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The following post is from Janel of Life with Lucie and Ella.: 5-Minute Terra Cotta Birdbath

When my husband and I bought our first home, we were overjoyed to have a backyard. Better yet, sweet little birds flocked to our yard and sang every morning. The woman we purchased our home from had a beautiful stone birdbath in the little patch of lawn in the backyard. Unfortunately, the birdbath went with her, and we were left with a dead circular patch of grass where the birdbath once stood.

We loved the look of the birdbath on the lawn, but all the birdbaths we saw for sale were far outside our meager budget. We got creative and decided to make our own using inexpensive terra cotta pottery from the garden center. It was so simple — it took us less than 5 minutes to assemble.

This is a great project to reuse pottery that you already have or pick up at a garage sale or thrift store. Even if you have to purchase the supplies new, they shouldn’t cost more than $30 altogether. (The 16-inch saucer is the big ticket item.) Since none of the pieces are permanently affixed to one another, you can easily disassemble the birdbath if you are moving, need to store it or want to reuse the pottery for another purpose.

Supplies:

• two 10-inch terra cotta pots
• one 16-inch terra cotta saucer
• one large towel
• two metal washers that are larger than the drain holes in the pots
• one 2-inch bolt that will fit through the washers
• one nut to fit the bolt

Directions:

To assemble your birdbath, you’ll want to work on a soft area (like the grass) so that you don’t accidentally break your pottery. Place the two pots on the ground with their bottoms facing each other. Roll up a towel and place it underneath the bottoms of the pots to support them so that you can properly align the bottoms.

You’re going to use the washers and bolts to hold the two pots together. To do this, place one washer on the bolt like this:

Place the bolt through the drain hole of one pot and through the drain hole of the other. Secure the two pots together by twisting the nut onto the end of the bolt. The inside of one pot will look like this:

The other will look like this:

Stand the pots upright. You have assembled the base of the birdbath. Move the base to the desired location for your birdbath. Make sure that the ground is level, or your birdbath won’t sit properly.

To complete the birdbath, place the terra cotta saucer on top and center it. Then, fill it with water for the birds to enjoy!

Helpful Tip: Here in Virginia, we have lots of mosquitoes that just love standing water. To help prevent mosquitoes from breeding in your birdbath, empty out the water every day or two and replace it with fresh, clean water. Because the saucer is not affixed to the top of the birdbath, just lift it off and dump it out of the water.

Related Posts:

• 5 Simple Tips to Create an Outdoor Living Space
• Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden

What are you doing to spruce up your garden / outdoor spaces for spring?