A relative mine was cleaning out her father's shed, and found 4 old license plates from the family car.

She had seen bird houses made using license plates, with the plate folded in half to make the roof, like this:

I googled and found an alternative design that does not fold over the license plate, so you can read it easily:



In this case, the license plates are of sentimental value, so it is beneficial if you can easily read the plate, like I this design.

I developed a similar design using Google Sketchup:

Here are the dimensions of my design:

I used a 30 degree angle for the roof.  The 3 bird holes are 1-3/4" diameter, and the perches are 3/8" diameter dowel, about 2 inches long. I got some hex headed screws from Ace hardware to secure the plate to the wood house.

I decided to make my bird house from plain pine, the recipient can stain or paint however they want.

Here are the bird houses under construction:

It took me 3 hours to build 4 bird houses.  Here is one of the finished bird houses:

Decorated Bird Houses

Closing Thoughts:

Angles always take more time, but the 30 degree angle I chose was easy to work with. The recipient was very happy with the 4 bird houses. I used the Nexbond 2500 super glue on this project, plus I used finishing nails to hold the box together.

I pilot drilled the license plate screws vertically into the wood. You can not drill them at an angle because the holes will break outside of the box.  They can be removed easily using a 7/16" wrench for painting the box, or eventually cleaning it out if it is placed outdoors.

My cousin loved the bird-houses, and she decorated them......and then gave them to family members.





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