Methods for decorating stumps in the form of a flower bed, in a fabulous and retro style. The simplest options for their design, making original garden furniture from the remains of sawed-down trees. Stump décor is the transformation of the remnant of a sawn tree into an artistic design element. Most often, such a useful need is caused by the complexity of its uprooting due to its large diameter or powerful root system. About how to decorate a stump in the garden, our today's story.
Features of painting a stump in the garden
If there is no time for laborious work on the decor of the stump, it can be decorated in simple ways. For example, you can remove the bark, sand the surface with sandpaper and paint it with different bright colors.
Painting is suitable for uprooted stumps as it must be done on dried material. Before starting work, you need to prepare a saw, sandpaper, brush, paint and varnish.
The procedure for decorating a stump is as follows:
- First, you need to clean the surface of dirt and bark. After examining the workpiece, you should remove areas of loose and rotten wood from it.
- With the help of a hacksaw and chisels, you need to give the stump, depending on the outburst of your imagination, an attractive shape and leave it to dry outside. Direct exposure to ultraviolet radiation on the workpiece is undesirable, since its wood can crack.
- The stump will dry for at least a week, depending on its size. Then the future element of garden design must be carefully sanded using sandpaper. Moreover, at the beginning of processing, it must have a large abrasive grain. In the process of work, it is worth gradually moving to a fine-grained abrasive to create an absolutely smooth surface on the workpiece. For large areas, you can use a sander. This will speed up the process and reduce its labor intensity. However, this tool is not suitable for sanding narrow areas of the stump.
- Now you need to choose a material for painting the dried and sanded workpiece. If the color of natural wood is not of fundamental importance, you can take a textured paint with a pigment, for example, "Aquatex". In addition to the pigment, this material contains an antiseptic that prevents wood from rotting. If you need a natural shade, the stump can be covered with ordinary varnish, having soaked the product with linseed oil in advance.
- After painting with textured material, the stump must be transferred to dry in a warm, shaded place, and after a few days, start varnishing the product. To obtain a glossy finish, it is recommended to apply at least two coats of varnish to the stump. When it is dry, it can be installed in the desired location.
Another interesting option is a glowing tree stump. Here it is necessary to pass the cable through the groove previously made in the surface. Then you need to install a light bulb on the cut. A similar goal can be achieved by painting the tree stump with fluorescent paint.
You can also cut flowers from plastic bottles. After that, they should be painted and fixed with glue on the saw cut and the sides of the stump. If you plant plants around it, this composition will take on the appearance of a magical forest.
Stump decor options in the garden
Due to the whims of nature, a wooden stump can have both an ordinary and the most intricate look. All this opens up an unlimited flight for imagination. The most popular options for creating an element of country decor from an ordinary stump include decorating it with moss, transforming it into a stand, a piece of furniture, a fabulous sculpture, etc.
Tree stump
Thanks to the excellent combination of natural materials, the stump will look special when used as a flower bed. To translate this idea into reality, you will need plants, earth, as well as a hammer and chisel.
Such a stump decor in the country must be performed in the following order:
- First, you need to remove part of the core from it. The hollow space will serve as a flower pot. This procedure can be performed with a chisel and hammer, methodically deepening and widening the hole in the stump.
- There is a more radical way of making such a cavity - this is burning it with kerosene. First, you need to hollow out the core of the stump to a shallow depth, keeping its wall thickness at least 7 cm. Then kerosene should be poured into the resulting cavity and left for 12 hours to absorb. Then you need to add fuel, close the stump tightly with a lid and wait a couple of weeks. After this period, the lid can be removed, and the kerosene can be set on fire. The burned-out cavity must be cleaned and filled with earth.
- After that, you need to pick up the planting material. The dark surface of the stump will work well with brightly colored flowers. In the process of planting them, it is worth taking care of a sufficient amount of fertilizer and moisture. Excess water can be drained out of the stump through a hole previously made on the side in its lower part.
- The stump flower bed will be perfectly decorated with multi-colored stones that can be laid out in the form of patterns around it.
Planting moss on a tree stump
Using moss, it is easy to make the decor of the stump with your own hands "semi-antique". This will not require significant money and time. However, you should be aware that for such a stylization, the stump must be located in a damp and shady place.
In order for the moss to take root well on the surface, after planting it must be watered with buttermilk and then constantly moistened. Then it will grow more intensively.
Since the moss is prone to slipping, it is recommended to plant ornamental climbing plants near it.
Stump decoration in a fairy-tale style
If you are smart, you can decorate one or more stumps so that they become a favorite place for children's games, decorated in the form of a fairy corner. For work, you will need crayons, a hammer, an emery cloth, a chisel, boards, linen tow, glue and materials at hand.
The order of work is as follows:
- First, using a chisel and a hammer, you need to free the stump from the bark. After that, it must be sanded with a medium-grained emery cloth. The resulting wood dust should be removed with a cloth, and the smooth surface should be treated with an antiseptic.
