The Great Birdhouse Remodel

This old birdhouse has been with me a long time.  It had been used as a bookend for many years in my studio where dark woods and nature themes abound.  Then it went to live with my mother for a while and became a part of her decor too.  It was filled with flowers for a spell and somewhere along the line it acquired two feathery green and red birds.  This is a birdhouse with history...

Since giving it up just didn't seem right, I decided to spruce it up instead with a deep cleaning and some new paint.  This is a simple project that could easily be adapted to suit any decorative birdhouse.  Here is how I made this one stand out more and prepared it for use in our fall decor.

1. This is the birdhouse before I began the big "remodel". It had good structure but was very plain.
2. Cleaning the birdhouse was necessary before the painting could begin as so much dust had accumulated in the intricate design. I used furniture polish and q-tips to remove the grime in hard-to-reach places. 
3. To give it more style, I applied bronze-gold paint to the shingles of the roof and the latch on the door. Rather than add a full, opaque coat of paint to these areas I diluted the paint then rubbed it into the areas I wanted to have a little glitz. This way, it looks both weathered and luminescent. 
4. Lastly, to keep the birdhouse from looking too serious, green iridescent ribbons were added to the chimney and the door, then the little birds were placed inside.

There are so many ways to redesign the decorative items we already have.  How have you made something old look new and interesting at your house?