Bringing metal home

Suzanna Elliott, owner of House of Iron, stands beneath a gazebo made at her shop. Each of the pieces were individually handmade. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Bringing metal home

Lodi designers and homeowners are turning to metal for style, from toilet paper holders to huge gates

By Lauren Nelson
Lodi living editor

Friday, February 15, 2008 9:42 PM PST

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A black metal chandelier hangs from the kitchen ceiling, centered above a thick rustic table resembling something from a king's court.

Wine bottles sit in rusted metal decanters and are corked with spikes of iron.

Blood-red and amber-colored candles stand out from their bulky and rusty, almost-gothic cast iron candelabras.

The fixtures of Charise Deschamp's Lodi home are pieces of an old world haven, a medieval collage. Metal mounts. A cast iron paper towel holder. Thick picture frames. Wrought iron vase holders. A metal shower curtain bar. And metal latches and knobs on her cupboards. Each piece varies, and that's the beauty of it.

"I don't like perfect things," she said. "I like things that have more character than something that has been manufactured."

But it's not just Deschamps, a mother and welder in Lodi, who loves the history and uniqueness behind wrought iron and metal work. Throughout Lodi, people are filling their homes with a few pieces of hand-forged metal or going all out by decorating with garden gazebos, wrought iron bed frames and dining sets. Whether it's a set of gates or simple hook for keys, people are rejecting the plain and the ultra frilly and adopting a new look of age that enthusiasts say goes with any style.

Suzanna Elliott, the owner of House of Iron talks about the process of iron works. Some pieces start as tables and end up as pot racks for the kitchens. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

House of Iron on Locust Street is a large country-style house with a big porch and lush plants everywhere. It used to be home to owner Suzanna Elliot, but now it is a collection of forged metal. Candelabras are everywhere, but each is unique. Solid tables fuse wood and metal. There are statues, shelves and a chunky pieces of furniture. Though iron catches your eye at every turn, there are traces of what it was like when Elliot lived there. Hanging perfectly over the vintage stove is a wrought iron pot rack that was first a table, and then an elaborate fixture over a bed. Twenty-pound sconces hang on walls. Chunky chandeliers with handmade chains hang in various rooms, between cherubs and European-inspired portraits of the Virgin Mary.

While the old world style is popular today, the use of metal is nothing new.

"I think iron has always been," said Elliot, who grew up watching her father remove perfect iron railings from older homes. "Look at any home and you'll see it's always been there."

The use of wrought iron dates back to the Egyptians, who used metal tools and farming equipment. But the style that is most replicated now comes from Medieval Times and early Greek influences.

While the pieces are often bulky, covered in rust and perfectly matched with deep colors, decorative iron now pairs with any style.

While a lot of the metal goes with pottery and wood, Elliot says it's all people who buy things in her store, and they often can't help but return for more. One customer bought a metal toilet paper holder and ended up covering her entire home in metal — from balconies and staircase railings to a bar of pounded tin.

In Downtown Lodi, Chrisi Morris sells wrought iron candle holders, fireplace screens and even mannequins at her interior accents store, Mon Petit Chic.

"(Wrought iron) pieces provide a nice basic vintage look. They can work with different colors," Morris said.

Want to learn the art of iron?

Suzanna Elliot, House of Iron owner, says the first tep to metal work is making sure you really have a pssion for it.
"It takes a special type of person," she said. "You havae to love what you do."
To learn the basics of metal, the best thing to do is be an understudy to an experienced craftsman.

In her store, door crowns made out of hammered tin are popular because they are light-weight, and "they won't kill you if they fall."

Morris says metal works with a home that is modern, French, country or anything else. The look can also be changed with the seasons, as many of her customers do.

In the fall, she says more people like dark rust colors. In spring, the weathered, off-white look is popular.

Deschamp, who owns her Lodi metal-working company, Accents by Bella, says metal can have a rusty look or be painted any color.

Though metal has been used for centuries, metal workers and interior designers are findng more uses for metal in homes. Walk through wrought iron gates at restaurants. Roll your toilet paper from metallic holders. And set your toothbrush in a rusted, yet charming holder.

Want to learn the art of iron?

Suzanna Elliot, House of Iron owner, says the first step to metal work is making sure you really have a passion for it.

"It takes a special type of person," she said. "You have to love what you do."

To learn the basics of metal, the best thing to is to be an understudy to an experienced craftsman.

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