Precious metal: Simple ways to incorporate metallics into your home

Magpies aren’t the only creatures who like to add glitter to their nests. Metallics have been used to decorate our living spaces for hundreds of years. Only now, they’re cheaper and more versatile.

As these rooms demonstrate, you can add a copper, gold or silver shine to anything from wallpaper to sofas, and they’re effective in small or large doses, or mixed up together. Pick out your favourite elements from the examples below.

1. Combine with moody hues

You’ve probably noticed that inky backdrops are everywhere right now, especially charcoal grey and deep blue. These dark hues team beautifully with metallics, which subtly reflect the light, throwing a romantic glow over everything.

In this charcoal room, a silvery grey sofa dressed with colourful cushions is softly illuminated by a contemporary silver chandelier and a copper-coloured floor lamp.

2. Employ metallics as an accent colour

If bling isn’t your thing, don’t worry – simply use metallics as subtle accents within a larger interior scheme.

Whites and pastels are the main themes in this living room, for example, but the bronze chandelier, gilded metal coffee table and gold-coloured wall mirror add a dash of warmth.

3. Make the ordinary extraordinary

Use copper, silver, gold or brass to turn everyday items in your living room into features. A standard flue to a wood-burning stove would usually be black, but this one has a shiny copper chimney, turning what could have been another conventional household object into an interesting focal point.

Door handles, window fixtures and curtain poles are other areas that could be given the metallic treatment.

4. Opt for a silver lining

In its super-shiny mode, silver lends itself particularly well to modern designs. In its slightly duller, brushed guise it becomes more suited to period styles. Consequently, silver is a fantastic material to use in a highly individual scheme that borrows from a host of different themes.

Here, a traditional-style silver mirror has been teamed with a contemporary mirrored table for a bright, light-reflecting scheme. Antique-style mirrored wall panels in the alcoves tie the scheme together and create the illusion of depth.

5. Let smaller rooms shine

Metallics can be particularly effective in smaller living spaces, both because their reflective properties help to bounce light around the room, and they can also have much more of an impact.

The smart gold wall lights and subtle metallic cushion in this tiny living room help to ramp up the style in the small space without dominating.

6. Work in a one-off

When you wear a striking piece of precious metal jewellery, you don’t need to be sporting anything else in the same material to make it work. The same goes with interiors. Metal finishes go with most things: they don’t need to match anything else in the room, they just need to tone in with the overall scheme.

Here, the striking pendant light makes a strong statement against the clean white walls and contemporary interior.

7. Call on the coppers

On-trend penny-bright copper fittings aren’t the only way to add this warm metal to your living room. Going for a more subtle, aged patina is still as stylish and may have more longevity.

Used with care, a copper spray paint can do the job to create a similar result.

8. Nod to the space age

For an eclectic vintage look, set off unexpected silver and chrome pieces against a bygone era backdrop. Here, a transparent Bubble chair ringed with chrome and matching droplet pendants make an interesting mix against parquet flooring, a retro pale blue sofa and damask wallpaper.

This approach works well in living rooms that open out on to bigger spaces for entertaining.

9. Weave in a glamorous gleam

For a more subtle sheen, consider metallic-effect fabrics. Look out for glistening silver, gold and copper coloured velvet or glazed cottons. Use them on sofas, cushions and window dressings to add an instant touch of luxury.