Quirky Birdhouses

Thought today I'd show a few of my birdhouses that have found happy homes and a couple who found some very happy residents.   First up is one of the Outhouse versions that I called the Sea Shantys.  My vision was to create a birdhouse that looked like an old cabin or shack near the sea.  Complete with netting and sea shells.  I created about half a dozen of them, sold some and then gave away 3 as gifts to some friends.   This one was a gift and my friend was kind enough to send a photo of it in their yard, complete with it's new residents.  The next is one which I sold to a South Florida lady who placed it in her yard and with in a couple days, had some residents.   This was one of my Hollow Log Birdhouses .  There is an old abandoned area not far from my house where I can find lots of fallen trees.  I find the ones of appropriate size and bring them back, saw them to appropriate length and begin the arduous process of hollowing out the log.  If the wood is soft enough, I can u

The outhouse birdhouse was probably one of the first types of birdhouses I started making.   I had seen a picture of one on a website and thought several things:  1) Hey that's kinda cool!  2) Hey, that looks easy to make and 3) Hey, I got some old boards, lets go make one! I don't remember for sure, however, I do know it did not take me long to finish....probably less than an hour.  It was a little wobbly - as are many of my houses - due to warped boards and trying, at times, to follow the natural flow of the wood.....but it looked good and it was fun.  There were some old hinges lying around so added those, found an expired license plate for the roof and an old house number that I put on the back as another decoration.   I tried my hand at a little wood carving and wood burning....but obviously not my forte.  Not terrible, but certainly not the vision I had in mind. This first one went into my tree and was soon occupied! Since that one, dozens have been made in

For the first post, I thought I would talk about one of my larger projects.   On occasion, I like to do something big.  The Winter Castle is the 2nd large work.   It also took me the longest.    This Castle has 2 separate birdhouses, one in each of the towers.  Well, actually, there is a 3rd very small chamber, in the center, behind the drawbridge, but not really much room for a full bird's nest.   It would be interesting to see if a bird actually nests there!   The Winter Castle is hand painted.  The windows on the back were hand painted by my daughter, so a great family project.  Each turret was hand carved and features a cloth flag on a wooden flag pole.   I had also found a fleur-de-lis ornament somewhere and I thought it would be a nice addition to the castle theme. All of my birdhouses are created using recycled materials.  I often shop at Habitat For Humanity's ReStore for hardware and accessories (maybe that's where I found the fleur-de-lis?!)