design every detail to match
5. Take a weight off your mind early

Tapware comes in so many styles, shapes, sizes and finishes. We often find people want to take their time choosing tapware because the decision is a mix of feeling and preference. Plus, starting the process early means you can shop around more for the best deals on high-quality tapware.

How to choose the right tapware for character homes

Matching décor

Tapware ties the room together. It can be an accent, a complimentary feature, a statement or a subtlety. Brass Décor has solutions for all styles.

Tapware materials

Every component from the aerators and washers to the art deco tap handle should be made of durable, non-toxic, high-quality materials.

Choose quality, not cost

Cheap tapware not only looks tacky, but it is more likely to fail sooner due to sub-par components. Well-crafted Australian made taps are a small investment with big benefits.

Only buy from a trusted supplier

Choose tapware with a long and detailed warranty, and purchase through a supplier with a good reputation. In case anything goes awry, you have peace of mind that the supplier will put it right.

Include Brass Décor in your plans

Brass Décor has an extensive range of period-perfect tapware and bathroom accessories. From Australian made art deco tap handles to high-quality tap fittings, we supply everything you need for a hassle-free and affordable period home renovation.

Browse our catalogues online, give us a call or visit our showroom at 169 Stirling Highway to get a feel for the best tapware in Perth.

Perth’s character homes have a distinct an indescribable charm. From the first Victorian homes to Federation-era workers’ cottages, through to 1920s and 30s art deco design, there is something special about owning a period home.

However, technology and modern comforts have come a long way in 100+ years. While the charm of burnished brass light fittings never fades, it can be tempting to modernise a period home, jeopardising a piece of history in the process.

Here are 4 ways to preserve the original charm when restoring, renovating, or contemporising a period home in Perth.

1. Blend the old with the new

There are interior design solutions available across Perth that carefully and creatively echo bygone eras, while bringing safety and comfort up to 21^st century standards.

• Update brass light fittings for electrical safety
• Crumbling or tarnished antique door handles can usually be replaced with a modern reproduction
• Mix period-specific and modern materials for contrast
• Make the period features a statement, surrounded by modern additions

Finding balance between modern comforts and old-world charm is much easier nowadays.

2. Do your research

Each era in Perth’s architectural history had its own style conventions, prevailing materials, prominent designers and standout pieces.

• Federation workers’ cottages feature an abundance of red brick, terracotta roof tiles, and elegant brass door handles
• Art deco in Australia was defined by curves contrasted with bold geometric lines and intricate art nouveau patterns
• Try to find original photographs, news articles or construction records

There are some traditions that should be preserved. Research the era your home was built in and try to bring back some of the original design elements that might have been lost during the decades.

3. Don’t demolish a piece of history

What seems quirky or kitsch at the start of the renovation can turn out to be the charm that binds a project together. Before you brick up a disused fireplace or chip away at federation tiles, consider how the feature could be transformed.

• Restore old staircases with modern railings
• Rejuvenate art deco ceilings with period-specific brass light fittings
• Turn a fireplace into an artistic display
• Salvage antique brass door handles and try to match them with a modern replacement

Think carefully before swinging a sledgehammer because once it’s gone, history isn’t coming back.

4. Consult the specialists

Perth’s period homes are treasured by more than the occupants. Finding the right period home renovation expert will help you to make considered, cost-effective choices while keeping the charm alive.

• Speak to other period homeowners
• Work with trusted suppliers who know period homes
• Engage specialist character home architects and tradespeople

The difference between a classy renovation and cutting corners is in the details. Speak to Brass Décor to find the right antique-style door handles, brass light fittings and tapware to suit your home.

Visit Brass Décor for the finishing touch

No period home restoration is complete until the last brass light fitting or antique door handle is in place. With our wide range of period home fixtures, and our team’s passion for Perth architecture through the eras, you are sure to find the right solution in our showroom at 169 Stirling Highway, Nedlands.

Call us on (08) 9386 6057 to discuss your specific requirements or browse our catalogues online to see our range of Australian-made, exceptional quality products.

With things quietening down, you may be spending more time at home than ever before. As such, it may be the perfect time to get busy with home projects – and what better way than to take your house to the next level?

For a dose of creative inspiration, we’ve rounded up the top 2020 trends for hardware just for you:

Oversized Pulls

That’s right, we mean oversized pulls on your cabinets and doors! These work especially well for larger kitchens, and can suit both modern and heritage homes. Built for both function and elegance, oversized pulls are certainly a welcome trend this year.

Mixed Metals

You may be well aware of mixing textures – but what about mixing metals? Though commonly deemed a fashion faux pas, mixed metals are one of the trends taking over in 2020.

Mix things up and depart from your usual brass pull handles with some contrasting metals. Why not get eclectic by pairing gold hardware with silver hardware?  Or, if you’re wanting to dip your toe into this trend, opt for metals of a similar colour palette. Combining warmer toned metals – such as nickel, bronze and brass pull handles – together is a great example!

Weathered Finishes

Typically used in rustic and farmhouse styles, weathered finishes are becoming a favourite. Giving off a warm and charming feel, weathered hardware such as antique nickel, brass and bronze are not to be overlooked.

Champagne Gold

Champagne gold hardware provides an exceptional contrast to cabinets, drawers or fixtures which are painted in colours such as a rich blue. For those after a sense of luxury and class, make champagne gold your next hardware trend to conquer.

Layering the Old and the New

We all love our period homes, but an updated heritage home can be a true architectural masterpiece. For most, this means updating key areas such as one’s bathroom or kitchen. In fact, homes across the globe are taking inspiration from this trend with modern kitchens featuring vintage pulls. It’s a clever way to incorporate both the old and the new when restoring your home!

Experimenting With Style in the Bathroom

Whether you’re taking a shower, grooming oneself or getting dressed in the morning, our bathrooms are a vital part of our everyday routines.

Our environment directly reflects our mood, we think it’s important to experiment a little with your bathroom decor! Have fun with trying out different styles of hardware your bathroom.

For a start, step away from chrome hardware finishes – which have dominated the last 10 years – and opt for something new like a new set of brass pull handles!

Shop Online At Brass Decor

For all your hardware needs, you can count on Brass Decor to deliver. From brass pull handles to oversized pulls, we’ve made it easier than ever to the try out some of these new 2020 hardware trends with our remarkable range of products.

Browse our variety of hardware pieces here or contact our team to find out more about any of our products!