You know that place around your house that you’ve ignored for years?  That one room or corner that fills you with dread every time you look it, and yet you still never do anything about it?  For us it’s the south side of the house; never landscaped, overrun with weeds and a stockpile for all the the things we don’t have a place for in the yard.  It’s our outdoor junk drawer.  When I started referring to it as the ghetto, I knew it was high time we did something about it — 11 years after moving in.  

Last year I got all motivated to fix it up and began sketching some fence designs.  For awhile I was fixated on a lotus flower design, but came to realize it might be a little over the top for our old Cape Cod style house.  Plus, this fence  would divide our house and our neighbors’ along a narrow corridor only 12 feet wide.  Since the neighbors would have the best view of the fence, I was a little concerned it might be over the top for them, too.  Suppose they didn’t like it and planted some tall shrubs to cover up the design we worked to hard to create and wanted to show off to potential clients?  So my design process was put on hold.  Mostly because I needed to spend time on jobs that pay.  The cobbler’s kids never have shoes, and I was beginning to think we’d never have a cool metal fence to call our own. 

But recently I went back to my sketchpad and created a simple design I really liked.  Simpler than I would have ever imagined.  Dave ran with it before I could change my mind again and he gained momentum fabricating it this week.  We now have two panels installed and I’m eager to show the progress:

Two out of five metal fence panels installed.

This next photo shows the view passersby get from the sidewalk.

We will let the fence weather for a year to get a solid coat of  rust.  Then we’ll coat it with linseed oil to add richness & depth of color, and to protect the metal.  To maintain a fence like this we’ll try to add a new coat of linseed oil yearly.  Stay tuned for more work in progress and, hopefully soon, a finished fence. 

So, anyone out there want a lotus fence?

Here are three side tables we recently completed. The basic design is simple and sleek:  curved tube legs, glass top and textured powder coat. We created three versions– a single tabletop, another with 2-tier shelving, and an artistic version with a flower motif. We had fun experimenting with new powder coat styles to test what appeals to people.  The durable 2-layer finish makes these tables robust enough to be used outdoors on the deck or patio.  How’s that for classy entertaining!

 Simple accessory table with silver vein powder coat.

Two-shelf accessory table with bronze hammertone powdercoat.

Artistic accessory table with flower motif & grey hammertone powder coat.

We look forward to experimenting with different table top materials — tile, slate, art glass….. Any other ideas? If you are interested in any of these tables or something similar, please contact us for pricing and availability .