Birdhouses in the Making!

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This last Sunday , I had the opportunity to go visit one of my favorite antique malls , "Sherwood Antiques". I just love browsing and always come home inspired. This time it was all about making birdhouses from old things! If you ever come through Princeton, Illinois on I 80, you are not far from Sherwoods. This vendor has a great booth and worth the stop for a shopping trip there!
There is a booth there where this very talented gal makes some affordable old birdhouses from old collectibles. (Now I say gal...but it could be a guy with all this talent!) They used an old mailbox , distressed painted it black , added an entry hole to the front, embellished it a bit and had one cute bird house! Guess who has a mailbox on a post by her front door??I am now on a mission!!! On it presently, I have a wonderful hand painted snowman mailbox wrap by artist Beverly Atkins .Before beginning the springtime project, I will remove this and put it back on next winter. Another idea they were selling was birdhouses made from old pails, tin chick feeders, old coffee cans with pan cover roofs, brooders, enamel ware with lids, old boxes and small drawers with roofs of old lids, punched tin, license plates, etc.. and may others. You can imagine the things you can use. I came up with this washboard and hat birdhouse idea..it will be hanging under our Sunsetter awning on the back patio, so it will be protected more. I hope this inspires you to find a special old container to make yourself an unusual birdhouse as well! Don't you just love coming across booths like this one! I only wish I could have taken pictures to show what this booth was like..awesome! Of course they had old tools , yard ornaments and other garden themed collectibles. FYI...I was reading the other day about birds and their nesting habits . Every year I throw out pieces of raffia, string, or yarn to help the birds out. The writer warned that we use very short pieces as they could get their legs tangled or hurt themselves from too large of pieces... recommending no longer than one inch pieces.