Ever wanted to make a beach hut birdhouse? Read on!
In the past I’ve given a boring old chest of drawers a makeover, as well as giving a little shoe-rack a new lease of life and turning it into a bench-seat.
But last weekend, I decided to make a beach hut birdhouse for the garden.
I’d already one one plain birdhouse that was ripe for a makeover.
But what’s a girl to do with a lonely little birdhouse?
Make things a little more sociable and add a couple of others to keep it company of course!
I decided to turn my bird house in to a row of beach huts.
Quick View of What You'll Find on This Page
How To Make a Beach Hut Birdhouse
We went to Brighton recently and saw lots of lovely beach-huts at the sea-front and it gave me the inspiration to paint the birdhouses in a similar way.
I ordered a couple more bare wood birdhouses from Buddly Crafts and two pots of chalkpaint.
I’d already got half a pot of Annie Sloan’s Old White chalkpaint — from the chest of drawers upcycle — so chose Vintage Green from Americana Decor and a mauve chalky vintage look paint from Viva Decor.
Chalkpaint is fab for outdoor items.
In order to make the birdhouses butt up together, I had to saw off the overhanging roof and base either side of the middle house and the left and the right of the edges of the outside boxes.
My GCSE woodworking skills came into play and it was a fairly simple task to do this ;)
Next, I stuck the three houses together using a glue gun, then filled any gaps with woodfiller. When it was dry I sanded it down, then gave it a coat of white chalkpaint.
When the first coat was dry I painted the designs using the coloured chalkpaint.
If I’m 100% honest, the coverage on the green was much, much better than the mauve. The paint seemed to contain a lot more pigment and the finish was much smoother and not as patchy.
And here is the house after painting.
Social Housing
Definitely an improvement. I like to think of it as social housing, although my boy pointed out that some garden birds are fairly territorial and probably won’t appreciate my efforts.
Neither would they appreciate my final addition — some tiny bunting! This is purely for decorative purposes as it’s made from paper and string.
Plus, I don’t think the birds will be able to get in the doors — let alone appreciate it — but I thought it looked very sweet!
So there we have it. How to make a beach hut birdhouse! Coastal chic for our feathered friends.
I hope you enjoyed this up-cycling project as much as I did!
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Make a Beach Hut Birdhouse
Ever wanted to make a beach hut birdhouse? This is a great way of turning plain, bare wood birdhouses into something special!
Materials
- 3 plain birdhouses
- Chalkpaint
- Woodfiller
- Glue
Tools
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Gluegun
Instructions
- Take 3 bare wood birdhouses. I bought mine from Buddly Crafts.
- Place the three birdhouses together. If your birdhouses have an overhanging roof or base, saw these off, so they fit snugly together. You'll have to mark your line with a ruler and pencil before you start sawing.
I sawed off the edges of the base and roof of my middle house. And the left and right edge of the outside houses. - Next, glue the three houses together.
- Fill in any gaps with wood-filler.
- Sand until smooth.
- Paint them!
Notes
I made some tiny bunting with paper and string, to pretty my birdhouses up for the purposes of this tutorial but this isn't necessary! If you want to attract feathered residents to your beach hut birdhouse, it's probably better to omit this stage!
Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.
