Balsa Wood House

INSIDE : Learn how to make a simple and easy Balsa Wood House!  Not only does it look modern in your home but it is the perfect balsa wood project to start off with as a beginner.

Balsa Wood House

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This post has been updated since it’s original publish date of April 2015.

Sometimes simple is the best way to go and today’s project honestly could not be more simple.  A few years ago, I made a handful of Nativity’s for Christmas and had a decent sized stash of balsa wood sitting around afterwards.  

I have been wanting to make a Balsa Wood House ever since and finally was able to this past weekend.

What supplies do I need to make a Balsa Wood House?

Balsa Wood House supplies

Is Balsa wood the softest wood?

Yes, Balsa wood is indeed the softest and lightest of all commercially available woods. It’s so soft that you can even cut it with a sharp knife or scissors! This unique property makes it perfect for a variety of applications, including:

  • Model airplanes and boats: 
    Due to its lightness, balsa is ideal for building lightweight structures that need to stay afloat.
  • Crafts and hobbies: 
    It’s ease of use makes it popular for carving, whittling, and other craft projects.
  • Musical instruments: 
    Some parts of instruments like violins and cellos use balsa for their sound dampening properties.
  • Buoys and life rafts: 
    Balsa’s buoyancy makes it ideal for these applications.
  • Insulation: 
    It’s lightweight and insulating properties make it useful for applications like packaging and construction.

While technically classified as a hardwood due to its broad leaves, balsa is significantly softer than other commercial hardwoods. When comparing it’s Janka hardness, a measure of wood’s resistance to indentation, balsa scores around 20-35 lbf, far lower than other common hardwoods like oak (1360 lbf) or mahogany (860 lbf).

For all practical purposes, balsa remains the champion of softness in the wood world!

How to make a house made out of Balsa Wood

The first task to making a Balsa Wood house is cutting down the balsa wood slats to size. Select your base piece size.  The two side pieces I left the height they came, but the top pieces for the roof will need to be cut down.  Play around with them until you find the desired pitch to your roof.

The best way to cut balsa wood is scoring it with a utility knife a few times and it cuts in two.

Next, I gave the interior an even coat of gold spray paint. Rust-Oleum Gold Spray paint is my favorite, hands down.

Balsa Wood House gold paint

Simply using hot glue, start on one side and glue your balsa wood house together.

Balsa Wood House glue

My last step was adding scrapbook paper to the back of the wood.

Balsa Wood House green scrapbook paper

I traced the outline of the house and cut out the paper.  Using hot glue I applied the paper to the wood and it was complete!

Balsa Wood House glue paper
Balsa Wood House complete air plant

Decorative Wood House

For being such a simple decorative project, I am thrilled with how it turned out.  I love the gold, natural wood and the green paper back.

Balsa Wood House with plant
Modern Balsa Wood House

Looking for other simple wood projects like this?  You might like my Wood Cutout Frame project.

Wooden Cutout Frame

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15 Comments

  1. This house is so wonderful! I love balsa wood and use it all the time. I especially love it for charms and gift tags since it’s so easy to work.

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Oh, gift tags is a great idea! Thanks for sharing.

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks so much for the kind words, Danielle!

  2. Hi there! Visiting from the Inspiration^2 link party. This is super cute! In fact, your entire site is super cute! Thanks for sharing!

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Aw, thanks for your kind words Ashley!

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks so much, Anna!

  3. How cute is this tiny little house?! It’s funny because I just ran across some balsa wood today I had tucked away and forgot about!

    1. delineateyourdwelling says:

      Thanks, Amanda! Well, you will definitely need to dig that balsa wood out soon, so many fun projects with it. =)

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