From The Workshop: Birdhouse looks like my family home in Norwich

When designing a new style of birdhouse recently it didn’t dawn on me that I was following some parts of a pattern that another builder had followed over 100 years ago.


["This looks familiar," I thought: photos by GAH]

But when I was finished two ‘new ones’ yesterday it struck me funny that they looked quite a bit like the 900 sq. ft. home I grew up in (from age 6 to 18, with 4 sibs and 2 parents) back in the village I still call my hometown - Norwich, Ontario.


["Hmmm, it looks like a house I know"]


By examining a fairly recent photo of our century-old home I bet you can see some similarities.


["My gosh. I lived in a birdhouse!"]

Okay, sure, only the birdhouse has a fence at the front. And there’s no door on the left side of my family home. Or bottle caps nailed to the wall. Or 4 round holes drilled in the front. And the birdhouse is smaller when counting square footage.

But, other than those things - almost a perfect match, eh?

Oh, on a different topic. I built a second feeder yesterday too.

However, it only looks like a feeder.

.