Are Silver Tones set for a return in interiors in 2018?

The last couple of years you couldn’t move in the interiors world for copper, gold, rose gold and bronze accessories.  Everything from stationery accessories to furniture to wallpaper – they have all embraced the warm metallics and poor old silver got shoved out of the way after taking prime place for so long.  But could silver tones be making a comeback?

It’s true that bronze, gold, rose gold, copper are all warmer tones, in the same way that their red, yellow and orange undertones are all warmer colours than grey or blue, which is probably where the silver tones traditionally sit and this warmth and depth has made them popular, not to mention they look expensive and bright.

Karen Knox’s recent post (on her blog Making Spaces) about ABC – Anything But Chrome showed perfectly how the humble silver tones have fallen out of favour recently – and that’s certainly the case in kitchens and bathrooms with black, copper, brass and even (gasp!) gold taps have made their way into our homes (I’m trying desperately not to think of 70’s style gold bathrooms here!).  But unless you’ve been on the Moon recently you can’t have avoided the flood of the warmer metallics on the high street and in the magazines.

I have always resisted gold tones, as I remember the 70s the first time round when avocado suites and shiny gold taps were height of sophistication.  Luckily things have changed and the gold is a little more tasteful now!  The current bathroom that we inherited has chrome and we’ve added chrome grab rails – I’m perfectly happy with it for the time being.

So I’ve always traditionally turned to the silver tones in my interiors.  However recently I’ve fallen under the warm metallic spell!

 

I have got some gold tones in the house, including my upcycled vintage side table and Ikea wall lamps and Next ceiling light but I did chose the mixed steel and brass light switch from Buster & Punch instead of going for full brass.  I felt that was a nice compromise between the full brass and the full silver colour switch and it makes it nice and quirky.

Photo Credit: Buster & Punch

 

So what of silver, steel and pewter tones?  Of course GREY has very much been the colour of the decade, the new neutral, and we’ve all had it in our homes, from silvery grey to charcoal.  Is this the reason we fell out of love with silver metallics, because we had too much grey and needed a warmer colour to bounce off it?  It’s an interesting thought!

I’ve been doing some research recently for a couple of projects and noticed there’s a bit of silver/nickel/pewter tones around and wanted to share some of my finds.

I spotted this light in Next and its a contender for the kitchen when we come to do a makeover, it’s in the slightly warmer pewter rather than shiny silver but I rather like it!  (It does also come in Copper and Ivory)

Photo Credit: Next

Next up I’ve noticed a few silver tones in accessories too, with the ever popular flamingo lamp now in a silver colour with a grey and white shade.  It’s currently sold out too, on Rockett St George which shows how popular it’s been:

Photo Credit: Rockett St George

Another brilliant light in Silver (and other colours) is the fabulous Geometric pendant light from Dowsing and Reynolds.  The clean sharp lines and silver colour makes this a very sharp, clean and uncluttered choice for a room.

Photo Credit: Dowsing & Reynolds

There’s also been a lot of silver and grey tones in wallpaper recently, this new one from Graham & Brown is right on the geometric trend but in a calming silver colour –

Photo Credit: Graham & Brown

If going for full silver on the walls is step too far for you at the moment, there’s some great mixed papers, such as this one:

If you’re not ready for full silver wallpaper, how about this fabulous silver grey and rose gold geometric from Graham & Brown?  I think it’s a great compromise!

Photo Credit: Graham & Brown

Even the Queen of Dark Interiors herself, Abigail Ahern has a ceiling light in her Debenhams range that has gunmetal silver tones!

Photo Credit: Abigail Ahern for Debenhams

How about furniture? These brilliant mid-century styleTulipe chairs from Maisons du Monde make a great industrial statement for a kitchen table?

Photo Credit: Maisons du Monde

I’m not sure that the silver tones are quite ready for the big comeback just yet but there are some small signs that silver shades in all it’s guises – Silver, Nickel, Pewter, Brushed Steel, (and who knows, even Chrome!) might be making their way back into our homes in the near future.

If you’re not quite ready for a return to silver tones how about mixing them? Mixing metallics used to be a no-no (like not wearing silver and gold jewellery together) but there’s enough evidence out there to say it’s now acceptable.  Any fan of Pandora bracelets can see the huge number of multi toned gold and silver bracelet charms there are and these mixed metallics are also moving into the home.

One trick to use with mixing metals is to pick your primary metal and then accessorise with the others in smaller quantity.

I have a great mirror at the end of my hallway that has a mix of metals, I’ve had it a couple of years and I love the fact it will go with anything – it’s a little different.  I wrote a blog post about it a long while ago when I started the blog.

Some new products out in the market are edging towards a mixed metallic look, we’ve already seen the Buster and Punch light switches that look fantastic.

These luxurious Michael Aram candlesticks from Amara show that multi tonal metallic accessories can be used around the home whilst at the other end of the price scale this mixed metallic wall art from Dunelm gives you the best of all the colours and really makes a statement:

Photo Credit (L): Amara      Photo Credit (R): Dunelm

What do you think?  Are you ready to make a return to silver tones or are you sticking with the golds and coppers for now?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!