A DIY Christmas Village Makeover

Do you love to think back to all of the Christmas decorations you enjoyed growing up? I know I do. If you know my mom at all, you will know that she is one of the most festive people in the world. She would decorate our home enchantingly every year. It was one of my favorite memories of Christmas. I remember all of the magic of those gorgeous Christmas decorations coming out of their boxes and the joy we felt as we got to go through them and place them all throughout the house. In fact, I think opening up those boxes of decorations was almost more exciting than opening presents on Christmas morning. I knew when I grew up that I wanted my home to be just like it. So today, I’m going to share one of my very own nostalgic Christmas decorations: my Christmas village.

I always loved looking at the Christmas villages as a child. I loved to imagine what life would have looked like in those magical little buildings. I always figured that it would be calm, peaceful, merry, and full of laughter and love. Even now as an adult, I love to go stare at the Christmas village displays in the stores. My imagination runs wild with them and they still enchant me to this day.

When this small set was gifted to me before our first Christmas as newlyweds, I was absolutely thrilled. If you’ve ever purchased pieces before, you know how pricey they can be. These particular ones were from a very sweet lady I knew years ago. They were not an expensive set, thankfully, but she knew how much I loved villages, and she wanted to gift me with some of her own that she no longer used. All these years later, I still get sentimental thinking about her sweetness and generosity.

The only thing I felt like I needed to do to make them even more personal was add a little twist to them. My Christmas decor is fairly neutral with occasional pops of red, and the abundance of color on these almost felt off with what I have. They were beautiful, they just didn’t match well with the rest of my decorations. After years of owning them, I debated giving them a little paint job. I was quite hesitant to do it initially because I feared I would ruin them. They are, after all, now precious items to me. After weighing the idea heavily, I finally decided to bite the bullet and paint them. I used an antique white chalk paint on them and layered the paint on thickly for added effect. I could have spray painted them, but somehow that just didn’t feel right to me. I wanted a quality paint on them, something with a lot of texture and warmth to it. I am so glad I finally did it.

You can see a glimpse of a newer/modern village set in my hutch, but the truth is, it just isn’t the same. I love to look at the charm and character of the more vintage style ones. They bring me so much joy in a way the modern styles cannot. Essentially, they bring me back to my childhood. The attention to detail, the old world charm, the snow on the rooftops… I just adore it all.

If you’ve been wanting a little change with your village sets and feel comfortable painting them, this is a great way to do it. If your sets are just too filled with memories to change, but you love the look of these ones, consider looking at thrift shops for ones to “refinish”. I have seen many village pieces at thrift shops that would be great fun to make into what you are looking for.

This set does have some villagers as well, I just don’t have them out currently. I also may decide to display these elsewhere later on where I will light them up. A glowing Christmas village is so beautiful. For now though, I wanted to just display them simply on my table. We usually think of Christmas villages set up with elaborate displays (which I REALLY love), but sometimes, this works too.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about these sweet little village pieces. I also hope that this brings back some fun memories of Christmas past for you. That is one of the most cherished gifts we can enjoy during the holiday season. I am so thankful for those precious memories the Lord has given to me over the years. Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you are enjoying a blessed Christmas season!