Houzz Readers Share Their Christmas Villages
Creative enthusiasts share charming villages in a range of styles and sizes
This time of year, it’s fun to look through the comments submitted to holiday Houzz Calls in which Houzz readers share photographs of decorations in their homes. “Show Us Your Christmas Village!” from 2017 has one of the best collections of comments to peruse, as enthusiasts have continued to add wonderful photos over the years. The array of creative displays is impressive, and even better, they spread joy. However, look through them with caution. “It’s hard to stop yourself once this addiction takes hold,” Houzz user rjsmith52 warns.
Many Houzzers are inspired by Victorian-era England when setting up their Christmas villages, looking through the lens of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. “I try to make it a real-life situational story. It’s fun!” Houzz user Paul Bishop writes.
“We have been setting up a village since the original Dickens’ Village came out,” Houzz reader Gram writes. “You never can have enough people, streetlamps or trees.”
Houzz user ElegantbyDesign animated a Christmas village by adding people doing activities like shoveling snow and walking the dog.
Check out holiday decor storage options in the Houzz Shop
Check out holiday decor storage options in the Houzz Shop
A moving train adds a lot of action to this Christmas village. “Our village started with a Christmas gift of the Ashcroft Inn from my brother and sister-in-law in 1990. It grew every Christmas with additional gifts and purchases,” Houzz reader redrewry says. “The younger generations love watching the train and rearranging the people.”
Houzz reader jcbill’s Department 56 New England village has a harbor, a working train, a skating rink and a flickering campfire.
Some Christmas village aficionados spread their collection around the house. “I have houses I have been collecting for years, and it seems there is a different look each year,” writes Houzz reader angie27171, who creates village scenes for several rooms. This vignette represents a village green decked out for the holidays.
“This is my main Christmas village. It was started when my late husband’s daughter gave us our first Department 56 piece the first year we were married in 1981,” Houzz reader lmwakefield says. “That started my passion for Christmas villages, which has expanded to smaller houses for my upper kitchen cabinets, even smaller ones for the mantel and tiny ones for the bedroom dresser!”
Several Houzz readers readers use their collections to create centerpieces, like this one shared by lisadkennedy.
Houzz user Liz Quaday has a beautiful village that was handcrafted in the 1950s by someone who paid a lot of attention to detail. “Each little building is painstakingly built of balsa wood, shingled with minuscule split shingles, hand-painted and ornamented with tiny birds on the roofs and chimneys, and climbing vines and flowers in the flower boxes,” she writes. “ I feel so fortunate to have found this one-of-a-kind set, and treasure the moment each year I can get it out of storage and set it up once again.”
“I love miniature anything. So I wanted to try and start a Christmas village,” Houzz reader hill88 says. “However, I realized my miniatures were too little to see, so I put some glass vessels to use. They kind of remind me of snow globes, and I think they turned out pretty cute.”
Houzz reader jantotman created a Christmas scene with small white houses, bottle brush trees, fake snow and her husband’s model of a 1937 Chevy pickup.
“I downsized my village when we moved to our new house. I set it up in my hutch now,” Houzz user lynnhaefele says.
Houzz reader Jill Wilson also went vertical, setting her village up on built-in bookshelves next to the tree.
Limiting the color palette to white, wood and metallics gives Houzz user S.J. Gokey-Hartsfield’s display beautiful Scandinavian flair. And it’s just the right size for the mantel.
Share: Please keep the tradition going by sharing photos of your Christmas village in the Comments.
More on Houzz
Read more holiday stories
Browse photos of Christmas decorations
Shop for your home
Share: Please keep the tradition going by sharing photos of your Christmas village in the Comments.
More on Houzz
Read more holiday stories
Browse photos of Christmas decorations
Shop for your home
Shop for holiday decorations