Yes, and it is a common Kirkland request. We can match a railing to existing brass or bronze door hardware, fixtures, and fittings. Because we fabricate brass alongside glass, cable, and steel, we can also combine metals in one railing or match a new brass stair to glass or cable elsewhere in the home, so the whole house reads as one design.

Yes, and bronze is ideal, especially near Lake Washington. Outdoors it weathers to a protective patina rather than corroding, and for exterior railings near the water we use silicon bronze, the marine-grade alloy used in boat fittings, so the lakeside moisture is no concern. Polished brass can go outside but patinas faster, so we usually steer exterior work toward bronze.

Brass develops a patina as it reacts with air. To keep a railing bright, we lacquer it, and upkeep is just occasional dusting. To let it age, we leave it unlacquered and you control the patina with an occasional polish. A living-finish bronze is meant to age and needs essentially no maintenance, which suits a lakeside home that gets a lot of use.

Both are warm copper alloys with different character. Brass, copper and zinc, is brighter and golden and takes a high polish, ideal for interior railings. Bronze, copper and tin, is warmer and browner and weathers to a stable patina, the traditional outdoor choice. In Kirkland we tend to use brass to warm interiors and silicon bronze for exterior work near the lake, and we will recommend the right one.