DIY Christmas Village – Easy Thrift Store Upcycle

Easily create a DIY Christmas village from thrift store finds. This is a great way to repurpose cheap Christmas village houses and make holiday decorations to match your decor style.

Ceramic Christmas houses and buildings can be found at the thrift store year round, usually for only a couple of bucks. Follow this easy tutorial to update them to create a modern, cohesive look for an easy DIY Christmas decoration this holiday season.

If I’m being honest, ceramic Christmas houses don’t really do anything for me. I’m always pretty shocked by the price I’ve seen on new (and even large used) ones. I know there are some brands or styles that must be collectibles, but I admittedly know nothing about them.

Hopefully, I didn’t choose to paint over a collectible Christmas village house worth hundreds of dollars for this project!!

These ceramic Christmas village houses were all found at different thrift stores for less than a few dollars each. None of them are massive, because I wanted all of them to fit on a smaller sized shelf. Plus, the smaller ones are also cheaper as well.

Dollar Tree stores also have ceramic (or plastic) buildings around Christmas as well. These houses are smaller, but they could easily be painted and used to make a little village!

In the end, a little bit of paint will make these ceramic Christmas houses all look like they belong together as one DIY Christmas village. Plus, you can match them to your favorite color scheme!

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Steps to Make a DIY Christmas Village

Supplies Needed to Update Ceramic Houses

• old, mismatched ceramic houses and buildings
• rubbing alcohol
• spray paint or acrylic paint (color of your choice)
• faux sparkle snow
• Battery operated string fairy lights

Finding Cheap Christmas Village Houses

One of my best budget-friendly decorating tips is to be on the lookout throughout the year for holiday decor, or something that can be turned into holiday decor.

Second-hand Christmas decorations are always cheaper at any other time of year besides November and December. Prices for holiday decorations, even at thrift stores, are higher around the Christmas season.

Around Christmas, the Goodwill stores around me price smaller houses between $2.99 and $3.99, but I can usually find them for between $1 – $2 during the year (or at the local thrift stores with better prices all year round).

Last year, I grabbed one each time I saw it for less than $2, and by the time Christmas time rolled around, I had a mini village ready for an update. But, you could easily find a few houses around Christmas as well, you might just pay a little more for them.

Paint the Christmas Village Houses

The first step is to clean the houses if there is any dust or grime. Simply wipe them with dish soap, rinse, and dry. If they are clean, skip to the next step.

Next, pick a color you’d like to paint all the houses to give them a unified look. I chose white and love the clean, modern look it gives to even the ugliest of Christmas village houses.

I ended up needing three to four coats of white paint to cover all the color on the original houses. If you were using a darker color, I’m sure it would cover in two coats.

One can of spray paint was plenty to cover several ceramic houses.

You can also sprinkle faux snow into the final coat of paint before it dries to add a little extra sparkle to the house. Or, wait until they dry and use glue or spray adhesive to add faux snow to the rooftops.

Add Lights to the Buildings

Take a strand of battery-operated copper wire mini lights and push a few lights into the opening in the back/bottom of each house. Use a piece of tape to secure the light to the bottom/back of the house before adding it to the next house.

During this step, it’s important to decide the spacing between the houses and ensure to leave enough extra lights for this spacing.

You can see the extra lights showing in between the other houses, but with some faux greenery, it gives it a glowing effect that’s really pretty!

Arrange the Homemade Christmas Village

Laying greenery stems or garland around the houses helps to fill in blank spaces. Arrange bottle brush trees and fake snow around the houses to complete the look.

This modern Christmas village scene looks great set up on a shelf or mantle. Or the ceramic houses can be used as a table centerpiece as well.

For less than $20, I have an entire village that fits in with my decor and still looks like it was purchased as a set!

I also used paint to update a cheap ceramic nativity set I found at an estate sale. For this project, I painted the nativity figures to give them the look of antique mirrored glass with paint.

Keep an eye out for those cheap ceramic houses this Christmas season and throughout the entire year. You’ll soon be able to create a full, cohesive Christmas village for way less than buying new!

You can find all my DIY Christmas decorations using thrift store finds and crafting here.