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Confessions of a Serial Do-it-Yourselfer

Simple DIY tutorials and thrifty furniture and decor makeovers

Painted Christmas Village

Hello sweet friends! The Thanksgiving Holiday here in the US is over and that means the Christmas season has officially begun! I’m kicking it off with a super simple makeover. I found these mini Christmas village houses at the thrift store for $6 for a set of six:
It’s no secret that I love all things Christmas village. You can visit my treasured Christmas Village collection HERE if you like. One of these didn’t really match the others so it’s not pictured. You already know that I planned on painting them, right? But….did you expect blue?
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
Why not? Add a little glitter and voila…Christmas coastal style!
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
You could paint them any color that inspires your Holiday decor. I’ve included a few affiliate links so you can find the products I use.  I started by spray priming the set using Rustoleum spray primer:
Next I spray painted them using Rustoleum in Robin’s Egg:
Rustoleum Robin's Egg Blue
Then to give these sweet houses some sparkle, I added a little glitter from Hobby Lobby as soon as I sprayed the second coat of Robin’s Egg…
I only added a dusting of glitter from above. They look pretty on this tray I bought at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago. I added my favorite faux snow from Michaels…
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
You can find it HERE as well. It’s super fine and so realistic.
https://amzn.to/2DMjFz6
 
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
I haven’t added any holiday decor to my built-ins yet, but I did add a few things in here. And we got our tree the day after Thanksgiving…
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
So my Hubby makes a Christmas video each year that includes all parts of the Holiday season. This year he wanted something new and different to include in his video. Since our neighborhood is right behind the nursery where we purchase our tree, he suggested we bring our tree home in a wheel barrow. Dead serious. “It’ll be an adventure!” he says. Do you see the size of our tree in the background there? I was up for it for about a day, but when Friday came and it was freezing cold out, I vetoed the idea. He was really bummed. Can you imagine the look on the guy’s face at the nursery when we pull up with a wheelbarrow for him to load it in? If the weather is more mild next year, I don’t think I’ll get out of it ha ha.
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
I found the trees at Walmart, sold individually.
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
The dollar store has similar houses every year if you wanted to create your own painted village!
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
 
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
   
Painted mini Christmas Village from confessionsofaserialdiyer.com
Have you started decorating yet??
I’ll be back on Thursday with my Furniture Fixer Upper Friends sharing what I did with this unfinished table:
  UPDATE: See how this table turned out HERE now! 
See y’all then! 🙂
XOXO,Signature

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Comments

  1. That is so cute, not to mention easy, and who doesn’t Love easy this time of year? I will have to watch my thrift store to find my own mini Christmas village. Thanks for the inspiration!!

  2. You constantly surprise me with how good you make things look 😮 🙂 I honestly never would’ve thought to paint those things – and I’m known for painting anything!!! Love it.

  3. I had a feeling you were going to paint them but I wasn’t expecting blue! They turned out so cute!

    • Thank you, Sheila! I thought they might be cute in blue, and I’m so glad they worked out! And thanks again for the email about my typo…much appreciated, my friend! XOXO

  4. I would have never thought of painting the village houses this beautiful color but love them. Would have loved to have seen pictures of you and your hubby with a tree in a wheelbarrow. Maybe next year.

    • Thank you, Janice! I know we would’ve had a great laugh wheeling that big tree home in the wheelbarrow LOL. Maybe next year! XOXO

  5. WOW!!!! I did NOT see this coming and I did not think I would like it… I don’t.. I LOVE IT!! Truly beautiful, special and charming! If I had a place to put such a charming display I would do it in a heartbeat. 🙂
    Your Christmas tree is stunning.
    Enjoy the rest of the week, stay warm and I look forward to the table makeover.

  6. Hi Christy! Absolutely beautiful! Genius idea!! Yes, we are decorating and decorating and I am loving every minute of it. Please let me be one of the first to wish you Merry Christmas!! Denise

    • Thank you so much, Denise! I couldn’t wait to get started decorating on Friday! I’m really enjoying it this year too! Merry Christmas! XOXO

  7. Can I just say how I loved how you showed each step and where you purchased your items? Loved the village and what you did. Did you say where you purchased the trees?

  8. I really like those houses painted all one color. Yours are cute, coastal style. Funny how the details show up more when all the colors aren’t in the way! Your story of getting the tree in the wheel barrow is hilarious – I don’t know how a tree that size would work. Seriously hope next year you get to it! Lol.
    Yep, all decorated and ready to jump into the season. I don’t Black Friday shop, instead I spend the day decorating!

    • Thank you, Cecilia! I agree…I think the details pop so much more now. Isn’t that funny? And as for the wheelbarrow, I know we would’ve had a great laugh doing that, and maybe next year it will happen ha ha! I’ll be sure to share pictures if it does. I did the same thing this year…stayed home and decorated on Black Friday! XOXO

  9. What a great idea, Christy! I spray paint everything but have never painted any Christmas decor. Probably because it’s too cold to paint outside! But now I will look at my Christmas decor in a whole new way. Thx for the inspiration. It looks great! Can’t wait to see what you do with the rest of your beautiful home. Love the wheelbarrow story!

    • Thank you, Michelle! I don’t think I’ve ever spray painted Christmas decor before either LOL. And yes…saved by the cold weather…my hubby was really all about that wheelbarrow ha ha! XOXO

  10. Wonderful transformation! They were awfully bad looking before but I love how they tuned out…thanks for sharing!

  12. Aww, that’s so pretty! I did the same thing for a Halloween village, only black of course. I didn’t use a tray, though-that’s a great idea! I’m always wanting to put out my village(s), but it’s so much work; think I’ll try a tray this year! TY!!

