Create A Fancy Bee Hotel

Create A Fancy Bee Hotel.  Build your own bee hotel or update a ready made one that will blend in with your garden providing shelter for solitary bees. This is a fun creative project that you can complete in a few of hours.

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Handcrafted Society

The Handcrafted Society is focusing on summer garden projects that are either decorative or practical. Sounds intriguing to me, how about you? I’m always bragging about my HS friends because of their never ending reservoirs of clever project ideas. Of course this month’s posts will not disappoint. More on that towards the end of my post.

Create A Fancy Bee Hotel

Our front and backyard flower beds are full of Penta flowers that attract all kinds of bees. The bees that I’m noticing the most lately are the super pollinator mason bees, however I’m not sure what type of mason bee they are. 

For this project, I’m taking an easier route by updating a ready made bee hotel rather than building one from scratch. Our bee hotel will be on our fence in close proximity to flowering plants.  Hopefully we will have some business soon as the bees seek shelter.

Please note that I’m only painting/decorating the outside of the bee hotel. That way I will not be contaminating the bamboo or wood block areas where the bees might want to hide away.

From what I’m learning about solitary bees, is that they are attracted to color where they pollinate, not where they look to nest. To find a bee house similar to mine you can click on this link here.

Supplies For Decorating A Bee Hotel

• paint and paint brush
• copper leaf sheets 
• sizing and sponge brush
• twigs
• garden clippers
• hot glue gun and glue sticks

Instructions

Start by painting your bee house a color that works best for your surrounding garden. I’m using what I already have on hand, which is a pretty green paint color from Fusion called Bayberry. 

 

Once the paint is dry, you can apply sizing for leafing to the roof of the bee hotel following manufactures instructions. Let the sizing come to tact, which takes about 30 minutes. Carefully add the copper leaf, then remove any excess pieces.

To add a little character, I’m hot glueing twigs to the bee hotel much like my fairy house project, which you can see in my post here. These are just ordinary twigs, that I pick up on walks. After cleaning them up, I cut them to whatever length I need with garden clippers.

Helpful Tips For Your Bee Hotel

The subject of solitary bees is vast as you can imagine, so I’m learning as I go. Here are a few helpful tips to help you get started.

• Good placement for a bee hotel is on the east or southeast side of your home. That way the bee house will get morning sun and afternoon shade.
• You will also want to secure the bee house on a solid surface, so it will not move or shake in windy conditions.
• A good height is 4 to 7 feet above the ground.
• Have your bee house close to a mud source. They use the mud to seal the tubes.
• If predators interfere with your bee hotel, add wire mesh to the front of the house. Make sure you allow enough room between the wire mesh, and the nesting tubes for a safe landing spot.

More Garden Projects For You

Here are more garden projects from my incredibly talented Handcrafted Society friends. Be sure to click through to read the complete posts.

Wendy of WM Design House is sharing how to turn a vintage birdcage into a whimsical garden planter, with a mossy nest of trailing plants spilling through the bars. What a sweet way to give an old treasure new life in the garden.

Anna of Skylark House is sharing her ingenious way of creating a wire cloche for plants in your garden. How cute is that!

CoCo of The Crowned Goat shares her clever DIY plant tray from an old window. Just imagine how handy this is for weeding container gardens, flower beds and more.

Donna of An Organized Season is teaching us an easy way to hang flower pots to create a charming outdoor garden-inspired display.

Diane from South House Design is not only sharing her zinnia cutting garden with us, she is also sharing it with her neighborhood. Check out her handmade sign, painted birdhouses and scissors at the ready. 

Missy of Sonata Home Design is showing us a new way to use an old picture frame. Why not in the garden with this creative, budget-friendly idea that turns your garden flowers into 3-D artwork.

Be sure to follow Thistle Key Lane on Pinterest, where the boards are up to date with seasonal inspiration you can use right now!

I hope you are as inspired by these garden projects as I am. Thank you so much for visiting today, and enjoy your summer garden.

Cheers!

©2026 Create A Fancy Bee Hotel post first appeared at Thistle Key Lane.