DIY Vintage Vessel Water Fountain

This DIY vintage vessel water fountain is a beautiful way to add vintage charm and character to your front porch, deck, or patio.

There’s just something about the sound of water that’s so calming, isn’t there? I gave our side porch a much-needed little refresh this spring with fresh stain for the deck, some paint touch-ups here and there, and new porch lights on either side of the door. I kept my planters relatively simple this year, with white geraniums, trailing ivy, and a few pots of succulents, but I wanted to add something a bit special, so I decided to turn one of my favorite rustic vintage vessels into a little fountain to tuck in with all my happy plants next to the door. If you have a spot on your deck that could use a little water feature, here’s how I made my DIY vintage vessel water fountain.

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Supplies Needed for the DIY Mini Water Fountain

You’ll need:

• A vintage or thrifted vessel of some kind to match your outdoor decor. A large vase, bowl, or cache pot (a planter without a drainage hole) works well.
• A small, solar-powered fountain kit. This is the one I used here.
• A small piece of copper pipe (optional, because the kit comes with many different spout options, but I thought the copper was a pretty touch)

I’ve been seeing larger fountains that use a piece of copper pipe at the fountain spout, so I knew I wanted to try to make that work with my fountain, especially with my new copper porch lights. If you don’t have a piece of pipe, the fountain kits come with a few different spout options that give you the choice of a small bubbling fountain, one that shoots up and out quite a far distance, and everything in between. Play with the different options to see which you like best. These fountains also work well in bird baths and small ponds, so they’re really fun to play around with.

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Assembling the Vintage Vessel Fountain

Assembling the fountain is so quick and easy. It will actually take you less than five minutes once you have all your supplies gathered. Start out by opening up your fountain kit and laying out your pump, LED light (if your kit come with one), solar panel, and spout attachments. Next, grab your copper pipe and fill your vessel about 7/8 full with water. Now you’re ready to start putting it all together!

Plug the cord for the LED light into the cord for the pump, and tighten the connection. Choose your spout and place it onto the nozzle of the pump, making sure you have a tight fit. Experiment with adding more spout pieces to create more height and finish it off with a spray nozzle if you like. Place the LED light over the spout attachments, allowing it to rest firmly where it naturally sits.

If you’re using a copper pipe piece, place that over the spout and allow it to rest directly on top of the LED light ring. It’s amazing how well this works. It’s almost like it was designed for it. 🙂

Finally, submerge the pump into the water-filled vessel, using the suction cups to attach it firmly to the bottom of your vase, bowl, pot, or whatever you choose to use. Be sure to leave the long cord out of the vessel so that it can be connected to the solar panel.

Once your pump is sitting firmly in the water, connect the long pump cord to the cord of the solar panel and place the solar panel in a sunny spot. The fountain should begin bubbling away immediately, even if you only have a small amount of sunshine.

You can see a quick video of me putting together my little vintage vessel fountain here.

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The Completed Fountain on My Porch

The fountain will become stronger after being in the sun for a few hours, and it will actually charge itself up enough to keep bubbling and glowing all night long! I was so surprised to find my fountain glowing brightly and gurgling away late at night when I went out to check on everything. Such a welcoming sight when you’re coming home late at night.

Here’s how my fountain looks tucked in with all my plants on my side porch. I just filled these planters last week, so I can’t wait to see how everything looks once the geraniums and ivy really get growing.

Do you have a spot that could use a water feature like this? I think a little DIY garden fountain could make such a thoughtful gift for any garden lover you know.

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