The Wine Cork DIY That Will Attract Feathered Friends To Your Yard

For those that love wine drinking and bird watching, this DIY birdhouse is the perfect craft. Many times, wine corks are saved up in jars or vases and just sit around the house, but you can finally put those corks to good use by upcycling them into a place for your feathered friends to rest. Additionally, this project can be extremely inexpensive if you already have a bunch of corks, since the only other thing you need is some hot glue. This project is also a great way to practice sustainability and is extremely versatile, as you could design the shape of your house however you like or add accessories, like a perch.

This project will likely require over 100 corks, but if you don't have that many, there are several websites that sell recycled wine corks at an affordable price. For example, Widgetco sells used corks in bulk for cents per piece and Cork House has bags of 40 recycled corks for $7 for crafters. Recycled natural wine corks can also be found on Amazon. While corks can be purchased from craft stores, they are generally more expensive and not recycled.

There are several ways to create your own upcycled birdhouse with wine corks, but no matter how you structure your corks, you will need four walls (one with an opening), a base, and a roof. This will ensure that your house has good coverage from the elements for your feathered friends. Besides that, your house could be square, with all the walls having the same dimensions, or rectangular, and your roof could be flat or triangular.

Start making your base by gluing at least four corks together at the ends, forming a line. Now, make five of these cork sticks and attach them lengthwise to create a board for the floor of your birdhouse. For a rectangular house, make the two longer walls by gluing nine corks together side by side, so that they can stand up. Do this four times, and then glue two of the sections together so that the corks are all going the same direction to create each wall. For the shorter walls, make two sections of five for each wall and attach them the same way as the long walls. Now, you'll need to add some more corks horizontally to your short walls to create the opening. Glue three corks together at the ends, making a line, and repeat this three times before attaching them lengthwise. These nine corks will go horizontally on the back wall to ensure it's the same height as the front wall with the opening.

To make the opening, glue two corks horizontally onto each side of the top of the short wall, leaving an opening in the middle. Add another cork on top of each of the ones you just placed. Make two more lengthwise rows of three corks, glue them together, and place them on top of your front wall. If you'd rather have a square birdhouse, decide on how large you'd like each wall to be and make them all the same size, leaving a few corks out of the middle of the front wall for the opening. When your walls are finished, stand them up and glue them to the base and each other.

For the roof, you'll need twelve sets of three lengthwise corks for each side. Glue them together to form boards like your base. Now, you'll need to cut the corners of your front and back walls to form a triangular shape that the roof can rest on. Glue each side of the roof into place, and your birdhouse is finished. If you'd like, try cutting a cork in half lengthwise and gluing one piece in front of the opening of the house to act as a perch. For those who would prefer their birdhouse to have a rounded opening, use a dremel or knife to cut the corks around the hole into the right shape. This project is a great way to repurpose wine corks and attract more birds to your yard.