Number five in favorite fun post of mine is this little birdhouse I redid. I remember when I started doing my dollar day do overs and out of all of those many projects this is my favorite up-cycling project of all time. I remember the day I saw this old birdhouse sitting there on the thrift store shelf and thought what a deal I got because I couldn’t wait to fix this little gem up. I stripped it the next day and painted it all white then set it aside for a rainy day when I would have more time to work on it. I actually have a whole box of rainy day up-cycling projects that I grab when I need a little art therapy…that’s my thing. When that day came for this little house I got so involved that I finished it up in one day. My daughter was out for the day and when she came home she saw this little house all decorated up and asked where I went shopping that day. She thought I went to some boutique. I looked at her and asked why she was asking because I had not left the house that day. She knows I love little mom and pop shops and pointed to this little house and asked where it came from because she wanted it. I told her that was my up-cycling project for the day and she was shocked to learn I redid this up in one day. “It’s a very tiny house, didn’t take long at all, just the roof.” I said. Later I would add tiny fairy lights that are timed to come on in the evenings just like a miniature house in our home. Hope you all like this repost, I loved sharing this one with you all.
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Time for another one of my junk store remakes. I found this wooden birdhouse on one of my shopping trips on dollar day. Dollar day is usually Thursday at the second hand shop I shop at. There are certain colors of tags that are only $1.
When I saw this little house, I knew exactly how I was going to redesign it and couldn’t wait to get it home to start having some fun.
First I had to strip away all the things I didn’t want to be part of this house and painted it white. White is my go to color when I start over on projects. I always keep accessories I strip away from projects just in case I will need them for another project like the little pole and sign at the front of this house.
Next, I broke apart pine cones for roof shingles on my house.
Just cut the tips to flatten them out a bit before gluing them down in place.
I also added some green moss I picked up at the dollar store that I glued to the edges of the shingles.
I found a cute little door at a craft store a few months ago and use it a lot as a prompt for some of my photos. The door looks great on this house. It isn’t permanently attached in case I need it for other photos.
There are tiny flowers in bloom right now in my garden that are about the size of a dime. I knew where I was going to put these, into miniature Terra cotta pots around the birdhouse.
I also have succulents and clippings from other larger plants that grow in my garden that will look nice added to my birdhouse.
I have a bucket of vintage plastic animals that I have collected over the years. When my kids were younger they used them for their pretend playtime. I also used to give these little animals out as party favors for their birthday parties. The birdhouse needed some life added to it and this bucket of animals was perfect for that.
The fun part was putting this all together.
Displaying little scenes around the house that tell a story, like the little family of chickens next to the garden gnome on the porch, was fun to create.
If you look closely, there is a raccoon in the corner watching those chicks very closely.
There is a ladybug and a tiny vintage owl up on the roof. The owl was a gift from one of my neighbors. One morning I woke up to boxes and boxes of craft supplies in our back garden area under my gazebo, it was like Christmas. My husband turned to me and said “ The neighbors heard you were into crafting and didn’t want this stuff anymore”
It was basically a hobby store that had closed down, which had items from the 50’s to the 80’s. Every box was filled with tiny treasures, like this funky little owl with crazy eyes. Hundreds of miniatures, faux flowers, ribbon, threads, yarns and yards and yards of fabric from decades ago had been stored up in our neighbors garage.
That was a fun day. Some of the stuff I re-donated and some of it I still have to make things with. It was a ton of products.
I added bits of fruit around this house as if the gnome goes out and collects food for the day. A fabric strawberry, from the neighbor’s craft gift is next to a tiny Terra cotta pot of live flower clippings from my garden. There’s a giant carrot from my own collection waiting by the front door to be made into dinner later.
Miniature vintage bunnies, while a bit scary looking were still cute to me. The front of this house needed something. I imagine these bunnies slowly working their way up to that giant carrot on the front porch eventually.
My flower clippings from my garden look adorable with this little house.
My husband calls this the drone view. Imagine how small that drone would have to be to fly over this house.
I used miniature lights on a vine to add to the whole house. I would love to have a full sized cottage like this. I would make it an artist studio where everyone could create.
The side of the house had more of my live plant clippings from my larger garden plants and I painted some of my heart designs all over the house to add a bit of my whimsical to it all.
This was so fun to do; I might actually keep this house for a while. Usually I donate things back to someone else once I finish a project, but this one is so cute, I just have to keep it. It even comes with a chimney mushroom. I can even change things up and make it different for the holidays throughout the year. This project probably ended up costing me about $10, with the door being the most expensive item at $4. The little gnome was in my Christmas stocking, that was a gift from my kids…it’s a Swedish thing. I think it might be a little German too. I am little bit of everything,
Hope you all enjoyed this dollar day do over. Remember to up cycle as much as possible. Instead of buying something new, save an item from the dump and remake something old. Happy recycling everyone.
Special note: This is the perfect project to do for Speech therapy lessons and while you are at it, you could work in some fine motor skills by making little clay animals or tiny Easter eggs to hide and decorate around your little houses. You can find birdhouses just about anywhere used or new. This birdhouse would be perfect for searching games like I spy. Ask your children where certain items are around the house and work in some lessons on attributes and prepositions. Where, what and when questions would also be great when using this little house. What do you think that raccoon is up to? Where should the chickens be? It is endless on what you could do with a birdhouse like this. I always encourage using toys that don’t use batteries. Use your hands and minds instead and just play and create. If you are having fun, it doesn’t feel like a lesson in the end.
