That is one awesome purple martin house! How wonderful of you to take it. It would be awful to trash it after it has been there for so many years. It looks like a lot of love and attention went into building it.

That is really nice!!! I can't believe it was 75 lbs!!!!

There's a sweet lady in heaven smiling down on you. God Bless. Jeanne S.

Lucky you!! Glad you rescued it,and i'm sure the previous owner is looking down on you and saying a few thank yous as well.
Kathi

Not only a sweet lady in Heaven, but her father too must be smiling. What a wonderful "save" you did.
I think it's great.

hugs, Karen

I agree with Karen, it was very nice of you to "save" that wonderful birdhouse from being destroyed. It's going to be lovely in your yard, can't wait to see it after you've fixed it up.

Sal

H E A V E N L Y ~~~~ S U N S H I N E !!!!

WOW! ! ! Now that's WHAT I'm T A L K'N About !!!!! Answered prayers !!! I Love this story !!! You are now the caretaker of the AWESOME Birdie Hotel !!!! Thanks for sharing the Pictures & The Sweet Story!!! I LOVE ~~~ Life ~~~~ Continuing !!! P A S S IT ON !!!! God Bless! SusieSunShine

Thanks everyone!! I am so excited to have been able to have saved it too. After closer inspection I have discovered the insides of each compartment are made completely of metal too, just like the top. This guy was a real craftsman, the entire house has a metal tube inside that the pole goes inside of, and then treads into the top, and a steeple type cover goes over that to keep the inside from getting weathered. The craftsmanship is flawless, and obviously the design was meant to last for years. I'm thinking white with lavender trim instead of the green. I hope he won't mind a color change as long as the rest stays in tack. LOL!!!

Ok, so I finally got all the nesting materials out, it took several days, stuff was really packed in there. And now the house is cleaned, the repairs have been made, and a primer coat is on. I still plan to make the majority of the house white, but can't decide between a lilac/lavender purple or a light/medium sky blue for the perches and over the holes trim. What do you all think???

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What a beautiful bird house! Just my 2 cents, if it's for purple martins then it kinda HAS to be purple, doesn't it? But then, I'm not a fan of blue so I don't know. You could also do some in blue and some in purple.

I also like the original green and red would look nice, too.

Not very helpful, am I?! :o) But what a great save, I can't imagine someone wanting to trash it!

Robin

Robin,
It is definately a purple martin house, but there aren't any of those around my area anymore, so other birds use the houses instead. I don't particularly care for artificial green only the kind that grows, but red is a thought.. great, now I really have no idea what color to use. LOL!!! Maybe I'll get a few more suggestions before I hit the paint store, or something will really just call out. LOL!!!

Why do you have to choose just one color??? You could Paint the roof Green or red and then paint the perches all different colors. That would be pretty. I am soo glad you got to save this wonderful birdhouse.

Awesome, what a find!!!!!
It's going to look great whatever color you choose.

I just love stories like this! Your neighbor is surely smiling down on you, because you saved her special birdhouse! You did a great job bringing it back to life. It sounds like it was built to last, and hopefully you will pass it down some day!

I picked up the paint today, decided to go with the Lavender. And picked up sp Chrome metal fence paint for the metal top too... I will post pics once it's all done.

orcascove, I know it is only Wednesday, but have you started painting yet? LOL

I can't wait to see it done. What a LUCKY GAL...

It's beautiful! I'm so glad that you saved it. It's nice to own a pretty piece of "art" like that and know the background/age/details on it.

Enjoy it - I think it's great.

adichristi - no not yet, the weather wasn't quite warm enough today, but I'm hopefull tomorrow will let me get out there and paint the first bits of color. I'll be sure to add new pictures as soon as it's done..

ok so I finally got it painted between the rain drops. LOL!!!

Here it is:

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WOW...love it, great color and great SAVE, Orcascove! Be sure to write that story down and pass it on. Jeanne S.

I Love it!!!

Gorgeous! The purple looks great with the silvery roof!

orcascove, that sweet lady would have loved, the love that you gave that birdhouse. Thanks for sharing, I love the color!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. It would have been wonderful in ANY color, but your choice is gorgeous.

hugs, Karen

That is so-o-o nice!!!!

I am so glad you were able to save this house from it's demise. I would have done the same thing. One of the things I love about garden "junk" is its history and what kind of story it can tell me. It looks beautiful after it's renovation and will probably last another 70 years. I am sure they are both smiling down at you with pride.

What a beautiful looking home! Some very lucky birds will soon be moving in. You did a great job!

Thanks everyone!! It was a really cool project, and as soon as the rain stops long enough for me to give it a good clear coat, it will be time to put it up. I'm sure that part is going to be interesting.. LOL!!!

Awesome,what a save!And a very nice renovation! Before you put it in the air for another 70 years,why don't you write some of it's history on the bottom,and seal it.As it's already had 70 years of history,it can only add to the charm when it's rescued by someone at a later date.

What i want to know is if the new owner of the house hated looking at it are you going to put the new improved version somewhere in your yard so he still gets to look at it??!!HEE HEE

Goldenpond- LOL!!! thats so deliciously evil, I wish I had seen your post before putting it up.. LOL!!! - of course since the neighbor is from the house across the street it would have to have gone in my front yard. LOL!!! He did stop by the other day while I was out back working. He just stood there for a minute with a strange look on his face,and then said, "Is that the same house? Gosh I never would have guessed it could look like that. If it had been in that kind of shape I would have kept it." - needless to say I don't think he will be giving away more stuff without really thinking about it first.. Glad I got the old wodden ladder off him before his eye opening visit..LOL!!!

OH! This is SOOOO AWESOME!!! Love the history, love the rescue, love the paintjob, love the neibors comment, sheesh, and a ladder too...WOW!

What a beautiful thing you have done.

Lovely save, I am sure the neighbor is green with jealousy. I hope you can figure out a way to get it up and down for cleaning. I don't know anything about purple martins etc but most bird houses they tell us to clean them yearly. But what a beautiful job of restoration!!!!

Gorgeous job fixing it up. And what a wonderful story. You've saved a bit of history. Can you find out the name of the man who made it? Might be nice to put a little plaque or something on it commemerating his craftsmanship and the approximate date it was made. I think that would add a whole other dimension to it.

Absolutely beautiful@!!!

Hi!, I lurk here all the time, have posted some in the past, I saw a comment about getting the house down for cleaning. When I was a kid we had martin houses. They were mounted on a metal pole in between 2 steel plates, then a bolt went thru them, the pole and the plates. this created a hinge. then strapping went around the bottom. to clean it, the strapping was removed and the pole lowered on its hinge to the ground. It took a couple of people to manage and it was a yearly chore. Maybe this can help you.

To all those who have asked about how I will clean it..... I put the house up using two poles, one is secrured into the ground with concrete, the other is the one the house is actually mounted on, I used a large eye bolt and some u-clamps to secure the house pole to the ground pole. The bolt is through both poles about a foot down from the top of the ground pole. The u clamps go around both poles for stability. This setup allows for me to take the clamps off and then loosen the eyebolt just enough to swivel the house pole down for cleaning. This particular one requires two people for that because of the weight of the house during swivel, but it is really the best way I found to accomplish the cleaning need for all my birdhouses.

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After posting the above pictures I realized that on this birdhouse pole set I put the eyebolt closer to the top of the ground pole, but it still works the same.. - Just make sure you use enough u-clamps to place one about every 2 ft up from each other. There are 4 total on this set.

Wonderful story, beautiful martin house.
Gives a whole new meaning to the word "junk"!