Form & Function: Metal Furniture and Fixtures

When a family from the Heritage Hill area of Grand Rapids, Michigan was having landscape work done in their yard, they decided it was time to better showcase an antique gate that opened into the backyard. The gate sat between two sections of wire fence, but it deserved better. It needed fence panels that matched its design and craftsmanship, so I crafted two panels that borrowed the gate’s most important motifs. I artificially aged the steel to create a greater sense of continuity between the antique and its new neighbors, and the colors will only grow closer with some time.

This metal gate, which was made for a home near Grand Rapids, works well in a relatively small space. It has become an essential part of this side-yard garden. The multi-textured steel complements the garden’s many shades of green and frames the planting in a way that never gets boring.

Steel the show. This planter is a show stealer.

Garden designers sometimes say that 70 percent of the plants in a garden should offer strong structural interest. The other 30 percent offer mainly color. They might look, for example, for plants that have interesting seed heads that stay upright throughout winter.  Here is an element in a planting that has great structure that stands strong all year long. And it has great color!