FAMILY ROOM TREE AND PUTZ VILLAGE

Post by **maria** » Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:05 pm

And here's my 2018 Family Room tree and putz village---a.k.a. MARIAVILLE

In the when life gives you lemons department.....I divide my light strings in two when I light the large village under my tree--this way if one string fails, I only have to re-do half the houses I have out--this year for some reason, I decided to play it "safe" and used three strings--sure enough--boom--but I only had to do one-third of the houses again---a blessing I guess....in a fair world, a light strand wouldn't have failed at all---haha--so everything is back to normal--there will be CLOSE-UP pictures tomorrow.

Of all the trees and villages I put up every year in assorted rooms, this one always takes the longest and is always the most ambitious, multi-level and stretches the width of the room. The train this year is only for show—I’m working on a layout that is taking forever---some of the best houses made by artisan Karl Fey and Howard Lamey are here.

Post by **maria** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:04 am

Starting to do some close-ups

Post by **Lynn** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 8:43 am

I love that pink house!!

Lights it's a love hate relationship.

What type of lights do you use for the houses.

Post by **maria** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:26 am

LED's (light strands of a 50 to a hundred)--warm white is critical--cool white does not show well in the houses--I hide the wires in the silver garland and pin it all down with bobby pins in the styrofoam bases. I thought LED's were supposed to last longer--they are still more expensive---and sadly their life span is inconsistent---

Here's a close-up of the pink house by Karl Fey https://www.flickr.com/photos/22283683@ ... 6KR-7uceaa

BurghGal · Post by **BurghGal** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 9:27 am

I envy all you folks with these lovely displays. My cats limit me to a bookshelf high above their leaping range...which maybe is a blessing. Keeps my collecting under control!

Anyway, your layout is beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration!

Post by **maria** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 11:41 am

Or a cabinet - A friend of mine puts her village in her book cabinet---behind glass doors and lit by battery operated lights and individual tea lights she buys by the dozens from the dollar stores....all the books get put under the sofa and loveseat, hidden by the upholstery skirts...the cats will stare for hours when lit--especially at her little Christmas figures but those doors end the mischief!

Post by **paulrace** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 12:50 pm

Maria, looks great. The LEDs last for a very long time, but the strands are built cheaper than the old incandescent strands, so they wear out quickly. False advertising.

I agree about the warm white, and am glad it is so widely available now. For a few years, everything I strung with LEDs looked like something from the Ice Queen.

Anxious to see more.

- Paul

Post by **Lynn** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:16 pm

Thanks Maria, for info and the pic.

Post by **Tom Hull** » Thu Dec 20, 2018 3:21 pm

What a nice putz Maria. You are really caught up in it. I was but my back is preventing a lot of things now. I find the comments about cats interesting. I suppose because I have always had a lot of stuff around. I used to run an antique shop out of my house and NEVER had any trouble. Now that I have PUTZ everywhere these cats have stayed away. Buddy used to lie outside the putz fence and look at it for hours. Rarely did anybody get beyond the fence. Cats ARE curious creatures though and so Buddy strayed into them once but a little correction was all it took. Hard to damage a paper house. Tom