Painted Birdhouses

Twenty nine projects with all the patterns and techniques you need to build and embellish them.

Many of these 29 easy-to-make projects work as household decorations. Each design features a full-page photograph of the finished product, instructions, patterns, and diagrams. There’s a “Floral and Hardies” house with glued-on cutouts, a shingled wildflower home with topiaries, and a “church birdhouse” for bird worshippers. Or light up your living room with a birdhouse lamp. Plus: a village of other birdhouses to build.

Produced in association with the National Audubon Society, Audubon Birdhouse Book explains how to build and place safe, species-appropriate bird homes for more than 20 classic North American species, from wrens to raptors. A visit to almost any home or garden center presents birders with numerous cute and colorful contraptions that are sold as bird homes. But the fact is, many of these products provide anything but a safe refuge for your feathered friends. Each of the easy-to-build boxes and shelves within is accompanied by cut lists, specially created line diagrams, and step-by-step photography, making the projects accessible to those with even the most rudimentary woodworking skills. In addition, this practical and beautifully presented guide is packed with color photography and profiles and range maps for the bird species covered—including titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, phoebes, swallows, waterfowl, and even kestrels and owls—to help the reader properly place and maintain the homes to attract birds. And because these projects are the product of years of experience and field-testing, you can be sure you’re getting the best advice regarding proper design, safe construction materials, and correct home placement to mitigate exposure to elements, pests, and predators. Finally, beyond the birdhouses, you’ll find out how you can contribute to the larger birding community and even enhance your birding experience with the aid of new technologies. Build an Audubon-approved home for these species: Bewick’s, Carolina, or House Wren; Prothonotary Warbler; Eastern, Western, or Mountain Bluebird; Ash-throated or Great Crested Flycatcher; Tree Swallow or Violet-green Swallow; Juniper, Oak, Black-crested, or Tufted Titmouse; Barred Owl; Eastern or Western Screech-owl; Barn Owl; Northern Flicker; American Kestrel; Black-capped, Carolina, or Mountain Chickadee; Wood Duck; Hooded Merganser; Purple Martin; Mourning Dove; Barn Swallow; American Robin; House Finch; and Eastern or Say’s Phoebe.

Leaflet features a seaside-themed birdhouse village with eight painted birdhouses projects by Wendy Leger of the Kooler Design Studios: lighthouse, fruit barn, antique shop, schoolhouse, hotel/resort, fire station, marina mart, and seaside chapel.

National architectural magazine now in its fifteenth year, covering period-inspired design 1700–1950. Commissioned photographs show real homes, inspired by the past but livable. Historical and interpretive rooms are included; new construction, additions, and new kitchens and baths take their place along with restoration work. A feature on furniture appears in every issue. Product coverage is extensive. Experts offer advice for homeowners and designers on finishing, decorating, and furnishing period homes of every era. A garden feature, essays, archival material, events and exhibitions, and book reviews round out the editorial. Many readers claim the beautiful advertising—all of it design-related, no “lifestyle” ads—is as important to them as the articles.

View a stunning collection of beautiful birdhouses, plus design specifications and tips to buy your own and what your future feathered tenants will need. Birds love houses as much as humans do. Well, not all birds—mainly the cavity nesters, which are just as comfortable inside a “house” hanging from a branch or mounted on a pole in someone’s backyard as they are inside the trunk of a tree. In Birdhouses of the World, author Anne Schmauss offers readers a collection of beautiful, whimsical, fantastical, stop-you-in-your-tracks-amazing birdhouses created by designers and bird lovers around the world. Schmauss starts off with a brief history of human-made birdhouses, then moved right into descriptions and photos of more than forty birdhouses found in the United States, Canada, England, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and Japan. Most important in her selection is the wow factor. These birdhouses are spectacular in their creativity, ingenuity, and sheer originality. With styles ranging from sleek and modern to elaborate Victorian to hobbit style, they’re as varied as human houses and illustrate the variety of designs found throughout the world. Also included are specifications for each birdhouse, a nesting chart listing the most common cavity nesters in North America and their birdhouse needs, and a guide to what to look for when buying a good birdhouse. Birdhouses of the World offers a captivating look at the creativity that can result when a functional structure is infused with a love birds. Praise for Birdhouses of the World “[Author Anne] Schmauss searched the world to showcase the “coolest” birdhouses and tell their stories. And what birdhouses she has found.” —Los Angeles Times “A fascinating, “stop-you-in-your-tracks” tour of birdhouses crafted by designers and bird enthusiasts all around the world.” —Mother Nature Network “To judge from the imaginative birdhouses in Birdhouses of the World, some birds are inhabiting stylish architecture of the sort most of us can only dream about.” —The Santa Fe New Mexican

24 inexpensive, easy-to-do projects for creating a quaint birdhouse village, including a bank, hotel, church, fire station, schoolhouse, and depot.

Detailed instructions, illustrations, and tables for building 7 attractive, sturdy, and genuinely inhabitable birdhouses. Also data on bird habitats and instinct patterns. Bibliography. 3 tables. 63 illustrations in 15 figures.

This book makes it easy (and fun!) to turn an unfinished birdhouse into something special - from a quaint Victorian roost to a southwest pueblo, a log cabin to a lighthouse ... even a watermelon, sunflower or strawberry dwelling! Twenty-two clever projects show you how to make eye-catching, decorative birdhouses for your home, and functional houses to grace your garden. No experience required! All it takes is a raw-wood birdhouse, some paint and a few accessories easily made out of twigs, Popsicle sticks, moss and other inexpensive materials. Just follow along with the clear, step-by-step instructions and before you know it, you'll be decorating your own, one-of-a-kind houses ... the kind any bird would be proud to call Home Sweet Home!