Living in a cold climate, we try to always create a bit of summer for ourselves, even in winter time greenhouses and winter gardens are almost impossible to create in typical urban apartments with a small area. However, even there it is really possible to distinguish a corner for converting it into a kind of alpine slope with stones, murmur of water, plants and birds singing. In cold winter evenings you always want to come in contact with nature. It will be helped by an object like an alpine slide in an apartment: Is it possible to create an alpinarium at home? Today everything is possible. It is only necessary to show some imagination and diligence. After all, it's nothing more complicated than to build a massive fireplace in the room, and it will look very original.
How to make a real alpine slide inside the house?
First let us consider the simplest "windowed" version of the independent construction of an alpine slide inside the room. To implement this venture, we need some flat and fairly rigid foundation. A large old tray or a regular piece of plywood is quite suitable for this role. In addition, to create the very elevation will need stones and various seashells. Clamping all the components together is necessary with a cement glue mixture with a special gun. Still need two bottles of foam. Both the shape and size of the future roller coaster depend on its foundation, so it is necessary to take care of it beforehand. If you use plywood, then the base can be cut for any pattern using a jigsaw, not limited to a rectangular shape. Rounded lines are more preferable, since nature does not tolerate straightness.
An example of an alpine slide inside a room with a plywood sheet
base. Unlike an open space in an alpine slide, indoors, plants can not be planted directly. It is required to insert pots between the stones. The simplest option involves laying a slide of stones with the gradual placement between them pots for planting alpine plants. Stones are bonded with glue so that they do not fall apart with time. You can also make a frame for pots of wire, which will then be overlaid with stones. When constructing a slide, pots should be placed in plastic bags, since moisture should not, in any case, penetrate into the masonry and reach the floor. After all, it can lead to the formation of fungus and mold.
As a decorative element for a home Alpine slide you can use snags found in the forest. If you remove the bark from them, clean them and cover them with stain, then such decor elements will last for a long time. The crusts must be immediately attached to the base with an adhesive gun.
Alpine hill with the stylistic design of part of the wall
If finances are allowed, it is possible to create a more complex alpine hill inside the house or apartment. It is only necessary to take into account the weight of stones during the construction of this object in the apartment of an apartment building. After all, the load on the floors has its limitations. To create such an alpine slide you will need an artificial stone. It is made in the form of small tiles, which are glued to the walls. The appearance of this material is almost no different from natural stone, but it is much more convenient to work with it.
If the object is planned even before the finishing of the floor, then in the corner, where the construction of the alpine slide is planned, you can pour a small podium from the concrete mix. Its form can be very diverse. The height of the podium should be such that it rises above the floor by about 10 cm. Then, after the installation of the floor, the podium can be decorated with small stones and seashells. They are glued to the glue composition. On the adjacent walls glued tiles made of artificial stone, you can with wallpaper, emphasizing the style and deepening the perspective.
When all this is ready, install pots under the plants and overlay them with stones at your discretion. If the hill is built in a city apartment, then it should not have a lot of weight. This is achieved by using a mounting foam. Cylinders with it emptied directly on the base, trying to give the desired shape. When the foam freezes, it expands greatly in volume. As a result, a rather high and voluminous heap will be obtained.
Heap from the assembly foam, which will soon turn into the alpine hill
With the help of a knife, it is given the necessary shape and holes for pots with plants. Having installed them, a heap of foam is pasted with stones. It should be done as naturally as possible with imagination included to the limit. The alpine slide made in this way will have a low weight and will not exert excessive load on the interfloor.
The photo shows the version of the alpine hill with the decoration of the walls under the stone
The design of the slide with the help of vegetation is also subject to certain rules. In the foreground, pots with ground cover plants are placed. They can be combined with undersized and curly individuals. In the background, you can put higher cultures that should not obscure the rest of the
flora. A simpler version of the alpine hill with the decoration of the walls with decorative stone
Alpine hill with fountain inside the room
There are several possibilities for building a small rock garden with a waterfall or a fountain. The simplest option is a drop waterfall. For this, an ordinary dropper is used. Two tanks are masked among the stones one above the other. Water through a dropper drips onto the stones from the upper container and flows down to the lower one, creating the illusion of a small stream. This option requires periodic removal of water from the lower tank and adding it to the upper one. For normal operation of a device of this kind, only 2 to 3 liters of water will suffice.
A more advanced version can be considered an alpine hill with a waterfall or a fountain, the work of which is carried out by means of a special low-power pump that is able to lift water from the lower tank to the top. In this case, water in the case of a waterfall simply flows down the rocks. If you make a fountain, then all the details for it, including the pump, can be purchased in the kit. It only remains to hide all this equipment between the stones. The main task when building an alpine slide in a house or apartment with running and gurgling water is to prevent it from flowing past the tank. For this reason, the stones must be glued in such a way that the water goes where it should be, and when the fountain is installed, it does not spill out of the structure. To further revitalize this green corner, next to it you can install a cage with a canary, parrot or other living creatures. Not bad will look like an aquarium, organically inscribed in the Alpine hill. In this case, even the work of a compressor to inject air into the water for fish will be a great way to revitalize the entire landscape.
An example of an alpine slide with a waterfall
Creating a rock garden inside an apartment or a house is a very original design decision. Successful implementation of it will revive your world and make it more mobile and beautiful. The embodiment of such an idea does not require special knowledge, skills or financial costs, but it will create a real green oasis inside your home.
