Sheltering in place has given our family, like so many others, more time on our hands. We’ve always enjoyed creating crafts and painting. Being confined inside, we decided to construct some bluebird nesting boxes. We often see many bluebirds in our neighborhood, and thought it would be fun to attract them to a nesting site closer to our property.
Our family donned our masks and hit the social distancing lines at Home Depot and Walmart for supplies. My husband, Keith, and son, Corey, began constructing bluebird boxes in our garage. We sawed, sanded, and nailed our creations together. Then, we transformed our kitchen table into an art studio and began painting.
We completed our first house and named it “Original Blue.” It featured an actual bluebird painted on it. My 16-year-old daughter, Kyla, titled our second birdhouse “Taylor” after one of her best friends who was killed two years ago in a tragic accident. Kyla wanted to give the birdhouse as a gift to Taylor’s family in her memory on the anniversary of her death. It has multi-colored monarch butterflies on it and other meaningful symbols of what made Taylor so special. We wrapped the birdhouse in clear cellophane, topped it with a pretty blue bow and delivered it to Taylor’s mom.
Some of our other designs are “Hello Sunshine” − a bright yellow box with dangling lemons, inspired by a friend who is a local teacher. Our third box was called “Stay Wild,” with each panel painted a different animal print, inspired by our love for exotic animals and the Netflix series “Tiger King.” Kyla just finished a sunflower-themed birdhouse and Kelsey finished a neon-themed one named “Colours of Summer.”
We absolutely love how these personalized boxes have turned out; each one is made with love. Our designs are inspired by people we love, our life adventures, and our personal favorites. We look forward to hearing from the people we’ve given them to and the stories of the birds that will nest in these fancy homes. Our hope is to use this hobby to spread some joy in the midst of difficult times.
– Susan Montgomery
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