Make Your Own Hut Fountain With This Simple Guide

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If you've been enjoying our series of desktop indoor fountains, you might enjoy this little number too. This time, we are going to make a simple hut-themed example.

Follow this simple guide to find out how. 

Like any project of this nature, you'll first need some stuff to get you started. 

Tools and equipment needed

• Cement mix
• Water pump
• uPVC piping (reclaimed or new)
• Assorted small-bore plastic piping
• Popsicle sticks
• Hot glue gun
• Cardboard tubes
• Paint
• String
• Superglue
• Metal gauze
• Spray paints

With all the bits and pieces in hand, it is now time to get on with the build.

Step 1: Make the ground floor of the hut

The first step is to grab your uPVC length of pipe. Mark out a length of the pipe, as shown, and cut off if needed using a saw. 

With that complete, take some gauze, and cover the outside of the length of the pipe. 

With that done, cover a rotating cake stand, or similar, in stretch film and place the pipe on top of it. Then mix up your cement, as needed, and begin to build up the base of the outside of the pipe. 

Trim off any excess using a spatula, or small fillet knife as shown below. 

With that done, continue to add the cement mixture to the sides of the pipe onto the gauze. Leave to partially dry, and then smooth down the concrete surface using a piece of wood or scrap metal. 

Leave the cement to fully cure.

Step 2: 

Next, take an old plastic bowl and quarter fill it with sand. Place a small plastic container in the center, and fill in the gap around it with more sand. 

Taper the sand up to the base of the plastic tub and then cover the sand in cement. Leave the cement to partially cure, and then smooth the surface.

While still plastic, score some lines from vertically at regular intervals around the cement "donut". Widen the lines using your plastic tubing. 

Leave the cement to fully cure.

Step 3: Make the roof sections

Next, take another plastic bowl, an old plastic soda bottle, and a length of small-bore plastic pipe. Cut the plastic bottle in half, and place it inside the center of the bowl. Place the length of pipe into the nozzle of the bottle. 

Pile sand around the bottle, and pile it up to reach the exposed pipe, entirely covering the bottle. With that done, pour cement over the sand and smooth out as before. 

Score in some more lines around the cement as you did before. Trim around the top of the bottle nozzle to remove the pipe, leaving a sort of volcano-looking pile of cement and sand and leave to cure. 

Step 4: Make the first floor

Next, take some different widths of cardboard tubes and cut them into two equal lengths. Moisten the outside surface of the small tube and the inner surface of the larger one and glue them to an old plastic lid, or similar using hot glue. 

Pour some more cement into the gap between the two tubes. 

Leave to cure. Next, take two small ceramic bowls and half fill them with cement. Fill in some small plastic containers and place them in the center of each small bowl. 

Leave to cure.

Step 5: Add decorations

Once all the cement is dry, we can now begin to assemble the fountain. Take the first "hat" shaped piece and wind/glue it around the outside to make a mock wicker-fence effect. Make a mock doorway using thicker string/rope too. 

Using your popsicle sticks, make mock decking around the rim of the piece. 

With that done, remove the other cement pieces from their molds too. Wind and glue more string to the cement pipe part and add a door, as before. 

With the cones of cement, paint them a terracotta color. Use the same color to paint the exposed areas of cement on the main hut building and pipe structure too. 

Step 6: Assemble the final piece

First, take whatever bowl, or another object, you want to use as the main base of the fountain. Then, take your pump and add a length of suitably sized plastic tube to the pump's main outlet. 

Place the pump and tube in the center of the base, and then add the main base cement base of the hut into the bowl. 

With that done, take the first roofing piece and place it on top of the hut base. Then add the first story of the building and finally the top roof. 

Ensure the plastic tube is exposed in the center of the top roof section. 

Take your imitation vegetation and pebbles, and add them randomly around the base of the fountain, as needed. With that done, take one of the small bowls of cement, glue a series of popsicle sticks around the outside and balance it on top of the hut, as shown below. 

With that done, fill the main bowl with water, turn on the pump, and watch your DIY hut fountain spring to life!

If you enjoyed this little fountain project, you might enjoy making some more. How about, for example, a bonsai tree-themed one?