This Instructable provides an easy way to construct a sturdy bird house that was designed, built and stained in just over 1 hour!!

I wanted to create a birdhouse that has more focus on architectural design then the traditional birdhouse. I designed this quickly in Google Sketchup but this can easily be done on some graft paper. I show both methods in this instructable.

Other than the drill to make the entrance hole I completed this entire project using hand tools and HOT GLUE

Materials

Wood - I used 1/4 " thick wood I had from an older project but this can me purchased for cheap at your local Home Depot or other home renovation store.

Saw - I used a simple and saw

Graph paper or other form of drafting equipment

Pencil

Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

Step 1: Gather Materials

For this project I used 1/4" thick wood from Home Depot I had left over from a different project.

Its key to see what materials you have and to measure everything because this will reflect what your design will look like. If your widest piece of wood is only 6" wide like mine you know that your birdhouse can only be 6" wide.

Step 2: Design

For the design process I grabbed some graph paper and spent about 10 minutes drawing three different concepts.

From there I refined the concept I liked the most, Then built a scale model in Google Sketchup

This entire process took me about 20 minutes.

Step 3: Measure, Cut & Drill

Okay so now that you have a design its time to draw out the sides of your birdhouse on your wood and begin cutting of the pieces. I used a handsaw making a small score with the saw before trying to cut through completely.

after I had all my sides roofs front and back cut I drilled my entrance hole

**** I did not have the correct bit for my entrance hole so I used something that would work but I made sure to drill a few pilot holes so I wouldn't split the wood****

Step 4: Get Your Glue On!!

Now that everything is cut heat up your glue gun and begin assembling your birdhouse.

I glued the bottoms of each piece down then added more glue to every seam and any gaps making the birdhouse completely water tight and safe from the elements.

****Try to keep your walls straight as best as possible and add glue where you need to. More glue is good and will make your birdhouse much more stable. extra glue can be added to the inside to make it stringer and not be visible***

Step 5: Stain and DONE!!

I happened to have some walnut oil that I use on my cutting boards. It worked great on the roof providing some protection from water as well as giving it some unique colour for the roof.

Allow this to dry for 10 mins then wipe dry and you are done. The bird house is ready to head outside and be installed where you like.

At this point if you wanted to add some paint or detail work feel free. Because this will be going outside i decided to keep it as natural as possible.