Let’s face it, there’s not much more relaxing than the sound of gurgling water. One of the first ideas I had when I saw the courtyard in our new home is how much we’d enjoy sitting there, drinking and eating al fresco, and that a pretty fountain would enhance the atmosphere.

The vision I had was for an antique trough style, something aged, that worked with the stone exterior of our home. Of course, I pulled some inspiration images:

The key to the whole idea was finding an old stone trough, so I kept my eye out for them when out and about, particularly at good plant shops or nurseries, but ended up finding one at the Roundtop Antiques Fair.

The one I found was not pre-drilled for a drain, so we decided to keep it really simple with our fountain - no plumbers necessary! There are different fountain pump mechanisms, some that require an overflow pan to be installed. We were eager to get the sound effect going, so we opted not to drill the trough.

A quick trip to Home Depot provided the tools we needed:

A fountain pump (a version with a light ring makes for a nice look at night!)
A short piece of copper pipe to act as the “font.”
Pipe cutter
Pea gravel to use underneath the trough
A few plants (I selected grasses) to hide the power cord

Once we leveled the ground, and put down the pea gravel, we placed the trough where we wanted it, and made sure it was level. We installed the pump per the instructions, and cut the copper pipe to a height that felt to scale with the size of our trough. Since our easy-install meant an obvious power cord running over the side, we planted ornamental grasses that will eventually hide the cord (for the most part).

We immediately enjoyed the fruits of our labor - the super-soothing sounds of water!