Gnome House From A Tree Stump

Last year in the fall I believe, Jim cut down a large pine tree on our lawn which we had planted 20 years ago. The top was split and I wasn’t sad to see it go because it was forever dropping pine cones which would zing me in the leg while mowing not to mention the pine needles all over the flower bed. So good riddance I say.

Here is how we hauled it away.

We left the stump pretty tall knowing we would eventually do something with it rather than be left with a stump cut to the ground in the flower bed. Too many roots in that area to plant anything there now.

Time to build a gnome house. I grabbed a tarp to cover the flower bed trying to catch most of the wood shavings from the chainsaw.

No measuring, we just cut one side on an angle.

Then cut the other side, not trying to get things perfect…in fact trying to make them uneven on purpose.

Here is what we were left with.

With the tarp removed, we headed out to our wood stash only to find out the board I had put away for making shingles accidentally got chopped into kindling so we grabbed a close second and headed into the workshop.

We decided to tackle the roof first and took a rough measurement of the stump width and length.

Back in the workshop we grabbed a piece of exterior grade plywood and cut out 2 pieces at 12 x 14 inches using the circular saw.

Then took our shingle board and cut it into strips about 3 inches wide.

We cut those strips of wood into random width pieces for shingles. Again we didn’t want them to line up so we offset the shingles.

Before we attached them to the plywood, we decided to trim out the plywood (to cover the edges) with copper. Jim cut the copper sheets into strips…

And bent them around the edges of the 12 x 14 inch pieces plywood.

Time to add the shingles. Each shingle got nailed in place staggering the pieces and having the next row cover the nails.

While Jim was busy with the roof, I grabbed another piece of exterior grade plywood, drew out a door, 3 rectangular windows, and one round window and cut them out on the bandsaw.

We decided the roof needed a chimney so Jim went digging and came up with a copper pipe which he then cut down to size.

With both sides of the roof shingled, Jim attached each side with screws right into the tree trunk.

We used the copper to cover the roof on the second side to finish it off.

For the chimney I didn’t see what Jim did but we discussed drilling a hole through the shingles and into the stump big enough to fit the copper pipe in.

We needed steps so we cut blocks of wood and nailed them together making them a little crooked and about 8 inches high.

Time to put everything together. First we added the steps and the door.

And the round window at the top.

Then the three other windows, one to each side and one to the back.

Here it is from the front.

If you have a tree in your yard that needs to come down, consider building a gnome house.

There are so many ways this could be done, the possibilities are endless but it was time to stop thinking about it and just do it!!

Later.

..a few bonus pictures

And here’s a few other fairy houses we’ve built in the neighbourhood.

Also this one …