What is a whimsical birdhouse — and what makes one last outside?

A whimsical birdhouse is a decorative birdhouse designed to look like a storybook house — crooked, curved, painted, or shaped like a gourd or dome — instead of a plain wooden box. Curvy Birdies birdhouses are handmade and hand-painted in the USA, finished with a protective topcoat, so they work as garden art as well as a home for small birds.

What "whimsical" means at Curvy Birdies

Curvy Birdies makes crooked houses, gourds, domes, and A-frames with painted trees, flowers, doors, and windows — the kind of piece people stop and ask about. Because each one is painted by hand, every birdhouse will vary slightly from the photos, and that is part of what makes it yours.

Featured models include Crooked House Happy Trees ($74.99, a top seller), Sunflower Gourd ($75), Cherry Blossom Dome Birdhouse ($74.95), Blue floral engraved dome ($60), and A-frames ($65).

What makes one last outside?

Each Curvy Birdie is finished with a protective topcoat so it can live outside in your garden, on your porch, or hanging from a tree. That topcoat is the difference between a painted decoration that fades quickly outdoors and a garden piece made to stay outside.

To help it last:

• Hang it from a sturdy tree branch, porch hook, or garden post, in a quiet, sheltered spot out of harsh wind.
• Keep it steady, not swinging wildly, where you can enjoy watching it from a window or porch.
• For care, a gentle wipe is enough for most dust and dirt — do not use harsh cleaners on the painted surface — and check it at the end of the season if you want to keep the paint looking its best.

A note on the House Digest mention

House Digest put the Cherry Blossom Dome at #1 in its roundup of unique wooden birdhouses, calling Curvy Birdies "a U.S.-based birdhouse maker that has received hundreds of glowing reviews on Etsy." That is the kind of outside recognition shoppers and search tools notice — and it is now worth having on Curvy Birdies' own site, not only on House Digest.

Shop and shipping

Most Curvy Birdies birdhouses are $65 to $75, and Curvy Birdies ships within the United States. See the collection at Curvybirdies.com, and follow @curvybirdies for new designs.