Custom Metal Furniture in Marietta
National Iron Works is a family-owned Marietta shop that builds custom ironwork in-house. Welds and installation carry a 5-year warranty (powder coating not covered; not transferable).
- Family-owned and operated
- General liability insured
- 5-year warranty on all welds and installation
- Free estimates
Matching New Furniture to Ironwork You Already Have
A good match comes down to a handful of details. Most people only notice the overall look, but these are the things that make it work:
- Bar shape and size. Square bar and round bar look very different up close. A thick 3/4-inch picket next to a skinny 1/2-inch chair leg will look off, even when both are black.
- Spacing and rhythm. If your railing has pickets spaced evenly with a scroll every few feet, a bench back can use the same pattern.
- Decorative pieces. Scrolls, twists, collars, baskets, and finials are the parts people remember. Repeating even one of them ties the pieces together.
- Finish color and sheen. Gloss black, satin black, and textured black are three different looks. Bronze and other colors have the same issue.
- Heights and lines. A table or bench top that lines up with a rail cap or a fence line looks planned, not added later.
Color is where a lot of people get surprised. Ironwork that’s been outside for years has faded and weathered, and it may have been touched up more than once. A brand-new finish in the “same” color can look darker or shinier sitting right next to it. You’ve got two good options. You can refinish the old ironwork at the same time so everything starts fresh, or you can pick a color that goes with the old finish on purpose instead of trying to copy it exactly. Both can look great. Trying to match a faded color perfectly is usually the one that disappoints.
Choosing Materials and Finish for Indoor or Outdoor Use
Where the piece will sit matters more than almost anything else. A table that lives in your dining room and a bench that sits on an open patio need different metals and different finishes. Pick the right one for the spot, and the furniture looks good for years. Pick the wrong one, and you’ll be chasing rust spots by the second summer.
Marietta summers are hot and sticky, and we get plenty of rain through the year. That damp air is hard on bare steel left outside. For an outdoor piece, the finish isn’t just about looks. It’s the main thing standing between the metal and rust.
For outdoor steel, powder coating is a popular choice. It’s a dry paint that gets baked on, so it’s tougher than a brushed-on coat. Ask any fabricator you talk to which finish they’d suggest for your exact spot, and why.
Custom furniture is part of our ornamental ironwork.
How the Custom Fabrication Process Works, Start to Finish
Most custom metal work follows the same basic path:
- Talk it through. You share what you want, where it’ll go, and any photos of ironwork you’d like it to match. Rough ideas are fine. A picture of a bench you liked online is a great starting point.
- Measure the space. Someone looks at the actual spot. That’s how you find out the patio slopes a little, or that the doorway is too narrow for a one-piece table. Things like that are easy to miss in photos.
- Settle the design. You agree on size, shape, bar style, decorative details, metal, and finish. This is the moment to speak up. A change on paper is easy. A change after the steel is welded is not.
- Build it. The metal is cut, bent, shaped, and welded into the frame. Scrolls and twists take more hands-on time than straight bars.
- Finish it. The piece gets cleaned and coated with whatever finish you picked for indoor or outdoor use.
- Deliver and set it in place. Heavy steel pieces get placed carefully and leveled. Some are anchored if they need to stay put.
National Iron Works is a family-owned and operated shop. Matt handles calls, estimates, and scheduling, and his father oversees the fabrication. You won’t get passed around. We’re also general liability insured, and our on-site estimates are free. That means you can get the space measured and talk through your idea before you commit to anything.
Need help with Custom Metal Furniture?
Call for a free estimate. National Iron Works is ready to help. (770) 309-6681
Frequently Asked Questions
Can mobile fabrication work on-site in Marietta, or do pieces have to be built in a shop?
Custom metal furniture is best built in a shop, not on-site. Cutting, bending, welding, and finishing all need stable equipment and ventilation that a shop provides. On-site work usually comes in during the final delivery step, when the piece is set in place and leveled, and anchored if needed. That’s different from mobile welding repairs, which can often happen right at your home.
Do you only build furniture, or can you also fix ironwork that's already failing?
Fixing existing ironwork is a separate job from building new furniture, but both can be handled together. If a railing has a loose section or a broken weld, that gets addressed as welding repair or railing repair. It often makes sense to tackle both at the same visit, so your old ironwork and new furniture match and hold up side by side.
When does store-bought furniture make more sense than custom?
When you need it this weekend, when a standard size fits fine, or when there’s no railing, gate, or fence to match. Custom is worth a look if the piece has to fit a strange space, match ironwork you already have, or hold up outside for many years. Plenty of people buy ready-made chairs and go custom only on the piece that really needs to fit.
What drives the cost of a custom metal piece?
There’s no standard price for custom furniture because every piece is different. The price moves with size and how much metal it takes, the type of metal, the finish, and how much hand-shaped detail it has, like scrolls, twists, and finials. Two benches the same size can be priced very differently if one has straight bars and the other has hand-bent scrolls.