We’ve been hard at work turning our backyard into someplace we actually like to spend time. Our little oasis, if you will, and every oasis needs water. We had “some sort of water feature” on our wish list from the start, but it took a while to settle on the right kind for us.
Our criteria (in addition to ‘makes lovely trickling noise’ which seems to obvious to list): (1) Doesn’t take up much space. (2) Out of toddler reach. (3) Cost no more than $100.
One day Hubby and I happened to have a conversation about rain chains. If you aren’t familiar, they’re basically alternative downspouts; they direct water from your gutter to the ground through a series of decorative elements (e.g., flower shaped vessels, copper loops). Like this:
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Hubby came to appreciate rain chains while living in Japan where they are very common. We debated installing one out front, but then — ding! — light bulb moment: a rain chain could work for our backyard oasis. Of course we’d want to enjoy it when the sun is shining, which sort of flies in the face of rain chain convention. You know, rain being right in the name and all. But we are rebels here. Forget the downspout, what if we turn a rain chain into a fountain?
What if? Let’s revisit our criteria. Keep in mind that through the magic of the internet, I’m writing this after our fountain has been installed for a while, so I don’t have to guess.
(1) Doesn’t take up much space: Check! The base of the fountain is only about one square foot, and we have a sliver of otherwise useless space–maybe 1.5′ x 3′– between the porch and fence that easily accommodates it.
In fact, the fountain makes sense of this oddball space by making use of it in the only (attractive) way we could think of.
(2) Out of toddler reach: Semi-check. The girls can get back to the bottom of the fountain if they climb in the planter bed, but they know they aren’t allowed and so far they don’t. Much. I’m sure it helps that they have a more interesting place of their own to splash. (More on that soon.) They can reach the chain itself through the porch rails, but that’s fine. We’ve taught them not to pull on it; they just like to touch the water.
(3) Cost no more than $100: Um, close. Ultimately an extension cord (which we hadn’t initially factored in) pushed us over to about $115. But it’s worth it. And that’s still far less than lots of the pre-fab water features we’ve seen.
You got a sneak peek of the finished fountain when I showed you our backyard, but here it is again–an eight foot tall trickling water feature that delights us more than you might think a fountain would.
[Sidebar: Our house was painted after installing the fountain, so please pardon the schizophrenic look of this post with photos switching back and forth between red and gray brick. A full reveal of the house is coming soon, but this is a pretty good sneak peek here. You can read our color selection process here.]
The fountain was pretty simple to put together once the idea struck. I thought I’d DIY the rain chain itself since they tend to be pricey (usually at least $70). I even bought 15 tiny galvanized pails for the job before we found a rain chain for $25 and decided to make this easy on ourselves. (But if you want to DIY one, here is a tutorial.) Good thing Hubby was in charge of finding the pump because I probably would have bought the cheapest one I could find then be all shocked and disappointed when it wasn’t strong enough to pump water eight vertical feet. You have to step up to the $50 pump for that. (Found ours here. The price has apparently dropped to $28, which would have kept us on budget.) Then it was just a quick trip to Home Depot for remaining supplies: a decorative planter pot (with no drainage hole), a 10′ package of clear plastic tubing, a bag of river rocks, and an exterior bracket.
First we threaded the tubing up through the hole in each cup, leaving the end of the tube tucked inside the top cup. (And I see now that we didn’t bother to cut the tag off the tubing–classy.) It was a tight fit, and the tubing causes the cups not to hang perfectly straight. I actually like that some cups tilt right and some lean left, but some people might find the look sloppy.
Next we stuck the pump’s suction cup feet to the bottom of the planter pot and placed that in it’s new home. Then we needed something to hang the rain chain from, so it was time to install the bracket. After a little holding it up and eyeballing, we decided to hang it even with the top of the back door. And we decided to add another bracket for a hanging plant just around the corner….which meant we had a total of six holes to drill in the brick. Joy.
Once the bracket was nice and secure (seriously, I hope the people who buy this house from us someday like those brackets), we hung up the rain chain using the hook it came with. Then we attached the bottom end of the tube to the pump in the planter below and covered the pump with river rocks.
We were sure to wash all the grit off the rocks first so the pump wouldn’t get clogged. And when I say “we,” I’m referring to these enthusiastic helpers.
All that was left at that point was to fill the base with water and plug that pump in. Sucess!
We’re so happy with the final result. We love the look and the pleasant trickle sound. We even love how we turn it off and on; we’re actually crazy dorky excited about that part. Obviously we don’t want to waste power and water by leaving the fountain running all the time. (It doesn’t recirculate 100% of the water since a little splashes out.) The pump doesn’t have an on/off switch; it’s a plug in or unplug situation. Our exterior outlet is close by, but we don’t want to have to climb down there every time we want to turn the fountain on.
We also want to avoid unplugging the pump when it’s not in use since then we’d have to worry about weather protecting the plug. And we’re lazy. At least I am, and Hubby knows to take that into account. So he found this perfectly elegant solution:
The pump is plugged into that special weatherproof extension cord thingy, which we keep plugged in to the power outlet. And here’s the fun part: that extension cord (and therefore whatever is plugged into it) has a remote control!
Ahhh yeahhh, just one push of this button to fire it up! The girls love waiting for the water to spill out the top when we push the button. Good times. We added another remote for our cafe lights. I don’t know why it’s so much more thrilling to push a button on a remote control than it is to flip a light switch, but it most definitely is. It is! (But that’s from a girl who had and loved the Clapper in her home as an adult. Yes, the Clapper. Don’t knock it; it’s darn convenient. Your hands are always right there.)
Now, what else can I put on a remote control?…
Linking up with Serenity Now, At the Picket Fence, Too Much Time on My Hands, Beneath My Heart, Directions Not Included, DIY Showoff.