The Water Feature

What a challenge this project was. Not only did we have no idea how to take care of the deep concrete hole outside our front door, but nobody we consulted seemed to know what to do with it either. Dennis and I spent many hours researching garden shows, specialty pond stores, and swimming pool companies. While a great number of visitors were sure we should just fill it in, we were determined to find a plan to make it amazing.


After three years of caring for the concrete hole, I finally decided on an idea I was excited about. It including a paint a mural, which made the project more like two, but I was hopeful it would only take a couple weeks.

Boy was I wrong!

The preparation alone was cumbersome; the concrete hole needed drained, cleaned and dried before I could even begin. After diving in I quickly realized that I also needed to repair the window sill and re-finish the cast iron fence. Neither of these projects was directly related to the water feature, but ignoring them would cause me extra work later.

I repaired chipped concrete and painted the water basin with swimming pool paint. I primed the retaining wall with Kilz concrete sealer/ primer to protect the mural from the back and give a consistent surface to paint on. Each surface required multiple steps and I was careful to follow manufacturers directions as closely as possibly in hopes to avoid failure.
I spent hours in that concrete hole, giggling to myself as I would observe cars passing at a slower pace or neighbors watching me from their yards. I am sure they thought "oh my, what are they doing now". But I didn't care, I had a vision and I was going to make it something great!

The "two-week" project took most of the summer and was a greater strain on me physically than I had predicted. Am I surprised? Not really. Projects regarding our old house are most usually more than I have expected. I could have moved faster on the project, but I wanted to be sure that each layer of paint cured properly. I also had 2 little distractions that were constantly pulling me out of my concrete hole. I worked diligently all summer long stealing every moment I could; early morning, nap time, late into the evening... I even enlisted the girl's help when I could.

After painting the mural and the water basin, I decided to re-purpose some round stepping stones. We stacked the painted stones in varying heights and hid the water pump in the center.

The very last step in the project was to surround the pool of water with a fence. The basin is about three feet deep and scares the daylights out of every mother with children of wandering age. So while it is not the most attractive design feature, it's safe.
Alas, the water feature was completed, just in time for back to school photos. Yes, it was quite the undertaking... it was my life from June to August. But I gained experience with a number of materials.

The cost:  Three months, countless sunburns, a sore back and buffed up arms. Momentarily it was really not that much money, the most expensive part of the project was the fence. Beyond the gallon of pool paint and the Kilz primer, most of the paint was "Oops" so it cost little to nothing.

The result: A stunning water feature that is the centerpiece of outdoor family photos, a street side attraction and the first positive thing people comment on when they come into the house.