All season I tried to think of a better way to display my new collection vintage Japanese Putz houses, than interspersed with my coffee table books. You'll remember that I bought them at an antique show in November and did a little renovation on them. These stiff paper houses were made in Japan in the 1950's.
Initially I couldn't resist how the colors of the books on the bakers rack echoed the houses themselves, so I tucked one here and one there, telling myself that they looked like a Swiss village.
I had a collection of teeny-tiny people, those made to replicate a model train community, and I used putty to make them stand at the front door or sit on the porch of a few of the homes. Cute, eh?
I know that my Putz village display is non-traditional, but I love it. The village looks happy to me and I'm not certain that I would find the same joy if I found a setting that looked more realistic. What do you think?
I was the happiest girl at the antique show that day! I found a basket full of vintage putz houses for sale. I chose the 8 that I wanted to purchase and the dealer made me an incredible offer to buy all of them - I bit. I am the proud owner of 19.
And then the December 2014 issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in the mail a few days later. The cover was a wreath covered in vintage putz houses! I didn't change my plans for the houses when I saw the magazine, I still want to arrange it on a table or plate rack, but I loved that Martha and I are still on the same page (wink).
The photo above shows the collection as I bought it. I have mold allergies, so when I first got them home, I put them all in a giant Ziploc bag and placed it in the freezer for a few days. I've heard that freezing can kill spores and so far I have not suffered a sniffle.
I've since washed the windows with a Q-tip and Windex, re-glittered some of the rooftops, painted the blue trees a proper green and painted the exterior walls of a few buildings to add variety - for example, the white house in the front left is now a lovely shade of apricot. It is okay with me that the homes are a little worn, I am not trying to take the vintage out of them. Just a touch or two to freshen them up.
I posted this photo onto my Moments of Delight Facebook Page the day I was working on them with the line "You never know what I mean when I say home improvement!" I love these little houses and they make me happy every time I see them.
I will show you my holiday village on display once I settle on a zip code in my house. They've been in several rooms so far and I just can't decide.
