There is so much room out here on the Ranch, I am obligated to fill up all the spaces with something interesting.
I decided I wanted a wishing well, but not just any wishing well, it needed to be big, and pretty.
So the search was on for inspiration.
I saw a pin for a fire pit of stacked retaining wall bricks, with the tops done in a mosaic.
We had leftover bricks from the old house (project that was never finished, imagine that?)
Dirty, grey, but they were so blah…. hmmm? how to fix that?
I know, lets tile them with mosaics, that way the well will be pretty and magical!
Started by cleaning them with a brush and locating “pretty” stuff for them.
Discount glass tiles, and sparkly silver glitter grout from the clearance section at Lowes!
Use a towel when you break the glass tile, and lots of waterproof mastic. Gloves might have avoided cuts, but are hard to work in.
I put each color into bowls and lined up the top layer of bricks so I could spread out the colors evenly.
I wanted an edge on the outside of each brick, and the hexagon tiles fit perfectly 12″ across without having to cut any of them.
It’s always better to lay out your pattern before you begin gluing them down.
The grout plus the glass tiles make them really sparkly in the sunlight. Just simply stack the rounds of blocks and made this the last course.
You could end it here, and make it into a fire pit, but I really wanted a wishing well. so it needs a roof.
Had hubby cut two support poles about 8 ft tall, put some angled support braces to hold the roof,
and attached each of them onto pier blocks hidden inside the circle.
Next, we cut plywood into two 2′ x 3′ sides for the roof.
Since I wanted shake shingles and live in CA where they been banned, I had to make my own.
I purchased redwood bender board (super cheap) at Home Depot and cut them into 7″ shakes.
got to use the air nailer (that was fun) and covered it in staggered pattern.
It was much easier to attach the roof out in its final location, as the shingles made it quite heavy
We put a piece of rebar trough the support poles and used an antique drill for the handle.
Found a really cute turnbuckle to hold a bucket salvaged from one of the barns (nice paint included)
and filled it with squirrel food.
Love watching them swing and eat the corn and peanuts!
For the holidays, I hid a light inside that projected a white moving pattern that looked like magic water inside. (Think I’m going to leave it in there)
Enjoy,
Debbie
msdebbie2u 