How To Make The Cutest Bird House Planter For Your Porch

From tips to encourage birds to use the new bird feeder in your yard to learning how to make a charming bird house, there's always something new to try if you love birds. But for people who live in an apartment or a home with limited yard space, there can be such a thing as too many bird houses. Luckily, the charm of a bird house isn't limited to the outdoors. Inspired by a video from the DReyes DIY Unique Crafts YouTube channel, this project lets you combine your love of birds with gardening. It's a charming bird house perched on a piece of driftwood beside a planter box, all on a shared base.

When finished, this bird house planter looks like real wood, but it's made from craft sticks and cardboard scraps. The roof is made from toilet paper rolls, and all you need to get started is a sharp knife and a hot glue gun. For an idea of the scale, the whole thing measures about a foot tall. Although this one has been stained to look like natural wood, you could paint one to match your decor. Craft sticks help give it structure, but you can use many different types of materials, including fabric, pieces of metal for the roof, or scrapbook paper as decorative windows to make this idea your own.

This cardboard and craft stick bird house planter is functional whether you keep it indoors, place it on your porch, or give it away. You can make this any size you want, but in this example, start by cutting four pieces for the bird house, including two 4-by-4-inch side panels. The front and back are pentagon-shaped with a flat bottom, angled sides, and a pitched roof. From top to bottom, the pentagon measures 6 inches, with the widest spot measuring 4½ inches where the sides meet the roofline. After cutting an arched door for the front, you can start gluing the pieces together with a hot glue gun.

Once assembled, coat the exterior with wood glue and line it with craft sticks. You can use them horizontally or vertically, or a combination of both, depending on your design. Then, cut toilet paper rolls in half lengthwise. Fold each piece in half lengthwise again and shape them into a nice curve before gluing the two sides together. With four of these glued vertically to a piece of cardboard, you have a roof plane finished. Make one more to complete the structure, and after attaching these to the house, use one more half toilet paper roll for the ridgeline. Use Mod Podge to cover these with scraps of white paper and allow everything to dry while you work on the planter.

The planter is trapezoid-shaped, made with a 4¼-inch square base and four sides, each measuring about 5 inches across the top, 4¼ inches at the bottom, and 4¾ inches tall. To make the planter water-resistant, each side is covered with wood-look contact paper, trimmed at the side and bottom edges and folded over at the top to cover the exposed cardboard. These pieces are glued together before being covered with craft sticks to match the bird house. A platform for the bird house and a rectangular base for the entire structure are also made from cardboard and craft sticks. Next, the bird house platform is elevated with a piece of driftwood so it sits even with the planter. 

Once everything is stained and assembled, finish by painting the roof and door trim, adding moss around the base, and preserving it with clear acrylic to make it durable enough for your porch. You could paint the roof with Rustoleum Hammered Spray Paint in Silver to make it look galvanized, or even choose some type of aluminum to replace the toilet paper rolls. This planter DIY can be used to hold seasonal flowers or to create a faux floral arrangement for low-maintenance decor. It would also make a great template for DIYing a bird house from recycled materials such as pallet wood scraps, which would make it more durable and weatherproof.