Christmas decor for small 4x8 layout..is less more?

The more stuff the better. 

IMHO, too much is hard to take it all in. Things need some breathing room. Less can be mo' bettah, gives items more of a focus.

Our annual Christmas tree layout when I was a kid was pretty modest. I’ve opted to do our Christmas tree layouts the same way as an adult.  One or two loops of track, no switches, some porcelain buildings and trees along with my 125 whistle shed.

At 65 years of age, the magic to me is turning off the room lights, laying on the floor with my head near the track and watching Postwar trains pass by me. An added bonus is the ozone and smoke smells. 😉👍

Curt

I had 18 buildings plus a few accessories on my 4x8 last year.  You have to find a balance.  Too much will look over crowded.  Too few and your visitors will look at it for a maybe a minute and be done.  Make sure there's enough room for some streets, people, trees, etc.

Don

I have calculated that we have enough ceramic buildings and figures to fill four 4x8 Christmas layouts.  And at that, it is very busy!  4x8 is all the room we have to devote to the project.  Mrs B, who loves to decorated for all holidays and seasons definitely says more is better!!

@juniata guy posted:

Our annual Christmas tree layout when I was a kid was pretty modest. I’ve opted to do our Christmas tree layouts the same way as an adult.  One or two loops of track, no switches, some porcelain buildings and trees along with my 125 whistle shed.

At 65 years of age, the magic to me is turning off the room lights, laying on the floor with my head near the track and watching Postwar trains pass by me. An added bonus is the ozone and smoke smells. 😉👍

Curt

68 here and I have collected Christmas trains and building since 2004.....I have enough of this stuff to fill our living room..LOL

I'm in the less is more school but I think we are in the minority.  Particularly for a seasonal layout, it's pretty tempting to cram as much in as you can. The thing is, most ceramic buildings are pretty colorful and busy just by themselves. I whole mess of them can easily get overwhelming.  As Frank Ellison said: the layout is the stage and the trains are the actors making their entrances and exits. We want to make them the stars of the show.

Here is my Christmas layout from last year- still a work in progress- no snow here yet. The tab[le will be trimmed and fenced. There will be more but not much and carefully selected, although it sure is tempting to find room for another shiny pre-war accessory.

Oh, and I definitely prefer yours from this year. Feels like a town. Of course you don't have the tree in it.

My personal preference is usually for "less is more," though it depends on the look that you're going for.  If you want a bustling urban or town center scene, then more buildings in close proximity likely works.  If you want more of a small town or country scene, then they probably don't.  Of course, one still might be able to do half & half....