Pumping Iron

These pieces of wrought iron were originally balcony railings! 

We were living in our old house at the time, and loved how they would look on our slate patio.  So we decided we to them into an outdoor table & buffet.  Mike removed the bottom bars off all three pieces, and then bolted two of the frames together to form the table.  The other frame we left single- to be the buffet.   

The big question was: What were we going to use for the tops? 
Mike's father came up with the idea of  concrete.  We figured these would hold up well outside, and they did!  Mike & his dad built molds & poured the concrete.  Everything turned out really nice!
  

Hard to see with the chairs in there!



The buffet in the background

One thing we didn't plan on was how we were going to move them (we weren't thinking that far ahead!)

They were HEAVY.  I mean HEAVY...

As in five strong men, a hand-truck & a dolly couldn't get them onto the moving truck!

Mike's brother had the quote of the day with "Only my brother would be trying to move cement!  And why do I have a feeling that my dad had something to do with this?" 

Needless to say, the table tops didn't make the move!

Let me pause here to say- we owe our friends & family BIG TIME for helping us with the move!  We had a seemingly endless amount of furniture & boxes... plus a baby grand piano... and in the pouring rain!


SO grateful for these guys! 
(Plus my brother- don't know where he went off to during the photo op!)

Now back to the yard furniture.

So, here we are left figuring out what to top them with... again. 

I'm hesitant to do another round of cement. 
Not that we're planning to move anytime soon- but I would like the option of moving it around to different spots in the yard without hiring an elephant!



I've considered glass, but worry about safety with the kiddos.  Perhaps we'll wait until we're selecting the stone for our new kitchen counters & see if we can get a deal for ordering it all together.  I love a good deal!
Any ideas are welcome!  Just keep in mind that it needs to be all-season (or at least able to be left outdoors for the spring & summer).



Before

After

In the meantime, as much as I liked the patina that was developing, I wanted a more crisp & clean look.  

Being topless (ahem- the tables) gave me the opportunity to re-painted the iron. 
I also touched up all of our other wrought iron yard furniture, while I had the black spray paint out.



So, another project stands half-complete.

I have dreams of hosting lawn parties (or more likely kids' parties) and creating brightly colored table skirts to go behind the iron.  Party planning- my second passion!