DIY water fountain: Part I

The "front yard" of our house was one big ol' mess this weekend when I decided I would spruce it up my building a water fountain. All it took was one terra cotta planter, a fountain kit and some rocks. These instructions are for the easy fountain, Part II will involve inserting the cording through the pot.

Materials:

- Large Planter
- Fountain Kit (available at your local garden center)
- Landscaping Rocks (at Home Depot, come in bags of about 20 lbs, use any size you like)
- Outdoor extension cord may be needed to reach an outlet (or you can buy a solar fountain kit)

Cost: about $100

Step 1:

Get a large pot and position it in the space you want. I choose the "Mynta" pot from IKEA for it's weight (55 lbs) and large diameter. I think it was about $25.




Step 2:

Fill the pot with the landscaping rocks, leaving about 1/4 reserved for later. Make sure you wash the rocks off as there will be some dust/dirt on them. I neglected this step and you will see the consequences later.



Step 3: Assemble your fountain kit and place it on the rocks, adding the reserve rocks on top to hold it in the center. I got my fountain kit at a local garden center for about $70.




Step 4: Fill pot with water, plug in fountain cord to outdoor extension cord and bury the cord under a light layer or mulch.

Before and After:

A semi-before of the space (I had already done some serious trimming at this point and forgot to take a "true" before picture):

After

** see how the water is cloudy? That is because I didn't wash the rocks off when I put them into the planter.

Part II will involve drilling the bottom of the planter and sealing the cord to create a sleeker look.

Can they be friends?

Who knew that a large drum shade and a chandelier could be such a good looking pair? Apparently lots of people. When choosing a chandelier for my bathroom I wanted it to be small (because, it's a bathroom), and sparkly. But, the problem comes in with the uncovered bulbs. I thought I was OK with that look until I saw these from Horchow:

Eyes. Hurting. Too. Pretty. Must. Buy. Create. Similiar one. I figure I can toss a white drum shade over my chandelier and call it day(I will make sure to bring you into that party).

What do you think? Too much? Just right?

Floods, Hurricanes, Economy, Oh MY!

This post has been removed as the sponsor did not want it listed any longer. I had noted it was a sponsored posting and this was apparently unsettling. After referring them to this link http://payperpost.com/bloggers/ethics.html
they noted "disclosing that it is a paid post takes away attention away from the content of the article".

Wish List

The living room is coming together. We finally got a decent TV stand and rug, so it looks like it is an actual room now. Now we need a coffe table, side table, lamps, sconces, and new curtains. Ya know, the fun stuff. Before that happens, we will need to just refinish the floors. . .case the windows. . .and paint the walls. No biggie. Right? Since we don't plan on finishing this until the end of the year (my vote is for it to be done in November, but I am not sure the Mr. feels the same way) I have started putting together my wish list for the decorative items I want. Check it out here:

I'm Back. . .early

Well, I thought I was going to take the month of August off when I found myself working on the house this past weekend. What's a gal to do? Blog about it of course! During my vacation I visited a couple salvage shops and I have lots of pictures to post, there has also been some progress on the front of the house, and there should be grass in the backyard in two weeks!

September is going to be the month where I finish up all the half-finished projects and then can move on the big guy . . . the downstairs work. New kitchen, refinished floors, finishing the fireplace, add trim to the windows, re-wire some electrical, hid all the phone/cable cords, make sure the phone/cable work, blah blah blah. Not sure when we will actually get to that.

One of the half-done projects is the backyard. We need to replace the deck boards and railings. We already have the day scheduled to put the sod in so really the deck is the last step. But, I am sure we will stain/paint at some point too.

So, lots of pictures to come the rest of the week!