Basketball: Maybe the basketball could be cut, deflated and made to hold its form with papier-mache. It would be heavier than stiffeners could hold up, I would think. Basketballs are pretty thick material, leather or plastic. Perhaps straight craft glue would hold it up.  

Teresa from Canada

Photographs of New York Interiors at the Turn of the Century: I finally got a copy of a book I've wanted for ages: Joseph Byron's Photographs of New York Interiors at the Turn of the Century. It's one of those Dover books, with 131 full-page, very crisp, black and white photos of "interior views of New York City homes, businesses and public places as they looked between 1893 and 1916." Parlors, libraries, bathrooms, kitchens, bars, offices. Any one of these photos would make a fantastic roombox if you're looking for inspiration. The book even includes a couple of slum dwellings if you're bored with the high-falutin' style. And each photo is precisely dated and placed, so you know exactly what you're looking at.

Christine in NYC (formerly of San Francisco)

In the Victorian Style: While I'm recommending books, in case you don't know about this one, the very best book I've found on San Francisco Victorians is In the Victorian Style, by Randolph Delehanty and Richard Sexton. Tons of excellent color photos of interiors and exteriors, plus text detailing the history of San Francisco and its architecture. Well worth the money. The Painted Ladies books are good but don't come close to this one.

Christine in NYC (formerly of San Francisco)

Harry Potter: I now have a Harry Potter home in our living room. It is an old t.v case, wooden with a large plexi glass front. One room is Professor Snape with his potions, the middle is the castle, and the end is Hermione and Ron and Harry doing mischief in a cauldron! I got a large mirror like a secret door into another world for my birthday from Julia, on this list, and it has steps up into the mirror and Harry and Hermione and Ron may be led off into there after working up their potion by the looks of it! Things keep moving around in there and there is plexi glass, as I said, so it isn’t the cats and dogs moving them. Just magic!!!!!

Robbie Roo Pink Cyberfaery

Removing varnish: Found this in the tips section of DHM or MC, can't remember which, but it works great. Get some Pumice powder. I had to go to a woodworker's supply store to find it. None at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Ace or any other easily found location.
You sprinkle some out onto a plastic lid or something like that, pour some baby oil, cooking oil, etc. into a small container, dip a soft cloth into the oil, then into the pumice powder, and rub it on your furniture. Works like a charm and leaves a nice smooth finish. I used q-tips to get to corners, etc. Love the stuff. Will never sand varnish again.

quinn

Mortar: For all of my mortar and stucco needs I use industrial drywall. It can be had at any DYI for approx. 10 dollars a 20 lb bucket (it lasts forever). It is a wise investment. It can be piped through a baggie to achieve a decorative application (my haunted mirror was indeed made of drywall and stained with mahogany finish),...and ALL of the siding on my haunted dollhouse was fashioned in drywall with a drywall comb I fashioned myself. It is an amazing compound, tough as stone within a week. And it is inexpensive. I do not care, for many people who will market "miniature" stucco for seven dollars a jar, it is of no doubt to me, that they are remarketing drywall for sale. Spend the ten dollars and see -- it is well worth your efforts. It can be stained, sanded, drilled...even carved once properly set. Many of the moldings on my haunted dollhouse are drywall piped through an icing bag (I used to be a cake decorator, as well...) It will certainly stick your gravel stones, and you can do so much more...brickwork...what have you.

Sherise

Beads - Try Fire Mountain Gems, web site: http://www.firemountaingems.com

If they don't have what you need, get a copy of Button & Bead magazine. They have some great ideas for making your own beads with polymer clay and also lots of ads from people who sell many different beads.

Ronni

THE source for veneers and veneering supplies is Constantine's. They also carry a wide variety of decorative banding constructed from veneer segments. Shop them on the web at http://www.constantines.com/

For those looking for consistent figure suitable for mass production- they offer complete flitches (whole logs sliced into veneer and consecutively numbered). No, I don't work for them- but I do shop there!

Brian

Pauline, Mansfield UK

Draping Fabric:   I am finishing out a Willow Crest as an interior designer's studio/display/sales shop, and hope that someone (or many someones) may have a hint or two to help me solve a minor problem.  I kit-bashed the house to remove all the walls in the first floor, except for two walls with big archways cut in them between the "foyer" and the rest of the first floor, which I have furnished with groupings of related types of furnishings and accessories (country, traditional/contemporary, Victorian influence, etc.), but my daughter, who is in the know about these things, says that I need more "clutter" in that room.  I had planned to add to each "style" vignette a selection of fabric and wallpaper samples from which the customer could choose.  My problem is, I am notoriously awkward with fabric, and can't seem to get my "samples" to drape in anything like a realistic way.   I have a big leather chair in one vignette and I thought I'd just drape several fabric samples over the back and let them drape down onto the floor, for example -- but my "drapes" all look like stiff little bunches of mini fabric -- not very convincing.  Over the years I have read about different methods of "draping" fabric -- wetting, forming into natural looking drapes and letting dry, spraying with hair spray, dipping in modge podge, wetting and forming a draped look over Saran Wrap, etc. -- but none of these seems to work.   I have lots of "fat squares" to choose my samples from, and really want them to look natural -- does anyone out there have a fool proof method of getting the effect I want?

My second floor boasts one big room holding a wallpaper and carpeting display unit that covers one entire wall, rolled carpets leaned up against the wall, and a table and chair where the customer can sit and pore over wallpaper and fabric sample books or books on interior decor.   There also is a foyer with an elevator door (I took out all the staircases and "installed" an elevator wall on all three floors), and a smaller room with another full-wall unit displaying coordinating wallpapers and a big piece of furniture stuffed with bolts and bolts of different kinds of fabric.   I also made lots of fabric and wallpaper sample books that are laying about the place.  The top floor is a big office with computer desk and chair, a sitting area, and a small "storage" room cluttered with odd bits and bobs of furniture and accessories.   My "designer" is a gorgeous Caco doll in a smart red "wool" dress, and her "customer" is a second Caco lady dressed in a wonderful corduroy pants suit with a lovely shoulder bag.   I'm very pleased with the overall effect -- but DO think I need a bit more "mess."

Any hints you can give me on the fabric issue will be greatly appreciated!

Dayle in MD