Come take a tour of my Dept 56 Snow Village setup. With over 30 houses on display see how this Christmas village is displayed on a wood platform.
If you were to ask my family they would say I have a little bit of an obsession when it comes to Christmas and my Dept 56 Snow Village. They may be right, there is just something about the magic of Christmas.
And my snow village, oh where do I start to explain my love of these little houses. There is so much detail in each and every house what’s not to love about them. I love how you can create a little story with the houses and the accessories.
I can remember the very first house that started my collection, it’s a farmhouse. That was a gift from my husband the year we bought our first home.
After a few years, I only had a few houses but then I had an opportunity to buy my sister-in-law’s collection. That really snowballed my collecting and now I love hunting for retired pieces to add to my collection each year.
Dept 56 Snow Village Platform
As you can imagine with having over 30 houses it takes up some space to display the village. Two summers ago my husband and I built individual wood platforms that would fill a corner of our living room.
There are a total of six platforms each of varying height to add contrast to the village.
In order to hide the wiring, we drilled holes into each of the platforms. This allows me to drop the light cords under the platforms and plug them into a power strip.
We have two power strips that are plug into a wireless remote system. Making turning the village on easy.
As you can see in this picture I like to have the firehouse raised up even more. To achieve this I like to use styrofoam and build a hill.
In order to get the styrofoam more in the shape of a hill instead of sharp lines, I used the vacuum to sculped the edges. If it was hard styrofoam then I would have used a knife.
When using the styrofoam, I will wrap it in quilted padding and use pushpins to hold the padding in place. I also used the push pins to hold up a fence that is in front of styrofoam in another section.
The little balls on the push pins looked like ornaments to me. So I used red and green pushpins like they were Christmas lights.
The reason we built six platforms was to make it easier when I set the village up. Working in sections I start from the back corner moving forward.
I start by adding the light cords, then quilted padding for that snow look, and then the houses and roads.
Christmas Village Display Idea
A great Christmas village display idea is to have the house set up in sections. This section here is what I consider my town. The story that I was after with this street was an old town feel.
With the newspaper delivery man bringing the papers to each store. A man selling poinsettias as Santa stands out in front of the Christmas store.
All the way down to the gas station attendant washing a windshield. This parking meter-lined street gives an old town feel.
The next part of this Christmas village display is the country part. This street is lined with kids building snowmen and sliding on sleds.
There are children delivering newspapers to each home. While one child is busy doing chores on the farm.
Let’s not forget about the man on the ladder hanging Christmas lights. And how he may be distracted by the police car coming around the corner up the road.
Creating a story with my village display is half of the fun. Paying attention to the little details by adding accessories to each house is another part of the fun.
Finishing Touches
The very last platform is what I call our town square. The park worker is sweeping the snow in front of the gazebo. While the tourist gives out information for our sweet little Dept 56 Snow Village.
To add to that snowy look I like to sprinkle fake snow all around the village. Polyester fill works to add more snow like around the backs and fronts of the house. Allow me to cover even more of the wires.
As you can tell hiding the wires is important to me. By doing so it helps give that realistic look to the Christmas village display.
Head over to our Youtube channel to see a video on our 2020 Department 56 Snow Village setup.
A Decorative Home is making home a little sweeter ~ Jen
If you enjoyed the tour of this year’s Dept 56 Snow Village display then you may enjoy last year’s setup. Our Department 56 Christmas Snow Village set up is over on our sister site My Creative Manner.
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