DIY Fountain

Soooo...

We have this really random patch of landscape in front of our house. It's just little. No matter what I put there, it just looks wrong. 

Sooooo...

Most greenhouses around here are having end-of-season sales. Andrew and me went to a greenhouse for landscape inspiration and since everything was 50% off, we ended up loading a cart with plants we thought looked really cool. We ended up buying some "hens and chicks" succulent plants. I planted them in random space we have. It looks really cool! I thought it needed an equally cool water feature. Most water features are really expensive. I started to browse around the web/Pinterest for DIY ideas. Most, if not all, instructions found on Pinterest are failures. So I took a bunch of ideas and made my own. Here's what I did: 

Supplies needed: 

-Pea gravel. $2/bag at Home Depot. You'll maybe use 1/4 of the bag.

-Water proof silicone chalk. Any brand will do as I'm sure most of us homeowners have a few tubes around the use. I used kitchen and bath type and it worked really well. 

-Three different sized pots, small, medium and large. If using ceramic, make sure they are glazed. I found a 3-pack of pots at Zulily for $43 (that includes shipping). It did take awhile to get the pots, but they were inexpensive so I was willing to wait. 

-Submersible pond pump. I recommend this one. It's solar powered, so there's no need to place the feature near an electrical outlet. It does come with a fountain kit, but you won't need it. 

-Vinyl tubing that goes with the ID (in diameter) of your chosen pump. I used this.  

Step 1: Take biggest pot, silicone the drain hole so no water can escape/leak. I found that if you start on the outside and circle inward...it seals nicely. Wait 24 hours or until dry. 

Step 2: After the large pot has been sealed (check before assembling to make sure the water won't leak out!), place in the location where the feature will be. Attach tubing to outlet of pump (snug fit f using the recommended pump and tubing, but that's what you want!)  and place pump into the large pot. Don't cut the excess tubing just yet. You can add some pea gravel to the bottom of the big pot if you want. 

I actually experimented with 2 or 3 concepts and didn't take a photo of the one I went with.
This is the whole picture I took.You don't need the milk gallon bottom :)

Step 3: Thread the tubing through the pot drain holes in such a way where the medium sized pot will end up upside down and the small pot will be right side up. (See end result picture if you have no idea what I'm talking about). 

Step 4: With the tubing threaded in all the pots and still uncut, seal around the the drain hole/tubing in the small pot so water can't leak out. Make sure the tubing/pots are stacked nicely on top/bottom of each other before chalking the tubing. Wait 24 hours for chalk to dry. 

Step 5: Fill small pot with pea gravel and large pot with water. I recommend rinsing the gravel before placing in pot. 

 Cut off excess tubing off the top of small pot. I cut just where the tubing pokes out of the pea gravel. Turn on pump. And viola! A water features for less than $60. 

The water is dirty, but the dust will settle to the bottom. 

 I ordered some more succulents via Home Depot. I'll plant around the water feature and fill in any white space with pea gravel. We have a really plain brown house (I love it that way!) so succulents are perfect for us!