Spring Nesting

Wood boxes like these can be purchased on Amazon.com

What we nostalgically think of as Spring, warming weather, the bright blue skies of longer days, and the fragrance of daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips blooming everywhere, has taken its time revealing itself this year in a lot of places. While waiting for the weather to improve, I watched a delightful young dove couple build their love nest. It’s the same little couple I’ve been watching for the past three years, and I am always captivated by how purposely they select each twig, leaf, and blade of grass to meticulously weave their nest. They are preparing their home for their new family and the coming season. Watching them entwine this maze of nature got me thinking of my own home. Spring in our house always begets Spring cleaning, collecting (I can’t resist picking up seed pods, acorn caps, or bird nests blown to the ground after the Winter storms), and curating those newfound collections. This nesting and a recent trip to my friends’ beach house brought to mind this project. It has all those same elements: nesting, collecting, curating, and a dash of nostalgia.

I painted these nesting boxes for my friends as a housewarming gift, and I wanted them to be personal and versatile. (I never want someone to feel obligated to use or even keep something I’ve made them.) I knew the nesting boxes could be hung on the wall as a curio cabinet to hold mementos collected while combing the beach, set on a chest to add color to a neutral space, or used to stage hors d’ oeuvres on a buffet table during family gatherings. They didn’t have to place them on their wall, but they did, and I love that they love them.

Nesting boxes make a great housewarming gift, and additional pieces of thin wood, I used door skin, can be cut to fit inside each wood box, giving you multiple surfaces to paint and decoupage. The additional pieces can be flipped to reveal new images or removed and used by themselves elsewhere.