New technologies, better home finishes
| The popularity of some finishes — paint colors, for example — simply depends on the cyclical comings and goings of fashion. Color fads are largely created by the industries involved, although clever marketing makes it seem like consumers are driving the demand. And since the prior color fad must be portrayed as unappealingly dated before the “new” colors can perk up sales again, successive color trends are intentionally extreme, running from pastels to primaries to whites to deep saturated tones, the better to differentiate what’s hip from what’s hopelessly passé. |  |
New technologies bring other types of finishes to the fore. In the mid-19th century, for instance, raw brass, which tarnished to a clove-brown color if it wasn’t kept polished, was the usual material for hardware and plumbing fittings. In the late 1880s, though, the introduction of nickel-plated fittings quickly made tarnished brass obsolete. Despite nickel’s propensity to wear through to the metal underneath, it remained popular until the arrival of more durable chromium-plated finishes around 1930.
Chrome has had an exceptionally long popular run because of its ease of maintenance. Still, when earth-toned colors were being pushed during the 1970s, brass came back for an encore. This time, though, a clear lacquer coating was used in an attempt to keep it permanently shiny. Eventually, in their never-ending pursuit for fresh offerings, manufacturers also came up with artificially patinated finishes — brushed brass, antique brass, and the like — that tried to mimic the warmth of natural patination.
