The DIY Birdhouse That Blends Into Your Garden Bring on the Birds!
STEP 2: MOUNT YOUR POT. Take your flower pot and align its drainage hole to the hole you drilled in step 1. Then, slide one of the washers over the carriage bolt before pushing the bolt through the drainage hole and into the drilled hole. Slide a washer over the end of the bolt sticking through the other side of the fence or wall, and twist the nut onto the bolt to hold the pot in place. STEP 3: GIVE THE HOUSE A DOOR. Use your 1 1/4-inch hole-boring drill bit to create a door in the round wooden plaque, about 1 1/2 inch from the bottom. Use the sandpaper to smooth out the edges of this hole for the birds’ safety, and use your outdoor acrylic paint to coat only the outside of the plaque and let it dry.
Springtime is filled with flowers, baby animals, and colorful birds flitting through the sky. And while many people love to watch our fine feathered friends, not everyone wants to put a colorful birdhouse in their yard that clashes with their decor or attracts unwanted visitors like squirrels.
Luckily, there is a style of birdhouse that will blend into your yard, keep pests away, and is incredibly easy to make — it’s a flowerpot birdhouse!
To make a flowerpot birdhouse, you’ll need the following items from your local hardware store:
• Drill with a regular drill bit and a 1 1/4-inch hole-boring drill bit • Two 1 1/4-inch fender washers • 1/4 x 2 1/2-inch carriage bolt • 7-inch-diameter flowerpot (preferably terracotta) • 1/4-inch nut • 6-inch-diameter round wooden plaque • Sandpaper • Outdoor acrylic paint • Sponge brush STEP 1: CHOOSE YOUR LOCATION, AND DRILL! Pick a vertical surface like a fence or wall to mount your birdhouse onto. Try to pick an area where people rarely walk. Then, determine how high you want the birdhouse to be, and use the regular drill bit to make a hole. Why Fatemeh Recommends Dr. Scott ‘The Best Doctor’ Fatemeh’s ophthalmologist referred her to Eye Plastic Associates after she developed ptosis, causing heavy, drooping eyelids. “It was really hard for me to see,” she remembers. She visited Dr. Scott to receive a repair surgery and improve her vision. During her first visit, Fatemeh says, “I could tell he was the best doctor. He was so kind and professional, taking his time and explaining everything to me.” Fatemeh was a nurse for 40 years, so she knows a thing or two about patient care and bedside manner, and she was particularly impressed by Dr. Scott’s. “When he explained something, he’d pause to give me enough time to think about it and ask questions,” she says. “I never felt like he was pushing me, and he was so kind and patient.” When the time came, “Surgery was great,” Fatemeh says, so was recovery, with her reporting, “Everything healed smoothly.” She can now see much better than before the procedure and is very pleased with the results.
Once the paint is dry, push the wooden plaque into the pot until it is firmly wedged inside, and you’re done!
This birdhouse is an excellent way to attract birds to your yard without the obviousness of a stand-alone house. Also, its lack of a perch stops predators from gaining a foothold that can lead them inside. To make the pot more discreet, hang it in a corner where shrubs or trees block it from view.
Fatemeh is married with two adult children and gushes, “I’m so happy in my life.” But her path was not always an easy one. She immigrated to the U.S. from Iran 37 years ago. Fatemeh was a nurse-midwife in her home country. She needed to be relicensed as a registered nurse in America. Not understanding the English language at the time made relicensing even more challenging: In a dramatic understatement, she notes, “It was not easy!” Looking back, she says, “My children are so proud of me because I landed in the U.S. with two children, spoke no English, and didn’t know anybody. My daughter said, ‘How did you do that?’” These days, Fatemeh tries to remain as active as possible, walking 5–7 miles most days and belly dancing “if I have time.” She remains grateful to Dr. Scott for his care and her newly-restored vision. “Dr. Scott really cares about his patients; he treats them like his own family,” Fatemeh says. “I can’t even explain how wonderful he is.”
2 EyePlasticMD.com
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