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Since my children were gunning for a project and I wanted to finally start on my upstairs hallway project, I went to the craft store to buy large canvas boards. Unfortunately, they don’t carry any large enough (GRRRR!!!!). So….I’m either going to have go to another craft store -or- make my own. But I’ll figure that out later. Although my children were disappointed, they handled it well (i.e. no whining about it), so I suggested we see if there was anything else the store had that may be of interest for a project. They were beyond thrilled when we found these unusual, unpainted birdhouses:

Although they are not the sturdiest, they looked whimsical and fun to paint…and they were only $5 (except the castle which was regularly $10, but I had downloaded a coupon for 40% off for one item, so $6). I let each child select two and, since they like for me to do projects with them, I picked two as well. OK, honestly, I really like to do things like this and wanted to join in on the fun 😉

For the past week, I’ve been thinking about what to do with them when we finish and I think I finally have it: I’d like to find an old chandelier that has arms and is no longer of “use” – too ugly, doesn’t work, etc. – and remove all wiring and candles, spray paint it, then attach a birdhouse on each arm.

I found such a chandelier on Craigslist for free and very close to me, but I found it too late and it was gone 😦 but I’ll keep looking! I’ll also have to research varnishes to see which ones are animal friendly and can withstand the elements to some extent. It would be nice if I could hang birdhouse chandeliers from a huge tree we have in our yard, but I have a secondary, covered location: underneath our balcony, we have a large loggia where birds love to nest.

Having a stone house, with porticos at each entry:

and a loggia, birds love to nest around our house to the point of hemming us in our house! They come back year after year, using the same nests, and we are always happy to see them return. My mother, however, has nagged my to take down the  nests, but if you read my “things about me” in my An Award? Moi? post, you know that that is the last thing I would ever do! You can’t even see them because they are at the top corners and one is on top of a light.

We watch the feedings from the demilune windows, put cushions down when it’s time for the fledgings to drop to soften the impact and my little ones have even had the chance to hold one when we had to put one back in the nest after a bad storm (thus the ladder in the background!)

Just in case in case you are wondering, it’s a fallacy about holding baby birds and the human scent, although it is good to continue the tale so that people leave birds alone!

When the birds are out of all the nests, they circle our house  and it’s spectacular. I just hope they are eating mosquitoes too! Once the project is finished, I will post the end result 🙂

Hope everyone is well!