Brushed brass in bathroom - bad idea?

[Octonaut4Life]

I love the look of brushed brass but I'm worried it's a hassle to look after or will just inevitably end up looking terrible after a few years. Just wondered about other people's experiences with it and whether you would recommend it for bathroom or kitchen fittings? We're in a really hard water area so have to clean limescale off and I'm worried it will ruin the finish...

I like it an I don’t think it’s any more delicate than eg chrome which is also a surface finish. And anything brushed will show fingerprints less than anything shiny. It won’t show limescale as much as black would.

My concern with brushed brass or any other special finish is that you ideally need to have every item in brass - towel rail, plug, bottle trap, loo flush etc - as well as the main taps. And this can narrow your options and/or cost a fortune. Suggest you see if you can find everything in brass, and cost it up, before you decide.

Also the brass colour can vary quite widely between manufacturers (unlike chrome or steel) so ideally you need to stick to one or two companies.

I was wondering why you were brushing your bras! But I see you have a helpful answer

No Imwoukdn't. I insisted on them as I liked the look but it looked scruffy after a bit and didnt clean well. Chrome is much better,

I have brushed brass that looks used. It looks great and is wearing well. Like a poster said we had to get matching plug, shower drain etc and the cost did add up. We've put it with black shower screen and black toilet roll holders and radiator as we couldn't get a match. All the tiles are plain (floor and walls match) so I think the black and brass give it a nice industrial feel.

Same we’ve mixed black radiator and screen and brass tapware which I actually prefer over all brass. So far it’s wearing really well, 8 months post install.

I think a mix of black an brass would look good, but OP lives in very hard water area so black is definitely not a good idea for her

We have brushed brass in one of our bathrooms and we didn't particularly worry about having the finish exactly the same everywhere. Unless they're directly next to each other eg tap and plug, I genuinely don't think it's noticeable.

One thing we did, living in a very hard water area, is have a water softener installed. It was about £750 including fitting and it is bliss not needing to scrub limescale. Would recommend.

@minipie

Not all brushed brass is a surface finish.

True but the solid brass in brushed finish tends to be jolly expensive! (that I’ve seen). And will need to have some kind of lacquer on top to keep it from tarnishing, so still a surface finish of sorts.

No lacquer, just polish it.

@Reallybadidea sorry to awaken an old thread, but could I ask what makes you used for your brushed brass fixtures? I've decided on crosswater for taps and shower head but stuck on a shower enclosure as the crosswater is far too £££££ for my budget! Thanks!

Hi, our shower panels are Nuie ones. The support bars are good, not overly keen on the side bracket covers (not sure how else to describe them) but I wanted reeded glass and these were a good price.

@Reallybadidea thanks for replying. From the sounds of it you have panels for a walk in shower. I'm looking for fully enclosed, which unfortunately does then mean more frame to the shower in terms of colour obviously not matching. Bathroom shopping design is hard!

Can I ask what everyone uses to clean their brushed brass please? I'm nervous to use most cleaning products on it!