Make a Junky Birdhouse or better yet an entire White Trash Park for the Birds!

THE HOME: Think of all those holiday tins collecting dust. Put them to good use. Any thin metal container will work for your birds home.

MAKING YOUR HOLE: You can start the hole for your birdhouse with an ice pick or large nail and a hammer or a drill with a metal drill bit. The trick here is to get a some support on the inside so your house doesn’t collapse while your starting the hole. Use a piece of wood that’s close in size to the interior diameter of your house. Make small starter holes larger by inserting a large screwdriver and or chisel. Manipulate it against the sides and strike it with a hammer until you get the shape and size you want for your entry. Keep the sides as smooth as you can so little tweeters don’t get cut.

PERCHES: Bird perches are easy to make using eating utensils. They are easily bent to shape and inserted directly into the hole. A not so easy perch was had by using the business end of a coke bottle. I had to carefully brake off pieces of glass to fit the shape of the wood at the base of this Coca Cola house. It was tapped into the wood somewhat then secured with hot glue.

SECURITY: Give your home weight to withstand winds and secure utensil perches in place by pouring one inch of Quick Crete inside your container.

ROOFS: I found used 4″ x 4″ fence post caps at a garage sale for a dollar piece. They already had that weathered patina I was looking for. You can buy them new if you need to for a few dollars each. Paint with a light coat of Latex then sand off the high spots for an aged look. Protect with Polyurethane Sealer for longevity. The Saltine Tin was the perfect fit for my roof. The Roof slides on and off like a lid. For the Coke Tin I used hinges.

CHIMNEYS: A Reeses Peanut Butter Spreader slides into a slender hole I made by drilling multiple holes side by side. The Pop Bottle Chimney was made the same way the Perch was (described above).

ACCESSORIES: Dots of melted solder were glued to the front of the tins for decoration. I recommend using Super Glue.

Okay this was your starting point. The rest is up to you. Have fun and let me know how it turns out.

Artists create 3D sculpture from Red Bull Cans. Click here to see their gallery.

Today I had 16 old window frames and 15 old picture frames to resuscitate. Many of the old window frames came from my own home, which is a renovated 100-year-old schoolhouse. Other frames have been collected over the years from Grandpa Chapman in his landlord days and from our Cabin on Higgins

Lake. I regularly visit the Salvation Army and Garage Sales for picture frames. Many of the frames I find are professionally done from years ago. They are not the “Made in China” Frames we see today. Under the dust is nice quality wood ready to be rediscovered. That is where I come in.

First I removed the glass from the windows, leaving just the frame. Very old glass is almost impossible to get very clean and it’s more difficult to clean the frame with the glass in it, so bye-bye glass. CRASH! CRACK! SHATTER! SHATTER!

These were the sounds in my neighborhood today.

(They love me!)
I however was able to RELEASE.
Ahhhh! Quite therapeutic.

Next remove all remaining caulk. I use a sharp putty knife. It could come right off if it is really old or relatively new or it could take a bit of finesse if it’s somewhere in-between. (Like most everything else in life, I just plan on scraping)

Old wood ALWAYS needs a good bath. I use warm soapy vinegar water and a sponge to wash, a garden hose to rinse and the sun to dry.

In the meantime I went to work on the picture frames, removing pictures and glass, sanding, cleaning, staining and varnishing. They are now drying also. When the window frames are completely dry tomorrow I’ll finish them off as well.

Here are some previously refurbished frames hanging in front of me as a reminder that all this work is worth it.