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DIY: Christmas Village Upcycle

Before and After: Dollar Tree Christmas Village Makeover

It’s our first Christmas in our new home! I’m so excited to decorate our new spaces for the first time this holiday season. We have brought over all of our Christmas decor from our old home but wanting to decorate a larger space requires more decoration (weird, right?). I’ve had to get a little creative in decorating some of our spaces because unfortunately I do not have an unlimited Christmas decor budget. I’m sharing this DIY Dollar Tree Christmas Village in its simplest form, but then also outlining some additional, quick enhancements to take this DIY to the next level.

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Finished product of the village displayed in our home.

I was inspired by the multitude of white ceramic village houses that you can find at almost any Christmas decor store (target, anthropology, pottery barn, etc.); however, I wasn’t wanting to spend top dollar or really any dollars at this point. I frequent the dollar tree to check out seasonal decor, so I knew exactly what I was going to try to finish this space in our living room.

Materials

There are really only two materials to create the bare minimum (village houses and white spray paint), but I’m also highlighting some additional materials that I purchased and may consider adding to my village in the near future. I decided to place my village among garland with my Mr. Christmas Marching Band, so the minimum works in this space.

First, I picked up some village houses from the dollar tree. They had a total of 6 different village options this year. I opted out of the gingerbread house, just because I didn’t think it would fit nicely with the other outlines of the houses once painted. I did, however, get multiples of the same houses to help build my village for 8 houses total. This village is the most affordable option, and the houses already come with a battery-operated light.

Second, this is a very small project, so it will not require a lot of spray paint. You may already have some left over from a different project. If you don’t, just pick up white spray paint when you’re out from any grocery/hardware store. Here is the brand I used.

Houses during spray painting.

This project in its simplest form, is applying spray paint to the village houses twice. That’s it. Once the paint is dry, this village can be arranged anywhere. I do have some other ideas for these houses in the future that I’ll share here too.

Other materials I’ve picked up from the dollar tree and may consider adding in the future are detailed below.

Finished product, styled in our home

Additional Materials

  1. Canvas: If wanting to create an antique putz house feel, hot glue the houses on a small canvas to create a platform bottom. You can purchase a three-pack of 4×6 sized canvas from the dollar tree. I do have these on hand if I decide to style these houses differently in the future.
  2. Bottle brush trees: If you decide to add a platform, you can purcahse these as a three-pack from the dollar tree to add in front of the houses. I also think adding a bottle brush wreath would be super cute (so I may add to some of my houses when I do go this route).
  3. Glitter: Some white glitter paint would really make these houses pop. I decided not to go glitter at this point in time, just to avoid mess. I usually avoid glitter when I can, but I do think it would be a great upgrade to these houses to create that snow feel.
  4. Wreath: Has anyone else noticed the Anthropology wreath DIY trend this year? I think these houses would be perfect to make your own Anthro dupe.

Thanks for reading my experience, and I hope you feel inspired to create your own upcycled dollar tree village. Please share your own village creations with me!