Birdhouse That's Just Beachy
You can make this DIY beach inspired birdhouse project. It's easy to put together and you can always use your favorite things. You’ll be thinking Summer when you work on this project. I’m calling the colorful birdhouse “The Starfish Cottage”.
Beach Inspired Birdhouse
You guys know I love the beach. I talk about Florida a lot (too much?). The pretty houses lining the beach always make me smile and they were the inspiration for this project.
I started with an unfinished wood birdhouse from the local home décor/craft store.
The paint for the project today is FolkArt Coastal™. I LOVE it. You may remember I used the paint on my Sisal Rope Planter last month. The plaster/ textured finish gave the planter the perfect beachy look.
The paint is sooooo fun to work with. It can be layered, distressed, textured, etc. The paint comes in 10 colors and can be mixed to create custom colors. Not that I would ever mix paints(insert Kathy winky face).
I grabbed a bunch of FolkArt paint brushes because I planned to use several colors on the birdhouse.
The first thing I did was tape off areas of the birdhouse to prevent overlapping the paint. I’m a tad messy. I also used popsicle sticks to transfer a bit of each color to a paper plate. I planned to blend the paints and I didn’t want to get white paint in the blue paint jar, etc.
I started out with the Sea Mist on the roof. The paints are thick and you can layer it on or apply a thin coat. For this project I applied the paint pretty heavily.
While the Sea Mist was still wet I brushed Seas Salt over the top of it. The paints colors blended together to give the roof a pretty washed/weathered look.
I selected Ocean for the body of the house. The color is so vibrant ……and does remind me of the ocean.
After brushing Sea Salt color over the Ocean color I stippled and textured the paints together. You can go wherever you want to with this paint. It can be applied with a putty knife or something similar to achieve a plaster like finish. Or just brush it on regular! No sealer required.
The base is Seal Gray with an overlay of Sea Salt.
I'm not sure where I'm going to display the Starfish Cottage. The paint is indoor/outdoor so you may see it on my front porch. First I have to remove the last of the Christmas stuff. If you're new here, this is how I roll.
After the painting the clean up was easy because the paint is water-based. A little soap and water and that bunch of brushes was good as new.
As you can see I swirled the paint, I streaked the paint, I smashed the paint, I had fun with the paint. Now it’s time for the finishing touches.
I went through my junk finds searching for beachy looking stuff. The “driftwood” perch is a piece of dead vine I pulled from a tree in our yard. All the extras are applied with hot glue.
Ta-Dah! The Starfish Cottage.
The paint job took 20 to 30 minutes. Seriously. The fun, junky, add ons took the longest. I pulled the “seaweed” from a few artificial flower stems.
Makes me long for the beach.
I didn’t forget the sides.
Beach Lover Birdhouse
Does the Beach Lover Birdhouse make you think of sun and Summer? How about those colors? Leave me a note with your thoughts about the Starfish Cottage.
FolkArt Coastal™ is made in the USA and the 8 ounce size is perfect for craft projects or small pieces of furniture. Check out the Coastal paint on Amazon here.
As always, thanks for being here and have a great day, Kathy
Disclosure: I partnered with Plaid Crafts to bring you this project. All words, project ideas and photographs are 100% my own.
Author: Kathy Owen (Petticoat Junktion)
Kathy is the founder of PetticoatJunktion.com, a home décor blog focused on repurposing and upcycling furniture, old hardware, rusty stuff, and thrifty finds into unique home décor. Kathy’s projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Read more about Kathy here.
Leslie Clingan
Oh how sensational this would look in my guest bedroom. Would love to replicate it! Love the partially mixed shades of blue. The driftwood perch. The seaweed shrubbery. Adorable.
Heather
Really nice! The birds won't have to fly South! However, now I think the sea is calling me.....
All those beautiful colors and the way you used them is wonderrrrrful!
Sonnie
I was thinking how cute the house was and then spotted the hinge window, great unexpected touch!
Patty Soriano
I love this! I have four birdhouses that the owner of a retail shop thought were no longer good enough to sell, so she gave them to me. I've been saving them for special attention and your inspiration might finally get me going!
Bonnie
Your little birdhouse is really cute. The colors are perfect. I have a tentative trip to the beach in Galveston, Texas planned for the end of this month and I can't wait.
Naomi S.
That is so darn cute, Kathy! I'm inspired to try one. And that paint does look like fun to use.
On another note-- I have a question I'm sure you can give me some help on. I bought this small, bright stainless steel basket and I want to use it for Easter decor. But I want to age it and I tho't you could tell me the best way to do that so it looks like old, rusty metal. I'm guessing I would need to spray paint it, then distress it a bit, but I need to know what colors of spray paint to use for the best results. What would you do?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I love your blog!
Rose L.
So cute and love the color!!!
Marie|The Interior Frugalista
I have a thing for birdhouses - our yard has more than most people think normal. Your little coastal birdhouse is adorable, Kathy. Love the colors and the embellishments. Pinning and sharing
Lynne DiCenzo
Love the dimension you gave the birdhouse and the colors are very beachy
Broken Bit Mosaics
It turned out cute. I really love the color.
Happy Easter.
Kaycee F
What an adorable bird house! The paints look like a lot of fun to work with too! Looking forward to trying out this paint too.
sheila
Cute!!
Colleen Forrester
I love the colours! It's adorable!