Santa's Cottage

Why not try drawing Santa's Cottage? Maybe as a greeting card for next Christmas!

In the past few days I've worked hard to build the interiors of the Santa's Cottage and now here they are!

The Cottage features a complete interior with two floors: the upper one with the bedroom; and the ground floor with the living room. The whole interior is chock full of details that make the set very playable.

You can easily lift up the two roofs to access inside and play with the utensils and surprising accessories including table and chairs, a fireplace, a pendulum clock and many more.

Thanks to the wooden furniture you can breathe a warm and welcoming atmosphere, typical of mountain cottages: nice coziness inside while it's cold outside.

It's Christmastime indeed! And it's so enjoyable!

While Santa's Cottage hit 7,000 supporters right few hours ago - thank you all for that - in the past few days I've worked hard to build the interior of Mr. Claus's cozy shelter and it's now almost complete. I just need to finish some details and take nice pictures and I think I'll post them for the next update, stay tuned!

To build the interior, and the cottage as well, I took inspiration from a couple of books about weird cabins and cottages.

While I'm waiting for some bricks to complete the interior of the cottage, I show you a shot that frames the most magical night of the year.

Thank you all, we have passed the 6,000 supporters!

Christmas is likely not only the most awaited day by all children in the world, but it is also the most awaited day by all AFOLs!

To me, Christmas has a special meaning linked in a very strong way to the LEGO world. December 25th was the day on which a much-coveted LEGO would magically appear under the tree. Christmas means really good memories and unforgettable emotions.

Stemming from those experiences and growing in building ability, I now test myself at building holiday-themed MOCs.

In fact, in recent years I have always reserved the first days of December to reveal a creation dedicated to the festivity par excellence — the day that brings everyone together. The Santa's Cottage, below in plain sight, is just the last of a wide series of Christmas builds.

Over the last few years, precisely since 2016, it has become my tradition to build one or two Christmas-themed creations. Here they are in chronological order, each celebrating that most magical time of the year.

In 2016 I built two MOCs: a Santa Claus Maxifigure built with classic bricks, and a reinterpretation of my Volkswagen T2 pick-up, also submitted on LEGO IDEAS back in 2014.

The Maxifigure, technically quite simple, is basically built with basic bricks and looks back to the LEGO models of the seventies and eighties — those present in LEGOLAND parks. Although simple, I am very fond of this MOC — so much that I still have it and I think I won't be taking it apart anytime soon.

In 2018, I built two MOCs once again — and both have a vehicle as the main focus of the scene. The first features Santa Claus who is looking for the right tree to decorate. He seems to have found it and loaded it onto the red and white pick-up truck, a reinterpretation of my previous Mooneyes truck. I liked the truck so much (and apparently everyone else did too!) that I published step-by-step photo instructions and it has since appeared in a few more of my MOCs.

In the second MOC, on the other hand, Santa Claus is grappling with a load of "oversized" gifts. Will he make it all fit in the compartment of his nice van?

Also in this case, the van is a reinterpretation of a model that I had previously used in other dioramas. I also released photographic instructions on my social channels for the van as well if you would like to build it.

Since you don't change a winning idea, last year I modified my A-Frame Cabin, that reached 10.000 supports on LEGO IDEAS and is under the review phase, and dressed it up for the holiday season — and that's it!

A lot of people were surprised to find a classic off-road vehicle rather than the usual reindeer sleigh in my Christmas diorama.

While the sleigh is used on the night of December 24 to go around the world and deliver gifts, Santa Claus throughout the year prefers to use a more comfortable off-road vehicle, moreover in an eye-catching color scheme matching his cozy cottage.

Let's take a step back and find out a few more details about it.

 

The vehicle is based on my very popular Chevrolet Blazer (first picture below) that first appeared in my Sheriff Hopper's cabin, inspired by the Netflix TV series Stranger Things. It’s a truly 'chameleonic' vehicle that lends itself well to various customizations.

The Santa's version is full of little details and some interesting part usage. There is a spare wheel on the roof - you never know when you might need it - and on the front hood are attached shovel and pickaxe, just in case... and, as I said before, is decked out in classic Xmas livery.

 

I have used the same vehicle chassis in my other dioramas each time with different equipment and new two-tone paint jobs.

Below you can see the version featured in my diorama "The Crumbling Bridge" and the one featured in “The Blue Cottage".

Check it out and enjoy all the little details and tricks.

Which do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!

Have a nice Sunday!

 

While today Santa’s Cottage has been chosen as Staff Pick by the the LEGO IDEAS staff - they made my day - it’s time for update No.3.

Let’s take a deeper look at the last assembly stages of Mr. Claus residence.

 

Let's make a jump into the building process of the Santa's Cottage, starting from the base.

Featured in my previous A-frame Cabin, the dry-stone wall underneath the cottage is comprised of many Thor's hammers.

Stay tuned, in the next updates you'll check out all the building stages till the photo shooting.

Did you know that the Santa's Cottage now gathering support on LEGO IDEAS is mainly based on my Blue Cottage?

I built the Blue Cottage early this year and few weeks later I built the Christmas edition decked out for the Xmas holidays.

In the next updates I will show you the "behind the scenes" of the building process and other curiosities.

Stay tuned!