DIY An Adorable Birdhouse By Repurposing Your Old Teapot

If you're looking to get more birds in your yard, making sure you have birdhouses, or nesting boxes, is one of several simple hacks to get birds to flock to your yard. You could just go and buy a standard bird box, but you could also reuse old items or make a charming decoration for your yard that's functional and cute. In these cases, using an old teapot you have lying around, or thrifting one that would otherwise be tossed, to make a birdhouse is a great solution. 

The first step is the most challenging. The hardest part is drilling a hole through the porcelain, or whatever teapot material you chose, without breaking it. There are a few tricks to try. The first is covering the area you want to drill into with painter's tape. Then, carefully, hammer a hole just big enough for the tip of the drill to go into. This helps stop the porcelain from cracking. Another option is to place water on the teapot, where you will be drilling. This can be a little messy, but it helps to absorb the vibrations caused by the drill, and reduces the risk of cracking and breaking. Additionally, water absorbs heat, which protects your drill, and reduces the chances of cracking, as well. A diamond core drill works best, but you can work around it a bit by having water on the surface and dripping more near the drill as you go. 

Once you get the hole drilled in, the rest is easy. You will just need to screw some wood together, attach the teapot to the planks, add other colors and decorations (if desired), and hang your creation up.

If you don't have an old teapot lying around at home, there are still ways to repurpose old ones. Check out your local thrift store, or some place like Goodwill, where you can find cheap, used teapots and give them a new life.

There are a few things to look out for when picking out a teapot. For a birdhouse, you want something that is plenty big. The opening needs to be large enough for a bird to get into, but preferably too small for predators to use. Every species needs a slightly different size and shape, so think about which species you want to attract to your bird feeder before you pick a teapot. For example, if you're looking to keep invasive sparrows out of your birdhouses and nesting boxes, you need to make sure it's not easy for them to get in, and picking a smaller box is a great option. Consider the inside too. The pot needs to be large enough to safely house baby birds and a nest.

You can let your creativity run wild with this DIY, as shown in the video above. Though many classic teapots are beautiful and have a sort of refined charm to them, that doesn't mean you need to leave them as you found them. You can paint them as you wish, along with the stand they are on as well. If you have several teapots lying around you don't know what to do with, you could make a couple of different birdhouses. Or, you could go with a teapot-themed backyard by making other objects, including transforming an old teapot into a stunningly rustic outdoor water feature.