DIY Bird House Night Light

I made this little bird house night light for our daughter's bedroom this fall! The total cost was less than $10 and the total time was under a few hours (counting paint drying!). The result is a fun and magical little night light that looks like a harvest moon late at night. Click below for the full tutorial and to see pictures of the night light illuminating her room at night!

First let me apologize for the cell phone shots that were taken during the process, it's all I had at my disposal at the time!

Background info: I had seen a few bird house night lights on flash sale websites starting at $90!!! I knew I could make something for much less and so I set to work.  I found this simple bird house at Michael's for under $4. They had more intricate versions, some with two stories but I preferred this one. You could also use a vintage bird house, of course clean it first! ; ) I sanded this store bought one in prep for paint but also to eliminate rough edges.

My neighbor graciously cut the hole in the back of the house using a spade bit. Because lord knows where our bit is!?

He cut a hole big enough for the night light piece to fit snuggly in while allowing the clip to remain exposed for easy removal to replace bulbs etc. I already had this night light fixture leftover from some light boxes I made during grad school, so this was not an increase of cost, but I did factor it into the total of the $10 ball park budget for this project. NOTE: If you want to, you can also cut a slice out of the wood ledge where the cord hangs down to allow the bird house to lay flat on the wall, but ours laid flat and didn't need to be altered. 

Then I painted the house with a dark blue paint leftover from a previous project. NOTE: when painting, don't repeat my mistake, cover both holes with paper or the like to ensure that no paint drips into the interior, if you want it to remain natural. I had a helluva time getting my little finger in there and sanding out a big drip! lol Once the paint was dry, in order to hang it on the wall, I drilled a small hole in the very top below the roof line big enough for a nail head to fit into.

And here it is in her room surrounded by a few bird decals with it's chord and the one to the above paper lantern kinda sorta masked by the faux flowers the husbo bought be at Terrain 4 years ago. It's a little woodland section of the room with antlers, Anthro bird plates, and framed vintage children's book illustrations.

How the night light looks at bedtime from the corner of her room where her crib sits. It's our very own harvest moon. And when we play the wave sound on our sleep sheep it's quite the little synthetic moonlit night by the ocean. It gives off great light, enough that I can rock her in the glider and not eat it when I transfer her to her crib. Since it gives off so much light, I do turn it off once she is asleep and I have left the room. Maybe when she gets older and the whole "afraid of the dark" thing potentially becomes more of an issue it will stay on throughout the night.

So there you have it, a magical night light for under $10! Let me know if you make one!?