Vintage Fence Post & Barn Board Birdhouse

My son has been creating birdhouses out of old barn boards for the last couple of years and mounts them on old porch turnings or fence posts.  This house was built with a cool old knotty weathered fence post.   He also added door handles, old keys, and an old rusty hand sickle for embellishments, along with a grapevine wrap.   Usually the welcome sign on the front is hand painted, but this one is burned into the wood.  On one of his birdhouse creations, he snitched some gourds that I passed on cleaning for my art and created a cross bar with little gourd birdhouses.   Each one is unique from the shape of the houses themselves to the assortment of rusty hand tools.   A few of these barn board creations have graced the front windows at the antique shop that I work at.  The sun comes from the south in that window but does not bother them, and they lend a nice rustic charm to the antiques.   This one was created as a donation for our local school raffle that my son donates to every year. :)

My son has an arsenal of old worn out tools from sales, along with keys, hinges, and knobs.  He also has earned  a reputation  around town for taking cast outs.  So... local renovations usually bring old doors, porch turnings, and wainscot his way for the hauling... or anything else that strikes his fancy.  Of course, it is a win - win situation when homeowners are worried about filling a dumpster! ;) 

I can remember back before Farmer boy was a teenager, he use to take a lawn mower and trailer to haul items. (Now he just uses a bigger tractor and trailer! LOL)  The local bank was taking down the brick building that housed their first location.  I cannot tell you how many bricks and odd items made their way to our backyard!  My hubby and I went for a walk while this demolition was going on that summer, and there was our son going under the yellow tape for another load.  My hubby informed him of trespassing and safety issues.  It  was right at that time when the leader of the demolition team came out of the building and informed my hubby that our boy had his permission to enter the area...  We should have known that kid had all of his bases covered! LOL