What Goes Around

We are fans of HGTV – Home and Garden Television. We watch it during the day. We follow our favorite shows, mostly Fixer Upper from Waco, Texas, House Hunters – both domestic and international, and many other programs. We miss seeing the Kitchen Cousins but have faith they will return soon. Also David Bromstad them first Design Star winner is one of our favorites and hope he will have a new show soon. Then too there is Scott McGillivry Income Property, and John Giddings of Curb Appeal.

All of these shows are inventive, creative and somehow personal. The show hosts are personable and friendly. In someway they allow us to be up close and personal, friends of some kind. They draw out a positive facet or two from within ourselves.

Of course not all guests on the shows are personable or even lovable!  We especially react to the young home buyers who feel everything is too ‘dated’ or passé. And they often feel the price is too high for ‘that’. Hmm. Where have they been one wonders?

A common complaint from these youngsters is ‘too much gold’ when there is no gold in evidence. Brass maybe in the light fixtures and highlights in plumbing fixtures and faucets. Also door knobs and handles are often done in brass. Rather than a style or fashion, brass is an architectural feature. Maybe its popularity has its ups and downs, but as an architectural element it is always in for some contexts. Georgian design requires brass – some shiny bright while others are dulled and matte finish. But brass there is aplenty in early American architecture, 17^th century, 18^th century, even 19^th century designs.

We visited the Habitat for Humanity ‘store’ recently. What a treasure trove of goodies! It seemed like a garage sale on steroids to us. Copious supplies of used lighting fixtures, and much of them brass! Tons of gently used kitchen cabinets, odds and ends, counter tops, plumbing fixtures and much more. Retrofitting a home from these supplies would be fun and easy. And cheap!

Then in today’s press we learned that brass is making a comeback in plumbing fixtures AND lighting, too! Well, imagine that!

Fashion is like fad. It comes and goes. Style remains steady. It is a real component of a real design genre. Popularity of some styles come and go, but really, now, style is mostly an ‘in’ thing.

We like brass fittings. Whether bright or antiqued, brass has a solid heft that says quality and permanence. We are not talking cheap brass, now, but quality brass that shows its character and quality.

Perhaps brushed chrome and nickel fixtures were the fad? Just remember that if brass is permanent, and nickel is a fad, then there is a commodious supply of cheap brass fixtures available to be snapped up cheap. One era’s loss is another’s gain.

Get in a fresh supply of Brasso and soft rags. The brass needs polishing! Thank God we held on to ours.

January 30, 2015