Some links may be affiliate links. We get money if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these links on our site.
Christmas All The Time is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Setting Up Your Shabby Chic Victorian Christmas Village
Christmas villages can be a lot of fun to put together since you will be choosing each and every piece, from the people and shops to the trees and ice skating rinks. You can even turn your village into a shabby chic one that looks like an old-fashioned Victorian village during Christmas.
Just what is Shabby Chic?
It is a style of design where furniture and accents are selected for their apparent age and signs of wear. Also, new items can be distressed to emulate an antique appearance. Shabby Chic is a balance between vintage luxury and casual comfort.
Use Pink, White, and Light Blue on your Houses
Most Christmas villages use old-fashioned model houses and buildings, but they are usually made to look like red brick, wood trim, yellow shutters on the windows, or other colorful accents; but these aren’t the best options for a shabby chic display. For your Christmas village, consider using all white or pastel-colored houses and buildings.
Use Victorian-Style Houses
Shabby chic and Victorian styles are often closely matched, so try to find small cottages for your village with an old Victorian look that adhere to the color scheme. Things like pointed roofs, bay windows, and brick roofs are good options for this particular style. Houses with “gingerbread” trim in the eaves or porch railings echo the comfort element that shabby chic introduces with its ruffles and frills.
Look For People in Old-Fashioned Clothing
The figurines you choose to populate your Christmas village should also represent your desired shabby chic style. Shabby chic attire is vintage in appearance, typically layered and loose fitting. Shabby chic clothing adheres to a pastel or earth tone such as white, lavender, beige, grey, antique rose and powder blue. Fortunately, most figures that are sold with other Christmas village supplies typically have the old-fashioned clothing style you’ll looking for. Keep a close eye on what they are wearing in order to match your shabby chic design. You can always paint the figures to fit the color scheme. For a Christmas village, you’ll want a reasonable mix of young and older adults, elderly, children and babies. Pets are also good to have a thriving community.
Use Lots and Lots of Snow
Having lots of snow is a given for any type of Christmas village, but all the more so for one designed in shabby chic. Shabby chic uses a lot of white in its decor, so adding extra snow around your village allows it to have a natural shabby chic look. Spread snow on the ground, cover rooftops and trees with it, and sprinkle it around so traces of snow are glistening on the figures and other decorative elements.
Add Your Bristle Brush Trees
Trees are a part of the essential scenery for a Christmas village, but they usually come in dark green. Bristle brush trees are best because even though they mostly come in green, they are quite easy to spray paint other colors. Make your trees shabby chic by spray painting them all in a white or silver color, then staging them all around the village.
With a little effort, you can take generic Christmas village elements and make a shabby chic diorama to complement your personal style.