Gypsy Peddler cart: For the gypsy scene you will need several large rugs. When I was camping in Italy some gypsies set up camp near us & the women unpacked large beautiful woven rugs & washed them in the river, then spread them out to dry on the riverbank They were very colourful in red, blues & blacks. (The rugs that is! and the women wore long swirling bright skirts &,positively rattled with all the jewellery they had on). there were also gypsies passing through the village I lived in in Greece. At night they put large sheets of cardboard on the ground (the women swept the ground first with straw brooms) & put the rugs on top of the cardboard & slept out on them under the stars.

Wendy

Building Greenleaf kits. Well I am jealous, I wish I had gotten the Garfield. Like I have room for it! Don't be scared if you have the will you can do it! I am building the Annabelle and I secretly wish I could "accidentally" ruin it so I can go get the Garfield........I can only imagine 1 dollhouse amongst my cats and daughter and my husband's stuff.... well here is what I can offer you in advice hope it helps, and I would love to see picture's of your house someday!

Sealing the pieces - I know people say it helps prevent warping of the big pieces when you paint them but I don't think it's a tragedy not to seal them. You may want to seal the small trim pieces IF you plan on spray painting them, which makes faster work, especially with all the window trim. The wood will suck up so much paint if you don't seal them you'll need about 5 coats to cover it! BUT if you're going to paint the pieces by hand using a thickly applied coat of paint, I say the heck with sealing.

DO NOT punch out the pieces till you're going to use them! Leave them in the sheets! I learned this the hard way. Sounds obvious I guess but I must think I am "special".

The die cut luan is a pain. Punch out carefully. I had some pieces that just weren't punched all the way through so I am sure you will too. I had my hubby get them out with a Dremel (I am afraid of it) and a hacksaw. But don't despair if you break a piece you can glue it or use spackle or putty to fix it. If you want a super final finish you'll want to use spackle or putty to smooth out the edges of the pieces; this is due to the poor quality of the luan.

Are you electrifying? This will change the whole way you build the house and their instructions will be useless. This will also affect how you wallpaper, which is tricky in itself with these houses - some of it must be added before assembly on certain parts, like bay windows and towers, or eaves, 'cause you'll never get your hands in there after it's glued together! PLAN - go slow!

I also recommend, if you can stand the wait, to put the house shell (walls and floors) together in one "spurt" of work and not to do a little at a time (like on Thanksgiving break!) and then leave it for weeks. You need to get the whole thing together and clamp it (I used old tights tied around the walls) to make sure it all fits and stays and doesn't warp or separate.

Fit all the pieces before gluing! You will have to make adjustments! The parts are supposed to fit but they don't sometimes. I used a wire-snipping pliers to "snip" the wood, usually the tabs had to be trimmed a wee bit. Because of this you want to avoid wallpapering or painting over the tabs, they won't fit. Don't go mental - paint can be sanded off, I'm not suggesting you tape off all the little tabs when you paint!

And remember - boo boos with fitting, gluing or wallpaper or flooring can be hidden with baseboards, crown moldings, wainscoting, etc. If I think of anything else I'll post. Oh watch out for splinters - keep tweezers handy.

Karyn

Mini Hold Remover: I use a steel tool designed to remove ear wax. It has a small metal loop at one end and a tiny metal cup at the other. It is the best thing I've ever found for removing Mini Hold from the container. The loop will shave a small sliver and the cup will scoop a perfect ball. The fellow at the swap meet has these goodies. They are $2 each. If you want one, let me know and I'll pop over and pick one up for you.

Becky

Converting a Dremel to a router: This is a really easy task. All you need is the # 330 router attachment from Dremel and a set of the router bits. If you want to make moldings, etc., you might also look at the Dremel 231 shaper/router table. The difference is you move the router over the work and you move the work over the shaper table. Both can be found in the Dremel display of any good tool department (Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc.)

Dave

Gypsies: Not sure if this happens only in Britain, or how long this "tradition" has existed, but at nearly every outdoor market or public event, you will be confronted by gypsy women selling bunches of lavender "for luck". They usually charge 50p or a pound; about a buck or two. If they really DO believe lavender is lucky, your gypsy wagon needs a little sprig of it -either white or dilly-dilly blue - tucked away somewhere.

Donna from Devon

What about a self-storage building with stucco walls and a metal roof and metal slide-up doors or regular flat doors painted like metal and doors that open to reveal several rooms full of mini stuff? Not much to do decorating except stucco and hanging light bulbs and lots of cardboard boxes & furniture and whatever else needs a home temporarily. Crazy idea or not? It's had me laughing all day. Not as good as the Alley scene though. Maybe I should make it a barn instead, more character that way.

Toni in Denver

Plexiglas front on Roombox: I purchased a Roombox with a Plexiglas front and a precut frame for the box.   The instructions stated to glue the two sides and the bottom frame parts to the Roombox leaving enough space to drop in the Plexiglas. Put glue on the top piece of frame only where it will touch the top edge of the Plexiglas and attach it to the glass making sure the corners of the frame are even.  Let dry and you can pull up the top frame to get in the Roombox. I have used this method on four boxes.   On two boxes there was no precut frame so I purchased some " L" shaped molding and made my own frame.

Louise from MI 

Cobbler shop: lots of shoes in various stages of being made, with soles ready to be sown on. They used a piece of work on their work bench that looked like a wooden door knob sitting on a chuck of wood. The shoe was turned upside down on the "door knob" to hold the shoe in place while they worked on it. Also lots of leather, not worked on yet and bottles of polish and rags for putting it on the shoes, as well as buffing cloths. Also places for the customer to sit while the cobbler took there measurements and also tried on the new shoes that he made. Cobbler has to have a long apron on too, of course, and be gray-haired...lolol Iron tools for cutting and poking holes in the leather. High button shoes of lovely colors in the windows .....

Darlene / Somerset NJ

Plexiglas and room boxes: I have the same situation. I placed my Plexiglas in channels and left the top open. To remove the glass (slide it up) I just put finger pressure on the Plexiglas and push up. When enough Plexiglas raises above the top of the room box I grasp it with my other hand and raise it up out of its channels.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL

Cutting Plexiglas; Using a Jewelers saw (I get the impression yours is motorized) makes a wider kerf than if you used a Plexiglas cutter. If your saw is motorized there may be a heat generation problem; if it is hand operated I found that I had a problem not splintering the Plexiglas when using a hand saw. The Plexiglas cutter is much easier and faster.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL