When we were replacing the underground gutter drainage pipes in our backyard, we swapped out an old rain gutter for a rain chain. We rigged it up ourselves and weren’t sure how much water a chain could direct vs an enclosed gutter pipe. Turns out, they can handle A LOT of water, even doing the job during the intense flooding that California saw last month. We are now two rain seasons in and couldn’t be happier with the change. It looks so much better than the crappy gutter that it replaced and even sounds pretty. It’s been such a success that we are hoping to eventually move to rain chains in the front yard too.

For the chain itself, we bought this kooky devo hat rain chain, which would probably fit right in in a craftsman or Usonian home but I think works for our 60’s ranch too, along with this gutter adapter. Other cool chains we considered: cylinders, squares, stacked cubes.

For the basin, we originally purchased this 15″ hammered rain chain bowl, which I totally recommend if it fits your space, but the scale was off for this open area so we made our own.

We started with a cast concrete planter that we found at our local Ace Hardware. It didn’t have a drainage hole so we drilled a sloppy one.

Next, we used epoxy to attached a mesh sink strainer to the inside of the planter to keep debris out of our new pipes.

Then, we attached a PVC pipe coupler to the bottom of the basin, epoxy-ing again, to connect to our drain pipe.

Then we hung the rain chain using a gutter adapter.

And used screws and wire to attach the chain to the basin.

Lastly, a bag of river rocks to hide it all!

If nothing else, we made an elaborate dog drinking fountain.

A look at our before/drainage guts if that is helpful:

More backyard stuff here and thanks for reading!

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