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Whimsical Birdy Condos

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 Most of our Spring flowers have faded, which makes me sad, but I’ve found another way to add a little color to our side yard:  
Bird Condos!  
A few months ago, while out shopping, I saw a large bin of (cheap) unfinished birdhouses! They made me think some adorable painted birdhouses I’d seen in one of my free design magazines (okay, they aren’t really magazines, they’re catalogs, but I use them all the time to steal design ideas).
Now, while I love to paint furniture, walls, drop cloths, and my dog’s toenails, I’m not really good at painting details.  Portraits, landscapes, animals . . . my attempts would give you a good laugh!
So let’s just call my birdhouses “primitive” art. That way I can still pretend to be an “real” artist.

I decided to hang my birdhouses on each of the fence support posts going down my side yard.  I began with some scrap wood, cut it to the length I wanted, made decorative cuts on the top of each board (this is as decorative as I get with a power saw), painted the boards with a grey wash . . .
 and drilled holes in the top of each board for attaching to the fence (I also drilled holes through the back of each birdhouse to attach them to the boards).
Now for some close-ups of my “fantastic” artwork!
  A wee bit whimsical, right? Do you think the birds will actually try to use these as houses or do you think they’ll be scared away?  

Since these birdhouses were clearly labeled “Not for outdoor use”, I gave them several coats of a protective finish after painting them with outdoor acrylic paint.
Below is the bird condo I hung last year.  This one was made of reclaimed fence wood. Thus the nice aged (but colorless) appearance.
 These two condos are for birds visiting from Texas . . .
  . . .and, as you can see, they’ve taken up temporary residence, where they’re enjoying the mild temps of our Pacific NW summer.
Thank you so much for stopping by my yard today.
       Blessings to you,
I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!

Sunday:

Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:


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  5. Hi Patti
    Visiting from Sundae Scoop–your birdhouse menagerie is beautiful. I really like how you displayed them. I’ve altered a few birdhouses, also, using scrapbook paper and paint. I’ve also altered one of the cute little birdhouse chimes. I’m now following your lovely blog and look forward to snooping around 🙂 Hope you can come over for a visit and a glass of iced tea at Altered Artworks

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  9. Next time you want to do THIS kind of painting, call me! I’d be over in a heartbeat! 🙂 My favorite is the purple checked one, but I love the little shutters and flowerbox on the blue and yellow one. 🙂

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  11. omigosh I love birdhouses! I would have died finding that bin of birdhouses!!!!

    Love the pretty colours and the one with the fence is adorable.

    Thanks for visiting me – have a great week xox

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  17. Oh I just love this project to pieces Patti! Thanks for sharing your sweet bird condos at the party this week! I am featuring it on my Facebook page and have pinned it to the You’re Gonna Love It Tuesday board on Pinterest 🙂

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  20. oh, i love the birdhouses. very creative and pretty. so glad to have found your blog via ivy and elephants’ blog. now following via bloglovin’ and pinterest.

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