    • Thanks, Sharon! I love the idea of painting one black for Halloween! I might steal that from you for next year! XOXO

    • Thanks, Karen! Part of me wished the weather would have cooperated this year, if nothing else, just to see the look on the guy’s face when we pulled our wheelbarrow up LOL! XOXO

  14. Very pretty. At first I didn’t think I would like them all painted the same color and no red and green?! However, they look very soft and elegant.

  15. That is GORGEOUS!!! I love the blue! And no fair, our stores all seem to want to charge more like $6 A PIECE here. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the rare deal though, cuz this is beautiful!

    • Thank you, Becky! I’m so glad you love it!! You can always hit up the dollar store… They sell little houses similar every year! Have fun! XOXO

  16. Hi Christy! I did just did the same thing! I bought the village at Goodwill and painted it white with glitter. They say great minds think alike!

  17. Absolutely adorable! I see those little houses here and there at second-hand shops, so I know now I need to collect a similarly-sized set. The robin’s egg blue is just perfect! It gives me that warm holiday spirit looking at it.

  19. I absolutely love this redo!!!!!! I have so many churches and stores and people and animals. I will have a whole new village!!!

  20. I saw “Christmas Village Makeover” in your email subject line and I said “Heck YES I want to see this!” And of course I was not disappointed! The color is PERFECT for your decor. LOVE IT~
    I want to do this with a prim/farmhouse/country/cabin feel. Do you have a color recommendation?

    • Yay I’m so glad you love it, Robyn, thank you! I would have to see your decor to get an idea of a color for sure, but maybe a soft green? White is always a safe bet too. Good luck! XOXO

  21. Love them Christy. You have the best DIY ideas!!
    I think I’d share your view of hubby’s Christmas tree in the wheelbarrow escapade, but it would have been funny to watch.

    • Aww thank you so much, Kerryanne! The wheelbarrow would have been hilarious for sure. There’s always next year lol! XOXO

  23. I love my Christmas Village. Last year for the first time my 20 year old granddaughter put it together. It was so wonderful to have the extra help and to see how she invisioned it. One day it will all be hers.

    • I bet it was fun to watch her get enjoyment out of it like you have for many years, and what a fun thing to do together! XO

  24. Absolutely Beautiful! I never would of thought of this and now I pulling my out of storage and painted them. Thank you so much for this awesome idea!

  25. Oh wow! I love what you did with that village. You are so good at what you do and you seem to have some of the same tastes as me. Isn’t it great when you can see something and know that you make something amazing? Thanks for sharing with us!

    • Thank you, Patricia! Yes…there’s no better feeling than turning something ho-hum into something beautiful again! XOXO

  27. I LOVE these!!!! I never really felt the urge to have a village…tooo busy with all those colors.
    Now I am crazy excited to go down to the Goodwill and get some ….they are always there. In fact I passed some up last week…..hope they are still there…and hope nobody reads your blog around here!!!!!!!!!! hehehehe….
    Addie XXOO

    • Oh I hope they are still there! It’s funny… I feel like now that they are all one color, you can actually see all the details better! XOXO

  28. what a wonderful improvement! I love the color and the glitter! I would never have thought of this (until now)!!!

  29. Ah, you did it again, Christy! Now I have to go to Goodwill for some old Christmas village houses! Ha ha. This turned out beautifully! Great job.

    • Thank you, my friend! Good luck in your search…hopefully it won’t be too hard, and you can always hit up the dollar store if the thrift stores turn up empty! Have fun! XOXO

  30. The blue is a pretty color, but there is no more detail on the buildings. Sorry, but I think I liked it better before.

    • Oh that’s funny…I felt like the details popped more once all the distracting colors were gone ha ha. It’s cute either way. ????

  31. So pretty! It’s funny because I was just thiyof giving away our Christmas village houses (they’re the larger size) since our kids are si grown up now… but maybe (??) I should follow your lead and turn them into a more sophisticated decoration! :))

  33. They’re gorgeous and darling the way you did them! The only thing I would have done differently is handpaint the snowy portions on the roofs (pearl white) but I’m a bit of a nut for fine detail lol. Thanks for sharing!

  35. OMG I have tons of these little houses that I have been converting for a long time. Mine will be white with the icicle look to the tops. Last fall a lady came to a yard sale I was having and saw a couple of my houses and said I have a huge collection of these and I think they are all outdated now and I don’t know what to do with them. I said come in here…I took her in the garage and showed her that I was doing mine all white and she loved it so much she said she was going right out to get the paint! She told me I saved her a lot of money…lol.

    • That lady was probably so grateful she happened upon your yard sale! Painting them is a great way to fall in love with them all over again! XOXO

      • She sure seemed a bit baffled at first but when she realized what I was doing she just couldn’t believe it…lol! I really never thought about doing anything but white but I really like the color you picked as well. It’s certainly different!

  36. Prodigal Pieces shared your project and linked to your site this afternoon. I was so in love I decided I was going to go store to store until I found some. The local thrift store had ONE for 2.99. I tried Goodwill, Dollar Tree, Tuesday Morning and then …Walmart had some for 1.92 each. Score!! Thank you so much for posting this project and sharing it with us. It is so adorable and I’m hoping my walmart village makeover comes out 1/2 as sweet as yours.

  38. Just popping back Christy to say thank you for sharing at Create, Bake, Grow & Gather this week. I’m delighted to be featuring your sweet little blue village at tonight’s party and pinning too.
    Merry Christmas,
    Kerryanne

  39. Hi, Christy….

    I just love your little village and after seeing this article the other day, remembered I had seen some village houses like yours at a local curio shop last week. I passed on them but after reading you article, beelined it back to the shop yesterday….score! I got 7 different buildings for $3.00! I love the pale blue color…..do you think pale pink would look good.too? I’m so excited to start my project! Thanks for a wonderful idea!
    Merry Christmas!

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