Decorating : Furnishings / Accessories : Birdhouse Decorating : Home & Garden Television

Painted birdhouses can be adapted for use around the house. This one has been turned into a cheerful pencil holder.

Designer Christy Crafton shows how to create unusual home accessories with birdhouses.

Tape and Stamp Dispenser

Materials:

three-hole-tall birdhouse
balsa wood ledges and trays
hand saw
glue or hammer and nails
screws
screwdriver
paint
paintbrush

Steps:

Modify a three-hole-tall birdhouse by first removing its roof and back panel.
Create two shelves for the top two holes with balsa wood ledges and trays. You will put your tape and stamps on these shelves and dispense them through the holes.

Figure A

Cut the back panel just under the roof line (figure A) and glue or nail the roof piece on the back.

Attach the two panels used for the roof.

Attach the rest of the back panel with screws so that it is easy to remove when you need to replace the stamps or tape.

Finish with a distressed-look paint treatment.

A distressed paint treatment is the perfect finish for this birdhouse letter holder.

Letter Holder

Materials:

horizontal, three-hole birdhouse
hand saw
strip of leather
hot glue
hot-glue gun
paint
paintbrush

Steps:

Start with a horizontal, three-hole birdhouse. Cut off one panel of the roof at the crest.

Figure B

Make a leather hinge by gluing on a strip of leather at the edge of the cut roof piece. (figure B).

Turn the piece over and hot glue the leather hinge to the main frame of the birdhouse underneath the cross piece.

Finish with a distressed-look paint treatment.

Two-dimensional birdhouses make a charming doorway decoration.

Door Decoration

Materials:

flat birdhouse shapes (available at most craft stores)
leftover wallpaper, scrapbook paper, and/or paint
pencils
wide balsa strip
quilter's square (optional)
mat knife
mini-miter box
hot glue
hot-glue gun
green paint
miniature picket-fence pieces
birdhouses
decorative accessories of choice
white glue
clamps

Figure C

Figure D

Steps:

Decorate flat birdhouse shapes with leftover wallpaper, scrapbook paper, and/or paint (figure C).
Mark 45-degree angles at each end of a wide balsa strip (figure D). A quilter's square makes this task easy.
Cut along the lines by scoring with a mat knife, then snapping it off.
Make roof trim pieces by cutting lengths of narrow balsa wood on a 45-degree angle at the right length. A mini-miter box is a useful tool. Glue to the roof.
To make the bird hole, glue a flat wood circle to the middle of the house.
Paint the wide strip of balsa wood green and attach picket-fence pieces. These can either be bought white or you can paint them yourself.

Figure E

Add the birdhouses and decorative accessories (figure E). Attach pieces to the balsa strip with white glue and clamps for a solid bond.

Birdhouses can be used to suspend simple window treatments.

Curtain Holder

Materials:

two birdhouses
decorative paper or paint
screw
drill
curtain

Steps:

Choose two appropriately-sized birdhouses and decorate them with paint or paper.

Figure F

Attach them to the upper edge of a window with a screw by drilling through the hole in the birdhouse (figure F).

Drape the curtain over the houses.

Figure G

Shelf

Use matching birdhouses to support a glass shelf. Make sure all the roofs line up evenly (figure G).

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