Whimsical Birdhouse

by Hertoolbelt

5 Hours

Easy

Each year in spring the local Nature Center hosts a birdhouse competition. It's a fun little competition for kids and adults with lots of judging categories and little prizes. The Nature Center has a fun trail called 'birdhouse trail', where they display their permanent collection of birdhouses and the birdhouses submitted for the contest. This year I wanted to make something fun, and decided on the whimsical style. You can download the pattern from my blog link below.

whimsical birdhouse, crafts, outdoor living, repurposing upcycling, woodworking projects

I started by cutting the front and back pieces out of pine. Then glued and nailed the bottom and side plywood pieces on.

The roof is made from thin slat pieces of cherry. The pieces were left over from the cherry crib I made for my kids. I thought the cherry coloring added a nice contrast to the pine. A great alternative for the slats would be lath sticks or paint stirring sticks. The slats are glued and nailed, start from the roof bottom and overlap each slat until they reach the top peak. The blue swoosh things are plywood cut out to cover how the roof slats attach.

Then I added a few details, including a bird :-) I did add a perch made from an old spoon. I gave the birdhouse a light coat of polyurethane to help protect it outdoors. I really enjoyed building the whimsical birdhouse, and my kids loved it too.

Here are some of the amazing birdhouses that were entered in the competition:

This birdhouse was the winner, mostly made from copper. The builder hand made all of those metal leafs, crazy talented.

This beach bungalow birdhouse was 1 of 2 runner-ups. Look at all of that needle thatching.

This lighthouse birdhouse was the other runner-up. The builder said he spent nearly 500 hours building it. Talk about a labor of love. It is a fully functional lighthouse.

This lego man was one of the kid entries. My son loved this one!

It is fun to see the creativity people put into birdhouses. #‎SummerGarden‬

For the pattern to the whimsical birdhouse & a birdhouse size guide please visit my blog link.

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2 of 5 comments

Barb Rosen on May 06, 2014
Hope you won, because that is adorable-plus !

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Bonnie on Apr 15, 2015
Your birdhouse is absolutely whimsically darling!!! (Are there fairies living nearby??!) I LOVE it!! Thanks for sharing your project, and also the photos of the other birdhouses! I would have voted for yours as first place...the copper one is very neat, but it's copper and I think that'd be too hot for birds to live in.

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