Austin Outdoor Studio, Austin's Finest Welding and Fab Shop

Killer Gates by Austin Outdoor Studio

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 02:05:14 +0000

One of these days Austin Outdoor Studio might get the opportunity to build a simple picket gate, but to date we still haven’t had the chance. Maybe we just love the idea of pulling off one of a kind gates. Here’s what we worked on this spring. The first pair of gates is for an excellent customer of ours. We had the luxury of doing their steel landscaping on the front part of their property last spring . The property was recently featured on the Lady Bird Johnson “Garden’s on Tour” . Here’s a link to an Austin Blogger who did a feature on the property. I am sure you’ll enjoy seeing the property.

The second is a pair of gates we build for a local Austin couple who wanted something unique to access their backyard. We designed and built this pair of gates. The gates are painted steel and ipe. They utilize our custom stainless self latching hardware. They turned out great.

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Happy belated Birthday Austin Outdoor Studio!!

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:51:54 +0000

I can’t believe it. From our humble beginnings working out of my 1 car garage, we have made it to the 2 year mark. It all goes by so fast. We celebrated our anniversary by completely forgetting about it. Actually we were in the middle of moving our shop. We expanded our shop about a 2 months ago and took on the space next door to us. This allowed us to dedicate 1600 sq ft to the CNC plasma table, material storage and general breathing room. We now have a 3200 sq ft shop, 4 full time employees and the shop has really found it’s groove. We’ve got some really cool projects coming up in the mix and I can wait to share them with you once they are a little more formalized. I’d like to take this time to say Thank You! for helping me make this business a success. As always, I am looking forward to the future. Thanks Austin!

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The Great Wall of….

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:25:36 +0000

We recently worked with San Isidro Sustainable Designs, to build a 150′ long, 2′ tall retaining wall. We also built a several sections of a steel slat fence and a couple of gates for them. They are still finishing up the planting and landscaping, but I thought I’d posts some pics.

Local Spoken Here

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:09:16 +0000

That’s right, we are a Austin bred family run business. We recently joined the Austin Business Alliance. You have probably seen their signs and stickers up and around town. This organization supports the growth, networking and livelihood of local business. Here’s the spiel from there website.

“Austin Independent Business Alliance is a nonprofit organization of locally owned and operated independent businesses that have joined together to promote the cultural and economic benefits of shopping locally. AIBA works to ensure the success of Austin’s local independent businesses so that we can continue to contribute to Austin’s rich character and vibrant quality of life. By preserving what is unique about our city, we can avoid becoming “Anywhere, USA. Buy local whenever possible. Every time you spend a dollar at local, independent businesses you not only impact the cultural vitality of our community, but you also help build a stronger local economy.”

Bowling Alley Table on Design Sponge!

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:30:12 +0000

Check out this table we put together for a good friend of ours. He has a full write up on is blog about the entire build. He submitted the table to Design Sponge and we were lucky enough to get featured. You can read about the table at Ryan’s blog www.inspiredaustin.com

Here are some pics courtesy of Ryan,

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Our Fab Shop this week

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:17:08 +0000

Here’s a couple random shots from in and around our shop this week. We are working on some “Heavy Metal” tables, bar stools, and steel countertop with a Rock N Roll theme for Music Labs. We are also building a seriously cool table base out of hot rolled steel. Enjoy the pics…

Catching up…..

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 19:59:52 +0000

Austin Outdoor Studio has been busy this year ramping up our business and completing some pretty cool projects. Over the last few months we have added a couple new employees that have really strengthened our skill sets and our depth of fabrication knowledge.
We hired Cliff McDonald about 4 months ago who is an exceptional welder and fabricator. He has 10 years experience in the welding business working for both small and large companies. He truly loves what he does and is really enjoying working in a creative shop. He is our lead welder and certainly is a huge addition to our shop.

Just this month we added Jim Mathias to our crew. Jim has an Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of Kansas and has been working creatively in sign and fabrication shops for the last 8 years. His experience in installation and fabrication with all mediums from stainless, copper, aluminum, wood and of course steel has really strengthened our shop. He now runs our CNC plasma Cutter, assists with design as well as fabrication.

A few of the projects we have been working on.

The Kung Fu Saloon on Rio Grande.

We worked directly with the bar owners and Architect Jamie Chioco of www.Chiocodesign.com to build this one of a kind bar. The bar consists of a 25′x20′ oval bar built entirely out of 1/4″ thick hot rolled steel. We cut the 7 sheets of steel on our plasma cutter and welded them together onsite.

The marquee out front was built completely out of 2″ pipe and continues through the entrance and into the bar. We used about a half mile of tubing on this project.

We also build the 4 steel doors, gate out front as well as the Steel I-beams located on the patio.

Hot Rolled Steel and Ipe Fireplace

This has to be one of my favorite pieces to date. This fireplace sits between the kitchen and the family room. The kitchen side of the fireplace is completely trimmed out with Hot Rolled Steel. We were able to perform this installation without any fasteners visible from the outside. The fireplace seamlessly transitions into the living room where the fireplace is covered floor to ceiling in Ipe. We built a 1/2″ thick mantle and hearth that simple float off the wall. I wish the pictures did this place justice.

Planters Planters Planters…and a sign

admin — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:22:24 +0000

Austin Outdoor Studio sure has been busy building planter after planter. We were hired by Yard House Restaurant to build 21 large Corten steel planters troughs for their new Houston location. They used the planters to line the edge of their outdoor patio. I think all in all it was about 10,000 lbs of steel. I can’t wait to get some pictures after they have been planted and the steel patinas.
I also added a couple other shots of some jobs we completed this week. The sign was cut on my CNC plasma machine and is for a good friend of mine’s new Yoga Studio, “Sacred Streams”

From Drop Box

I’ve been waiting for this one!!

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:20:51 +0000

Sometimes there are projects that get off to a bad start and are plagued from then on. No matter what you do, no matter how careful you are, things just don’t go right. Well this gate has been that way. It started with the first few cuts and drawing that was read wrong. After ordering more steel and building a beautiful gate, we sent it off to get powder coated. On the way back from picking up the gate a strap on the trailer broke and scratched up the paint. So we sandblasted the gate, re-prepped it for paint. Sent if off again, only to have some weird blistering pop up with the paint. I won’t get into the rest of the issues but, this gate took way longer than it should have and I have to say “thanks” to the client for his patience. In the end, the gate turned out beautiful. Enjoy the pics!

From Drop Box

Here’s a few shots of a little landscaping job we did. The homeowners did a great job of all the stone work and we just added a small touch of steel to tie it all together.

From Drop Box

Hot off the Press

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:19:48 +0000

It’s been a while since I have actually written on my blog. I have been letting the pictures speak for us. Things have been quite busy for our little shop in South Austin. We have been fortunate for the work and are very grateful for the customers that keep coming back. We are continually amazed at the cool projects our customers let us do in their homes.
With the addition of our cnc plasma cutter, our capabilities have greatly expanded. You’ll be seeing a lot of really cool products to be launched real soon.

From Drop Box