Adding Roof and Perch to a Birdhouse

I hope you didn’t think I’d leave you hanging. Here is the tutorial for the decorative birdhouse I auctioned off for our preschool’s silent auction (just in case you want to make your own birdhouse for Christmas!)

By the way, the winning bidder paid $25 for the birdhouse. Not bad considering the house only cost me $3.

First you should know that I sawed off the perch that came with the birdhouse. And filled the hole with wood putty. Then after a light sanding and a coat of primer, I painted the whole birdhouse.

Here is what the house looked like after painting:

I used a pair of needle-nosed pliers to carefully de-scale several pinecones.

Hopefully you don’t need a bandaid like I did. Ouch, those scales are sharp!

If you have ever watched a roof being tiled, they always start from the bottom and overlap shingles as they go up. This little birdie abode is no different. I started by running a line of E-6000 (super strong glue) on the bottom of the roof. Then laid the first row of scales.

Once the first row was complete, I overlapped a second row on top of the first. Here is a peek at the roof after three rows had been laid.

Once I reached the top, I moved to the other side. I did go back and adjust any scales that moved slightly during the roofing process. And this is what the house looked like when I was done with the roof.

As the roof dried, I searched my yard for a stick to use as a perch. It took a while, but I found one that had a “T” shape so I could insert one end into the house.

I chose a drill bit that was the same size as my stick and then drilled a hole into the front of my birdhouse.

I used some more E-6000 to line the hole, then slid the stick into the house. I also put a small dollop of glue behind where the stick touched the house near the top left of the stick just to hold it secure.

I needed to add a screw eye to allow someone to hang the birdhouse if they wanted to. I simply measuring the center of the roof and then I used a drill bit slightly smaller than the screw eye to drill the pilot hole. Screw eyes can pretty much be twisted in by hand, or you can use your pliers if you need a better grip.

Now it is time to give the birdhouse some snow! First I taped off the painted sides of the birdhouse with ScotchBlue painter’s tape to protect them from the spray.

I admit it, I’m cheap. I didn’t feel like buying some fake snow, so I chose to use white spray paint and glitter spray instead.

I pulled the can pretty far away, and actually the white paint was near empty so it spattered out. Which ended up being one of those happy accidents because I liked the splotchiness. I also gave the house a light dusting of glitter spray. To protect the house, I coated it with 3 coats of clear spray.