Odds are that if you have any home decor aficionados in your life, you are well acquainted with the HGTV television show “Fixer Upper.” If you’re not familiar, the show hosts, Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate Texas homes for Waco families. Their style and design has become a massive influencer in home decor trends and furniture stores across the country. They’ve skyrocketed local Waco, TX artisans to success and fame by showcasing their skills on TV.
If you’re a welder who’s interested in contract work or creating furniture and home decor as a side business, you’d do well to pay attention to and keep up with these trends. Not everyone lives in Waco, but many want to recreate the fixer upper look in their own, local homes. The Fixer Upper style often includes rustic, vintage looking metal pieces and by paying attention to Chip and Joanna’s style, you may find yourself with more work than you know what to do with.
Take a look at this list of 6 welding project ideas inspired by HGTV’s Fixer Upper, and consider what these trends could do for your hobby or full time welding business.
Stair Rail Welding Project
To create that Fixer Upper style in their home’s architecture, some homeowners may be loko for custom welded stair rails and banisters. Popular styles currently range from wrought iron, to modern tube and cable and can be created for interior stairs and exterior deck work. This project requires basic welding tools and precision measuring, and it’s not a bad idea to practice on the front porch or stairwells of your own home.
Cut Metal Art Welding Project
If you have access to a plasma cutter, you can create custom metal art to display in local shops or for online retail sales. Chip and Joanna regularly leave homeowners with custom metal signs, which are rapidly growing in popularity.
The sky’s the limit with this project idea and you can create pieces with popular quotes, family names, layered art or house address numbers. Once you’ve honed your skills with this method, make local businesses aware of your services for interior and exterior signage.
Industrial Shelving Welding Project
Industrial shelving is popular across decorating styles and often mixes welded metal bases with rustic, reclaimed wood shelving and tabletops. To create the base for your shelving use industrial metal pipe and joints set up for freestanding or wall hanging applications in the home.
Rustic Metal Light Fixtures Welding Project
If you’re comfortable creating light fixtures or pendants, this could easily become a lucrative welding project idea. There are dozens of applications and ideas, but you could start by creating a pendant by creating a sphere from metal stips welded in offset circles. (See the picture above reference.)
Metal Wall Planters Welding Project
This is a simple welding project to cut your teeth on and simple flowers and greenery mixed with rustic metal planters is a perfect example of the “fixer upper” style. You can create planters as flower boxes or wall mounted circles. To weld the latter, cut 3 pieces: a circle, a half circle of the same dimensions and a 1-2” metal strip of the circumference of your full circle.
To assemble, weld your metal strip at a 90 degree angle to your full circle, it should run the full length of it. Then attach your half circle to the front of your newly created base and add a hanger to the back. It’s a good idea to grind down any sharp edges and create these in a few sizes for dimension.
Welded Metal Mug Rack Welding Project
An easy, functional, fixer-upper style project is a welded metal mug rack. This can be created for both countertop or wall-hanging installations and made from simple metal tubing. Start by creating a rectangle base and adding strips across with prongs for hanging mugs or even home decor.
Save on Welding Supplies Today
Now that we’ve planted a few ideas in your mind, head over to Baker’s Gas and Welding. We have the safety gear, equipment and plasma cutters you’ll need to create your own metal farmhouse home decor. With exceptional deals on Lincoln machines and our as always free shipping for orders over $50, you’ll find the professional grade equipment you’re looking for at prices you’ll appreciate.