I recently redid my bedroom and wanted an updated coastal glam vibe, but was limited to using my antique maple furniture with brass accents. I had seen many pictures using mercury glass lamps but I was afraid they would be too silver for my area. However, I gave these a try and they worked out great and are so beautiful! They initially look mostly silver, and the hardware is a brushed silver, but the mercury glass effect on them has a gold-ish undertone, and the raised design on the glass gives them texture. In short, if you want them to be silver, they will be. If you want them to work with gold, they will! Very versatile and expensive looking, and an amazing deal for the price you pay you get two! The shades that came with them are perfect for me as they are kind of an oatmeal color so that helped blend with the warm tones in my room but you could easily change them out. The bases have good weight to them and they feel very quality built and came packaged EXTREMELY well. I was skeptical at first but now they top the list of one of my favorite amazon purchases.