So cute! The pine cone shingles are a super-creative idea!
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Thank you, I have a plastic garbage bin full of pinecones. It is fun figuring out ways to create with them all, plus there are tons of ideas out there online. Check out my post https://ourlittleredhouseblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/diy-from-the-forest/
Pine cones can be made into little flowers like roses too.
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Oh, girl…I’ve got to check it out!!
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OMGosh! I love this. How artful you are. Kudos for all the reuse items.
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Thank you, this is by far one of my favorite dollar item remakes, it was so fun. Glad you liked it.
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I like your thrifty stores “dollar days” .
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These are all so neat! The pinecones for the shingles were genius! And I love the lady bug! I love ladybugs for decor!
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Thank you, just imagine all the little roofs you can make with pinecones out there. Everytime I am up north I am always picking up pine cones everywhere.
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Oh yes! I have plenty and there the small ones. The trees are in my yard!
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love it!
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Thank you.
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I don’t know how I missed this post but I am glad I finally saw it. Using the pine cone tips for the roof shingles is a wonderful idea. Your finished dollar day do over looks like it came from one of those fancy boutiques.
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You always have the most encouraging words, thank you for that great compliment. My daughter loved this little bird house the day I finished it and she came home from work. She asked me where I got it and I said ” I just made it for my dollar day post” . I think she will probably end up with it. I have an older post called DIY from the forest where I first brought up using the pinecones as shingles https://ourlittleredhouseblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/diy-from-the-forest/. Just got back from a long road trip to check on the little red house, will have a post about that in a couple of weeks hopefully. I am off now to do laundry. We don’t have a washing machine up north.
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You are most welcome. Your post are a blessing to read. Enjoy the laundry hehehe. I look forward to your little red house update 🙂
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No clue why I missed this post !!! It is awesome !! Taking pine cones as shingles…..love it 🙂 !! And all the other detail work ….. you should really give classes I’m sure people would love your kind of inspiration 🙂
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Thank you, that is so funny because someone else also missed this post (margaret from soulfood) so glad you liked it. It was so fun. I would love to teach a class on birdhouse decorating or upcycling items. I have another dollar day do over that will be posted Wednesday. My styles change because I do whatever inspires me and that one will be a lamp.
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Very cute and so beautiful little birdhouse!😊
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Thank you John. Now all I need a beautiful little bird to go with it. For now the gnome lives there…that always makes everyone laugh.
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I absolutely love what you have done with these and can understand why you are thinking of keeping the one with the pine roof for a while. Using pine cone for the roof is a very clever idea.
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Thank you Liz, wish I could take credit for the roof idea but I got that idea one day when I was at a store and saw a tree made from pine cone parts and thought they would make nice roof shingles too. So I went home and made some tiny clay house with pine cone roofs to display in my garden pots. Like a little fairy village. That was an older post as well.
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Hi, I especially love your theme of upcycling instead of buying new. I also repurpose and recycle whenever possible. Thanks for a cuuute project idea.
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You’re welcome. There is a lot out there to upcycle and isn’t it fun? This poor planet of ours already has enough piles of plastic there is nothing wrong with keeping things simple and seeing what is already here to redo and work with. I bet you have some really nice things you have re-purposed too. I enjoy seeing what everyone out there comes up with when upcycling anything.
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Wow that is one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen! ❤ 🙂 I love birdhouses and have a nice collection.
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Thank you Tanya. I love them too. I have a couple hanging around my garden. The red house has a little lizard living in it at the moment and every time I go out to water in climbs out to get a shower in the hose spray…too cute.
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That’s so cute🙂
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Wow crafts look so cute.. innovative 👍
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Thank you Chiru, they are such fun to make.
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This is very really unique helpful information. keep it up. Thank you so much!
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I wanted to read this post the other day but I ran out of time it was so late so I came back to read it today and it’s super cute just like I thought like an awesome fairy house but instead it’s a gnome house truly love this. Laura
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Thank you Laura. I do the same thing. So many post to read and so little time. I try to go back and read when ever I have a break now and then. So much out there to read and experience. A lot more positive then whats going on in most of the news and some places. There are a lot of really cool bloggers out there. Thanks for stopping by my site, now I can read all your fun adventures you and your husband go on together.
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Thanks red house, we will be checking each other out and looking forward to it. I have learned so much from other bloggers and enjoying it!
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You’re very welcome. It is so easy to get stuck here reading everyone’s cool blogs. But I have a ton of things to get down throughout the day. Have a great week.
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Red house, we agree, but theres two of us and we point out awesome stuff to each other
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Always nice when you’re a team. That is sweet. My name is Cheri by the way. I started the little red house because I wanted my family to do it along with me. Sometimes they do give me tips to add to post like recipes but mostly my daughter and I are the ones that run it. I try to include everyone through our adventure stories though, that’s always fun. Adventures are the best.
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Hey Cheri, David and I work on this together, and the kids said we can let them be in it, but I do most of the work. I think it is really fun. I have learned so much more than I put out there.
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Love that, families working together. Yeah, I am also still learning a lot, that is why my 21 year old daughter helps me. I am so old fashioned, so I tend to stick with simple things. When there is anything that involves technology I call in my son or daughter. It’s a fun hobby blogging and you will meet so many nice people too.
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