Putting scrap wood to good use
If you have ever done any home renovation requiring 2 x 4 studs, I bet you have at least a few offcut pieces stacked away together with other pieces of scrap wood. Well, let’s use some of those!
This fun craft will take you no longer than an afternoon, costs next to nothing, and you will have a cute, DIY Christmas village to decorate with. It sounds like a winner to me!
If you have offcuts from framing studs, chances are you also own a miter saw, am I right?
Grab a few scraps and cut them in random sizes varying from 6 inches to 12 inches long. No measuring required!
After cutting as many pieces as you’ll need or want, It’s time to cut each one a roof.
Set your miter saw to 45 degrees. I marked the center of each block’s width because I didn’t trust myself to eyeball that accurately! Your roofs don’t need to be perfect. It just makes positioning your piece of wood before cutting easier.
When all your tiny houses are cut and shaped, use a sanding block to give each one a quick sanding to get rid of splinters and rough edges.
Painting your tiny houses
Your village is now ready to be painted. You can also leave it natural if that suits your decor.
I used green, red, and white craft paint. The paint dried super quickly as I didn’t bother priming the raw wood blocks or tint houses.
If you need to work on your OCD, this is the project for you, trust me! Don’t measure how long you cut your wood pieces, and do not count how many houses you have when dividing them into groups to paint different colors. It’s like therapy, I tell you!
I’m totally joking but do not measure and count – it will not look natural.
I still don’t know how many houses I made! If I have to guess, about 22. Once you have painted them all, the first ones will already be dry enough for the next coat.
Two coats of craft paint are enough to cover the wood well. Once they are completely dry, use a sanding block to distress them a bit. Scuff the edges of a few houses and rough some of them up a bit more. You can take off as much paint as you like or skip this step entirely if you do not like a distressed look.
And that, my friends, is all there is to this project!
I could not be happier with my DIY Christmas village. It makes quite the statement on my grandma’s black sideboard.
Do you love Christmas crafts as much as I do? Then you will also enjoy my post on DIY window wreaths for Christmas.
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I am new to this so I'm not sure where to put what. I need to see pictures and videos of past wood projects that were painted and then wood grain was added with the wood grain tools. Please, thank you, Larry
Great way to use scrap pieces of wood. Nice that they can be made in various sizes and colors. If one wanted to get more creative, use a permanent marker and draw a door and window(s) and you could add a chimney to the roof. Thanks for sharing this awesome idea. Merry Christmas.
Frequently asked questions
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