Modern Cedar Fence Picket Birdhouse

Most decorative birdhouses are built for the porch, not the bird — elaborate rooflines and gingerbread trim that a cavity-nesting bird doesn't care about and a predator can perch on. This one goes the other direction: six flat cedar panels, square edges, and a small overhang on three sides for weather. It's a genuinely good beginner box-building project specifically because there's no angle anywhere in it — every cut is a straight crosscut.

The whole birdhouse comes from HALF of one cedar fence picket, resawn or planed down to 1/2" thick — considerably thinner than a picket's rough 5/8"-3/4" as-sold thickness, which is what gives this design its clean, modern proportions instead of the chunky look a full-thickness picket produces. If you don't have a way to resaw stock that thin, a table saw with the fence set carefully or a hand plane both get there; it's worth doing rather than skipping, since the wall thickness is a visible part of the design.

Assembly order matters for keeping the reveals even: sides to the front first, then the top and bottom onto that sub-assembly with all back edges kept flush — the overhang lands automatically at about 1/4" on the front and both sides, with no overhang at all on the back, which is what lets the house sit flush against a post or tree without a gap. The back goes on last, after which the entrance hole and a hanging hole both get cut through it.

Skip a perch on the front — cavity nesters like chickadees and wrens don't use one, and an unused perch is just a better foothold for anything trying to raid the nest.