- Then the stump needs to be painted brown. After the paint has dried, the workpiece can be stylized as a "goblin". To do this, you can glue tow on top, which will imitate the hair of a fairy-tale character, and chestnuts, denoting his eyes, to the side of the stump.
- Below, horizontally, you need to glue a knot imitating a mouth and paint it with red paint. The whites of the "eyes" on chestnuts can be made from white caps removed from plastic bottles. A little lower, you need to make a recess in the wood and insert a "nose" knot into it. Our "goblin" is ready.
If you wish, you can make any stump a character of your favorite fairy tale. Best of all, kikimors, brownies, etc. are obtained from such material. Amanita stumps look bright and spectacular. To make them, it is enough to put an old basin on a stump and paint it with red and white specks.
A stump stylized as a fairytale castle will perfectly decorate the site. To create such a masterpiece, the workpiece does not even need to be removed from the bark. For work, you will need a piece of chipboard, a sanded log, tow or forest moss and wood chisels.
It is customary to perform the work as follows:
- A piece of chipboard must be varnished and fixed on the stump cut with self-tapping screws or nails.
- On the basis obtained, it is necessary to fix a wooden house previously cut out of a log. Its top can be decorated with tow or moss, and with the help of chisels, patterns on the walls can be made.
- Then the whole structure should be painted in the desired color, wait for the paint to dry and populate the first residents: figurines of heroes of fairy tales or animals - for example, from the fairy tale "Teremok".
DIY furniture from an old stump
If you uproot a suitable stump, you can make from it not only decoration for the site, but also functional furniture - a table for eating in the fresh air or an armchair.
How to make a table from a tree stump
For artistic creation, you will need furniture wheels, a chisel, a pry bar, a plane, a grinder, a chisel, a building level and an abrasive cloth. The whole process looks like this:
- If the stump is dry, use a pry bar and chisel to remove all the bark from it.
- After that, you need to horizontally align the future table. With a building level, you should check the lower plane of the stump. Eliminate the detected distortions by grinding the edges with a planer.
- Then the surface of the stump must be sanded. For this it is recommended to use a coarse abrasive. When the plane of the saw cut becomes smooth, the stump must be placed and its side surface must be sanded.
- If there are cracks in the stump, they should be cleaned of dirt with a knife, trying not to disturb the texture of the tree, since the knots and cracks will give the original look to the future table. Vacuum off any debris from sanding and cleaning.
- Then, furniture wheels should be screwed to the bottom plane of the stump; they are sold in any hardware store. They are required not only for the convenience of moving the table, but also to ensure air circulation under it.
- After that, the table must be varnished. When its first coat is applied, it is worth waiting 30 minutes and treating the surface with a fine-grain abrasive paper # 320. To extend the service life, apply at least four coats of varnish to the table surface. Each layer must be left to dry for a specified time according to the manufacturer's instructions for the material.
- At the last stage of work, the table must be wiped with a soft abrasive. This will save it from excessive shine. Now the table can be used for its intended purpose.
The above procedures and uprooting does not require a simpler kind of table from the stump. In this case, it remains in its place, but a tabletop of an arbitrary shape, made with your own hands or purchased, must be attached to its saw cut with screws.
Instead of a table top, you can fix a bird feeder on a stump or make a highchair. To do this, take a seat from unnecessary furniture, cover it with varnish and nail it to the cut of the stump.
Making a chair from a tree stump
If you have the skill of owning carpentry tools, you can make an original resting corner from several stumps on the site. It is easy to turn them into comfortable chairs, and it is even easier to install a small table next to it.
A good armchair can come from a thick tree stump. It is advisable to plan its production even before the tree is cut. After freeing the trunk from the branches, you need to think over the dimensions of the future chair.
For a seat, a height of 40-60 cm will suffice. However, remember that the chair must have a back. Based on these considerations, the first cut of the trunk with a chainsaw should be made at a height of 0.5 m from the ground, and the second - 100 cm. This is how the seat and back will be outlined.
The depth of the first cut should be 2/3 of the thickness of the trunk. It must be performed from the front side of the future chair in a horizontal direction.
After that, a vertical cut must be made before joining with the horizontal cut made earlier. These actions are aimed at shaping the seat of the chair and removing excess wood. The work is recommended to be performed with preliminary marking of the product elements and compliance with safety regulations.
After all the manipulations with the chainsaw, you will get a rough blank of the chair, which should be subject to fine processing. For subsequent work, instead of a chainsaw, you will need a hacksaw, a hammer, a chisel or more professional tools, depending on the conceived idea.
To make a chair carved from a stump with love more durable, it should be treated with an antiseptic before painting. Finished furniture can be varnished to emphasize the texture of the wood, or painted with different colors in bright colors.
How to decorate an old tree stump in the garden - watch the video:
Before you decorate the stump in your country house, weigh well for what purpose you will do it. For the entertainment of children, for example, a "fabulous" version is suitable. And for tea drinking in nature - a comfortable table. Good luck with your work!
