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A hundred years ago, windmills were a real symbol of abundance and prosperity. And if today few people can afford a real windmill, then it is quite possible to build a decorative miniature in your country house. A handmade decorative garden windmill will create a sense of harmony and style, giving the garden a rustic charm.
Interesting design features
You can make a garden mill with your own hands from wood or stone, in some cases it is complemented by a waterfall. A standard windmill is made in the form of an isosceles trapezoid with blades attached to one side of the structure. To give greater reliability, they can be made rotating.
In general, a homemade garden mill consists of several parts:
- base with foundation;
- main body;
- roof;
- wind blades.
The decorative building is intended to become the center of a stylized composition, which can be supplemented with a fake well of a suitable size, made in the same style, a miniature decorative haystack or even pet figurines.
Video “Do-it-yourself garden mill”
From this video you will learn how to make a decorative windmill for the garden with your own hands.
Which style to choose
Starting to build a garden mill, it is better to decide in advance on the style in which the composition will be sustained. The most popular are:
- Japanese style. Here, the absence of unnecessary decorative details is welcomed, the emphasis is on minimalism and elegance. The main components of the composition are natural stone, water and plants. By arranging a Japanese-style garden, you want to contemplate the greatness of the water element without being distracted by trifles. You can complement the mill with a small bench made of the same material. You can decorate the shore of the reservoir with small pebbles or shell rock. Plants without bright colors are suitable for Japanese style.
- Country style. This design will appeal to those who miss rural romance. The mill must be wooden, it can be located on the shore of a miniature pond and be supplemented by a sham water mechanism. The roof can be made of straw or reeds.
- style. This direction in many ways resembles the rustic style, but is distinguished by the peculiar charm of the traditional village – rough timber, carved shutters, clay pots on the fence and a weather vane with a cockerel.
- Dutch style. Combines the charm of a European province and a riot of colors. Here, the mill should be surrounded by variegated tulips and crocuses, hedges and parterre lawn.
Technological process
Before proceeding with certain actions, you should carefully prepare. And you need to start with the development of a drawing of the future scenery and layout of the site layout. Step-by-step instructions include the following stages of work:
- development of a scenery sketch;
- creation of a detailed drawing indicating the size of each part;
- choice of material based on the characteristics of each particular mill;
- directly assembling the composition.
stone mill
A stone mill is built much easier than a wooden counterpart, because here you can skip the drawing development stage.
To give the mill stability, it should be placed on the foundation. The optimal depth of the base is 1,5–2 bayonets of a shovel. We lay reinforcement in the prepared pit, pour concrete and leave to dry for several days.
The size of the future structure depends on your preferences. The main thing is that the parameters of the structure correspond to the dimensions of the foundation.
Now we proceed to the construction of walls of stones and mortar, trying to maintain the necessary trapezoidal shape of the structure. Do not forget to mount a special stud in the upper part of the structure, on which we will attach the wings of the windmill.
The propeller can be made from a regular sheet of plywood by cutting a hole in the center to fit the stud. If the size of the plywood allows, the blades and disc can be combined and cut from one sheet. If not, then we cut out the wings of the windmill separately and attach them to the plywood disk. We install the resulting element on the hairpin and fix it on both sides.
Of wood
Wooden decorative windmill consists of several modules:
- lightweight foundation design;
- base platform;
- mill body;
- wings-blades.
Even for a wooden windmill, a simple foundation is necessary – without it, the decoration will simply fall apart. The best option is a metal bar, poured into concrete to a shallow depth. Moreover, the decoration mounted in this way cannot be stolen. We make the supporting platform from thick boards to give the structure stability and monumentality. Its size should be slightly wider than the mill body.
The finished platform is laid on the prepared foundation, pre-treated with protective agents to minimize the negative impact of atmospheric phenomena. We assemble the body in the form of a pyramid from bars of different diameters, fastening them with self-tapping screws or nails. After that, we assemble the classic gable roof from chipboard or plywood, fastening the elements with battens into a single whole. We fasten the roof to the mill body with self-tapping screws.
Now it’s time to assemble the blades and attach them to the structure. We fold the wing slats crosswise, make a hole in the center and fasten the parts to the front side of the body.
With a waterfall
If you set out to build an analogue of a water mill, you will have to additionally assemble a swivel wheel. For this purpose, it is quite possible to use an old bicycle wheel or any object equipped with an axis of rotation. If there is nothing suitable, the wheel can be assembled from moisture-resistant plywood by drilling holes in the center for fastening to a stud.
Otherwise, the process of assembling a windmill with a waterfall is no different from building a windmill. We install a water mill on the shore of a decorative reservoir, supply the composition with a small pump that will supply water from the pond to the mill wheel. The latter will randomly rotate under the influence of water entering the wheel pockets.
Decor options
Just a windmill, assembled and installed in the right place in the garden, will look boring and uninteresting. The composition requires additional decoration: equip your mill with carved shutters, place a miller figure inside, or you can use LED lighting, and then at dusk the windmill windows will glow mysteriously.
Separately, it is worth dwelling on landscaping: the more beautiful greenery around, the better.
It is not difficult to build a decorative windmill, and the effect produced in the garden will be amazing. Believe me, the result is worth the effort.