When I was in the fourth grade, Crayola held a contest to name 16 new crayon colors that were to be unveiled in their new 64-crayon box.  I remember one of the crayons was a distinct orangey-yellow, and I thought I was pretty clever when I came up with “School Bus.”  My mom helped me fill out the form and submit my contest entry — then all that was left to do was wait.  So everyday I waited with anticipation, with hope, dreaming that my color would be picked and I would go down in history as the most famous kid in my elementary school… only to find out months later that Jason Riggs, age 6, had won with the name “Macaroni and Cheese.”  My glorious color name had been beaten by a kid 4 years younger than me.  I remember the day I first saw that crayon in the box with the wrong name, and it may possibly be one of the saddest moments of my entire childhood…

Sometimes I wonder, what happened to Jason Riggs?  Did he land a high-paying job at a nail polish company coming up with names like “Maneater” or “Frostbite” or “Oil Slick”?  Or maybe he’s the guy who dreams up all the different finish names for our lighting products?...

For instance, I took a quick look at LightingUniverse.com and challenged myself to find as many different bronze finishes as I could. In just 5 minutes I came up with Warm Bronze, Antique Bronze, Colton Bronze™ (yes, it’s actually trademarked), Weathered Bronze, Royal Bronze, Oiled Burnished Bronze, Antique Dorian Bronze, Venetian Bronze, Forged Bronze, English Bronze, Imperial Bronze, Aged Bronze, Painted Bronze, Vintage Bronze, Oil Rubbed Bronze, and Corinthian Bronze — that’s 16 different names for various shades of bronze, and I’ve just gotten started!

And as you can see, each shade of bronze is actually quite different. If we called the finishes all simply “Bronze” you’d expect the colors to be close to uniform. But just like you wouldn't grab a Goldenrod crayon to color in a picture of a School Bus (yes, Jason Riggs, I bet even you'd use the Macaroni and Cheese crayon for that...) Venetian Bronze can be a completely different shade from Vintage Bronze.

So when choosing fixtures for your home, pay close attention to the actual color of the product to make sure that it will fit with the rest of your décor. If your existing fixtures are bronze, take a closer look at which shade of bronze they are so that you don't end up choosing a product with a conflicting finish.  The names of the finishes are intentionally different because there are slight variations amongst them.  Most manufacturers have their own Jason Riggs on staff to name the colors, so one manufacturer's "Antique Bronze" may look just like another's "English Bronze," or they may both have an "Antique Bronze" that look quite different.  There's no standard when it comes to naming colors. As Jason and I both know, color is all about interpretation...