Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Quick Easy and Gorgeous Home Table Top Fountains

I don't know about you, but my life has been crazy and hectic lately.  I'm constantly looking for ways to bring back more Zen in to my life.  

When I was a kid, I would make table top (and one time even a three tiered outdoor water pond) with my Mom.  I had forgotten how easy it really was!  I'd been searching high and low for a neat water fountain to put on my desk, since I love the sound of running water.  After the holidays I haven't been able to find one that was a reasonable cost, I'd searched everywhere and I just didn't have the patience to order one online because I didn't want to spend the money on one that looked great in the picture, but either didn't sound great or just looked cheap when it arrived.  In the back of my mind, I kept thinking I'd make one again as a last resort.  I don't know why I pushed it to "last resort" status because I am SO thrilled with the one I made.  It's been a good 15+ years since I made one and I can honestly say this one is my favorite of all of the ones I have ever made.  

Make your own modifications, for how you want it to work.  Here's how I did the above pictured one to get you started... 
  1. Purchase a basic water pump at Home Depot or other home store.  I bought the smallest pump I could find, which cost just under $20.  
  2. Buy a foot of clear plastic tubing that will connect to the pump and take the water to wherever you want it to come out of (note most pumps connect to 1/2 to 3/4 inch tubes).  The tubes cost about $.40/foot - so they are very inexpensive). 
  3. Next up is you bowl or whatever you want to use as a base.  Take your time on this one and be sure you love it.  Find one that is deep enough to cover the pump and be sure it is water tight.  There are sealers you can use for terracotta, but I wouldn't recommend going down that route on your first fountain.  For a table top fountain, I would recommend a bowl/dish about 1 foot in diameter to give yourself plenty of space to work in and prevent splash over.  I found the above dish on sale at True Value Hardware and it was $11.  But I'd start at places like Home Goods or other discounters to find a great deal and a unique piece.  
  4. Next up is the piece that makes or breaks your fountain, and that is how the water fountain turns in to a fountain.  I found the above ceramic shell also at True Value (it was also on sale for $5) and realized it would be perfect to feed the water in to, then it would come out the bottom on to the base making a fantastic sound of lots of trickling water.  You can get fancier with this, but this is an easy way to get the basics started then get more complicated from there.  
  5. For the base, I literally just filled the dish with large shells we had collected.  You want to be sure you fill it with larger objects, to allow the water to reach the pump and not clog it.  I thought about using glass rocks or stones as a base before I realized I had plenty of shells.

Assemble everything, turn the fountain on and you are done!  It was easy and took a matter of minutes to assemble.  And yes, the picture above is the one I made, not one I purchased!  (The above fountain is about 1 foot in diameter.)

2 comments:

Carrie at Tiki Tiki Blog! March 1, 2011 at 6:00 PM  

I made one once and loved, loved, loved it. Thanks for the reminder!

ConnieFoggles March 1, 2011 at 6:31 PM  

I've never made something like this before and can't believe how easy it is.

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