How to make a gnome house in your yard with your own hands? Landscape designer Evgeny Rai, head of the company “Land&Shaft,” tells us about it.
People definitely need to believe in something, and among us there are those who believe in garden gnomes who guard property, bring good weather, a successful harvest, and scare away uninvited guests… And some simply like the figurines of good-natured gnomes and try to place them throughout the garden.
To be honest, as a landscape designer, I don’t really like large bright gnomes along garden paths, so I usually suggest stump houses for invisible or miniature gnomes to my clients. Such fairy-tale handmade items, in my opinion, look much more impressive and mysterious.
Choosing a location
A gnome house can be made on the stump of a freshly cut tree right on the spot or from a log prepared in advance.
It is better to choose a place where the house is visible from several sides and definitely from the house — this way you and the gnomes can keep an eye on each other: you will see whether the little rascals are stealing strawberries from the bed, and any movement around the house will always fall into their field of view.
It is also better to place the house away from deciduous trees and shrubs so you won’t have to clean fallen leaves from it often. Around the future dwelling of the little caretakers, you need to clear a space for mulching, decor, and, if desired, planting. To do this, remove 5 cm of topsoil, lay geotextile with a diameter of 1–2 meters, and cover it with mulch — pine or larch bark, or conifer litter with cones if it’s a forest area.
Preparing for construction
“Construction” is, of course, an exaggeration. If you prepare all the necessary tools and materials in advance, you will see how easy and quick it is to make a fairy-tale house without involving specialists and with a minimal budget.
First of all, the future house (whether it is a freshly cut stump with roots or a log) must be treated with antiseptic to prevent the development of fungal microorganisms and mold. An antiseptic can be replaced with a universal wood preservative that combines the properties of both an antiseptic and an insecticide — a remedy against insects (bark beetles in forest areas are not going anywhere, and this is especially relevant for houses made of pine or maple).
You must treat the house regardless of whether you leave the bark on it or remove it. Personally, I like houses with bark more — they look more natural and fit better into the overall landscape — and if some piece of bark eventually comes off the stump, I just screw it back in with self-tapping screws.
Doors, windows, balconies
Next, depending on the number of residents, you need to decide on the number and shape of windows, balconies, and doors. The doors may open into a small hiding place or may be purely decorative — just painted.
For the work, you will need an angle grinder with a wood disc and a chisel (better two — different sizes). With the grinder, you can neatly cut the outlines of all doors and windows to the required depth, and with the chisel you can carve out the recesses by hand. If the stump is fresh enough, this is done very quickly and easily.
Use the grinder to cut grooves for balconies as well, because a stump does not have a flat surface, and the future balcony made of a board or a round cut can be inserted into the resulting horizontal opening and secured.
While carving the recesses, you can see how “healthy” the wood is inside: if the wood starts crumbling, has a reddish color, and a loose consistency, it is better to abandon building the house in this stump and find another one. This is better done before treating the stump (a blockhead never sleeps!).
When the recesses are ready, they must be sanded with a disc or fine-grit sandpaper and also treated with antiseptic, and after drying, painted. I usually paint the windows yellow so that from afar there is an effect of interior lighting. I cut window frames from thin slats and nail them with small nails. They can also be made from branches with uneven edges, which gives the whole structure spontaneity and authenticity. The slats are also painted.
Sometimes, in addition to the main windows, I cut a couple of “dormer” windows using a hole saw — also paint them, drill four holes, and insert two strong branches crosswise — it looks impressive and beautiful.
We work the same way with the door: the carved opening is sanded, treated with fungicide and insecticide, and painted. You can draw the lock, handle, and any other elements if you have at least some drawing skills, but for volume it is better to decorate with additional materials.
If you decide that the house should have a hiding place for children or gnomes, you will need to carve an opening large enough to put candies for the gnomes or other pleasant little things inside. Depending on the size of the opening, cut a door from a board and mount it on small hinges (choose the smallest ones in the hardware store), screw on a handle made of a screw or a loop twisted from wire — done.
Depending on the height of the entrance door, you can attach a small staircase made of small wooden blocks screwed together with self-tapping screws. Railings and balusters — from dowels, wire, or rope. A small stone staircase also looks very good.
Blanks for balconies can also be made from whatever you have at hand. I use either small round cuts or saw semi-circles from boards with a jigsaw, then treat them with antiseptic and coat with stain. As balusters I usually use small furniture dowels about 3 cm long, tied with twine or jute rope.
Here it should be added that if the future house will serve a purely decorative function, you don’t need to bother with overly strong fastening of individual details. But if children will play with the gnomes, it is better to secure everything properly right away. Therefore, in the latter case, you can drill additional blind holes around the perimeter of the balcony platform, fill them with super glue like “S-300,” and insert dowels. Then place the pieces into the grooves on the stump cut with the grinder — and voilà, the gnomes are already comfortably settled on the balcony railings.
If desired, you can attach rope ladders to the windows and balconies, made from the same dowels and twine — neatly crafted extra details always look good and give more grace to the overall picture.
Roof
A house without a roof is like a mouse without cheese, and gnomes need one too. Here you can take into account the surrounding area: what materials the nearby structures are made of, what plants are typical for the site, etc. The roof can be made from anything — straw, moss, bark, plastic, wood, metal — the main thing is that it fits the landscape. I usually work in forest areas, so for the roof I use large larch bark. But first I prepare a “skeleton” from metal mesh, screwing it to the top of the stump with self-tapping screws, otherwise the first autumn wind will blow off the roof — and we have gnomes there, not three little pigs. Attaching the bark, starting from the bottom, with wire to the mesh around the circle up to the very top, I decorate it with pieces of moss or dried flowers, and the roof is ready.
If you don’t have the opportunity or simply don’t want to bother with the roof in this way, you can buy a “ready-made roof” in a hardware store — a cap slightly larger than the top of the stump. You can also roll a sheet of metal into a cone and decorate it with any material.
I usually do not create internal window lighting for gnome houses, although it is very beautiful: many people connect them to the main garden lighting system, which allows you to turn the gnomes’ lights on and off as you wish.
I usually buy inexpensive LED lanterns powered by solar panels and place them near the front door, above the windows, etc. The lanterns can have single-color or multicolored lighting — depending on the chosen function and, of course, the landscape concept. Such lighting usually turns on at dusk and goes off late at night, so there is plenty of time to admire the miniature gnome dwelling.
Decor around the house
You can decorate the area around the house in different ways — from planting various low-growing plants and moss to arranging stones and bark. Groundcovers combined with stones usually look very good. You can plant a few accents such as wild strawberries, heather, sage, or a small juniper. Additional lighting for the plants also won’t hurt. In the background, behind the house, you can plant taller grasses to protect the house from cold winds so the gnomes can quietly drink tea with juniper jam all winter.
In my opinion, a gnome house can be not just a garden decoration but a family tradition, because not only gnomes can live in it — also a good fairy who brings a child treats for good deeds, elves whom children can congratulate on holidays and place handmade gifts for them in the hiding place. If the fairy-tale characters don’t take root, the hiding place can become a “secret” communication spot between family members, etc.
In any case, the main thing is to believe in a miracle, and then it will definitely happen. After all, life itself is a great miracle that we can arrange as we wish: build dream houses, create beautiful gardens, care not only for pets but also for wild animals, be friends with neighbors. And maybe… with someone else?…
(photos provided by the company “Land&Shaft”)
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