A composed residence is composed for its second decade as much as for its first. The material decisions that flatter the photograph at the time of completion are not always the decisions that flatter the room across the long life of its use. The materials that age gracefully are a relatively short list. And they are the materials of the historically considered interior.
The discipline of patina
Patina is the visible record of a material's use. It is the darkening of oiled walnut across a decade, the soft sheen that leather acquires from contact, the warm tarnish of unlacquered brass, the slow stoning-down of a stone floor at the threshold. A material that develops patina improves; a material that does not develop patina simply wears.
The contemporary residence has been, for a generation, biased toward materials that do not develop patina. Finishes that protect against use, sealants that lock surfaces against contact, plastics and laminates and powder coatings that present an unchanging face across their working life. These materials photograph well at delivery and fail to improve across occupancy.
The materials of the long-lived residence are the opposite. They are specified to be used, to be marked, to be cared for and darkened and softened by the years.
“A material that develops patina improves. A material that does not develop patina simply wears.”
Wood. The slow darkening
Solid hardwood, oiled rather than lacquered, is the material that most rewards the long horizon. Walnut, oak, mahogany, and cherry deepen across decades into the chocolate, amber, and bronze tones that the catalogue photograph cannot reproduce. The same woods, finished in modern conversion-varnish or polyurethane, remain frozen at the colour they leave the shop. The protective film locks the wood against the air and the light that would otherwise transform it.
Specify hardwood floors, cabinetry, table tops, and millwork in solid construction with a penetrating oil finish. Tung oil, hard-wax oil, or a traditional shellac or French polish for furniture-quality surfaces. Refinish under the manufacturer's schedule (a residential oil-finished floor is recoated, not stripped, every five to ten years; the recoating is invisible).
Avoid engineered hardwood with a factory aluminium-oxide finish for any room that aspires to a long horizon. The factory finish is durable; it is also a permanent barrier between the wood and the residence. The floor that results cannot be refinished and cannot develop patina; it simply wears until it is replaced.
Leather. The patina of contact
Full-grain vegetable-tanned leather, in tobacco, oxblood, chocolate, or saddle, is the upholstery material of the long-lived residence. A serious leather club chair improves for the first twenty years of its life and remains beautiful for fifty. The surface darkens and softens at the points of contact; the back of the chair retains its original tone; the contrast becomes the chair's character.
Avoid corrected-grain leathers (the surface is sanded and a synthetic finish is sprayed over the natural grain), bonded leathers (essentially leather-particle composites), and the cheaper protected leathers (a polyurethane finish that cracks within a decade). All of these materials are sold as leather; none of them age as leather does.
Care is minimal. A leather cream from a serious supplier, applied twice yearly with a clean cloth, supplies the oils that contact and light remove. Conditioning more frequently than this is unnecessary; conditioning with the wrong products (silicone-based protectants, household furniture polishes) is actively harmful.
Stone. The long erosion
Stone, limestone, marble, travertine, slate, ages by the slowest erosion. A limestone floor at the entry of a long-lived residence carries the visible wear of a century of passage at the threshold and remains structurally indistinguishable from the day it was set. The wear is the floor's record; it is the floor's character.
Specify stone in honed or unfilled finish for floors and counters in active use. Polished finishes are appropriate for vertical surfaces (a marble fireplace surround, a polished marble wall) and inappropriate for horizontal ones in use; the polish scratches and dulls and reads, after five years, as a damaged finish rather than a developing one.
Avoid epoxy fillers in travertine, resin enhancements in marble, and the various contemporary sealants that promise a permanent finish on stone. The finish is impermanent and conceals the natural surface during its working life. Allow the stone to age as stone ages.
“The wear is the floor's record. The wear is the floor's character.”
Metal. The considered tarnish
Unlacquered brass, oil-rubbed bronze, hot-blackened steel, and patinated copper are the metals of the long-lived residence. Each develops a surface that the residence's use creates and refines. The soft brass tarnish of door hardware, the deep bronze patina of a stair rail, the blackened steel that softens around hands.
Lacquered brass, the standard residential hardware of the last fifty years, is the catastrophic alternative. The lacquer wears unevenly within a decade, the brass beneath tarnishes only in the worn areas, and the hardware becomes spotty and unrecoverable. Strip the lacquer at installation, or specify unlacquered hardware from the outset.
Stainless steel is correct in kitchens and in certain mechanical applications; it is wrong as architectural hardware. It does not age; it does not develop character; it reads, in fifty years, exactly as it reads in its first week. Specify it where its industrial character is appropriate and avoid it elsewhere.
Textiles. The materials that soften
Linen, wool, cotton, and hemp, natural fibre, undyed or vegetable-dyed, in heavyweight constructions, soften across years of use and washing. The drape improves, the texture deepens, the fabric becomes more itself across its working life.
Synthetic fibres, polyester, acrylic, the various technical blends, do not soften. They simply wear: the surface pills, the colour fades unevenly, the structure breaks down and becomes unrecoverable. Reserve synthetics for outdoor and high-wear applications where their performance characteristics are required; specify natural fibres for the residence's interior textiles.
Wool rugs, hand-knotted, vegetable-dyed, of credible provenance, age into the residence's most valuable visible decoration. A serious Persian, Caucasian, or Anatolian rug, properly cared for, improves across a century and is among the residence's most consequential long-horizon investments.
The maintenance horizon
Materials that age gracefully ask for maintenance. The maintenance is not large in any single instance, an oiling of the floor, a conditioning of the leather, a re-honing of the stone counter, but it is regular, and it is the residence's slow conversation with its own composition.
Plan the maintenance into the residence's calendar. The oil-finished floor at five years; the leather conditioning twice yearly; the stone seal at three; the brass left to its own development; the wool rug rotated at the change of seasons and professionally cleaned every fifth year. These are the residence's small disciplines, and they are the price of the patina.
A note on the long view
The materials that age gracefully are the materials that have always composed the long-lived residence. The contemporary detour into finishes and laminates and protected surfaces has produced residences that disappoint at their second decade; the return to the historical material palette is producing residences that improve across them.
Our House specifies its pieces in materials that are intended to age. Write to support@hevoran.com for material samples and finish references.
Hevoran Editorial is the in-house editorial desk of the House. A small group of designers, collectors, and writers who compose the rooms we make and the writing we publish.