Textured Walls and Ceilings: I wanted a textured wall in my mini living room. I cut a template of the wall which included cutouts for the wall plugs. I took all my textured paint kit out to the garage and opened the door for ventilation. Once everything was set, I glued the entire piece to my wall. It didn't require doing any mammoth movements of my huge dollhouse. I was good to go and it has stood up to the task.

Cora/Rhode Island

Piano Hinges: For the person looking for solid brass piano hinges...You can purchase smaller scale hinges In solid brass at Woodcraft. They come in two sizes 3/4" and 1/2" and come in a 24" length. I use these for making small gift boxes and have never attempted to hang a dollhouse wall with them so can't attest to whether they would work or not due to the weight they might need to support. I buy from the catalogue or the live store but they do have a web site. http://www.woodcraft.com

Reva

FIREPLACE EMBERS: Somebody was interested in fireplace embers. I have them in 3 sizes, small, medium and large for fireplaces. They work with a fire and bulb which lights them up. They are in stock and if interested your can contact me by return e mail for the price ANNARTW@aol.com at www.worldofminimania.com,

Ann Weiner

PaperClay: I'm sure Rik will jump in here - but let me clarify my own earlier comments about re-wetting the PaperClay. It doesn't really work to "re-wet" the PaperClay if it is stone dry. But while you are working with the medium and it starts to dry it can be re-wetted. A damp cloth can be placed over a work-in-progress to slow drying while taking a short break for lunch, etc. If something has gone completely dry and you don't like it - either cut it out with a knife (it slices right up!) or sand it off (kinda fun!) or apply a thin layer of glue and put a new layer of rolled out PaperClay on top and go to work!

No, you can't bake it to set it like clay. But once it is dry it will maintain its shape unless put to great stress (like soaking it in your bathtub). You *can* however, use an oven to speed drying - there are directions on the web site about that www.creativepaperclay.com. You can also spray a light coat of sealer if you think there are any issues. I have not sealed my cottage PaperClay, and I'm fairly positive I could "splash" water on my current cottage and have minimal damage i anything. I'd just blot it dry and I doubt I'd see anything once it dried. I wouldn't however, advise submerging it in a tub of water, though!

The PaperClay is basically (for a lack of a better description) "shredded paper" that is extremely fine. It's wetpacked so it can be molded into many shapes. It can take a lot of textures and surfaces. For the "melting" issues, if you think about how a fully dry brown paper bag reacts to water being sprinkled, poured, or soaked (holds shape when slightly damp, but starts to pull apart if soaked for a long time) you get more in the ballpark.

Best thing to do it buy a small package of PaperClay, construct a little sidewalk of stones or a partial chimney over a piece of foam core. Let it dry. Play with it. See how it holds up to abuse.

Laura Isabella

Tile Sealer: You might try using Deft Semi-Gloss spray on your tiles to seal them. Cut the tiles to fit your room then spray them before you glue them in. The more coats, the shinier they will be. I use two coats on the tile floors in my Southwest room boxes. Spray evenly and not too heavy. Several thin coats are better than 1 heavy coat. Let dry completely between coats. Sealing before grouting prevents the grout and water from penetrating the tiles and it also eases clean up of the grout. When the grout is completely dry, usually about 24 hours, you can spray one more time to bring the shine back to the tiles.

Spencer

Murals: Try a wallpaper book and look at the borders. I have a border in my real house that I used as a mural over chair rail in a Colonial house. It is 8 inches tall including a little plain border on each edge. But I cut it down for my house.

Martha Simpson

Snow: Snow is easy to do - you can build up drifts or snowmen or whatever with PaperClay, foam core, etc. When you have it shaped the way you want, apply a layer of Snow-Tex or Outdoor Snow decorative snow (comes in a 4 oz tub and can be found at craft stores or places like Wal-mart) The most effective touch is to buy the most ultra fine iridescent glitter - so fine it almost looks like powder - in a tiny glass vial - and sprinkle it on the wet snow. It looks very realistic. You can also create patches of ice for your mini people to fall on with Envirotex - just pour it on areas to simulate ice. I used this technique for a pheasant woodcarving and it turned out very effective - except no one believes it is real snow when it is 90 degrees outside...

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson, Arizona

Hiding Piano Hinges: If you bi-fold your side wall with piano hinges, the end hinge will be at the back of the house and may not need to be hidden if you leave the back featureless to be up against a wall. The middle hinge should have its pin plate toward the interior of the house and, again, need not be hidden if you align that fold with an interior wall so that, when closed, that edge of the hinge simply reaches into a milled slot in that wall.

Now I tell you how to build a clock in response to being asked what time it is. - - - - - - - If you mount piano hinges to the butt edges of all panels rather than flush on the flat faces of the walls - - - they will help limit warping. The screws, however, are likely to not hold well screwed endwise into plywood. I would strongly urge you to fully frame the plywood panels with a quality hardwood capping all edges. Use dowels and a top line wood glue such as Gorilla Glue and clamping techniques to prefabricate the hingeable plywood panels.

Install magnets into the shell of the dollhouse to align with iron slugs inset into the wall panels. This will help hold your walls closed and give some added stability against warping even though slight. If the panels are large, you may even inset angle steel the full length of top and bottom edges rather than just slugs. Wherever hinge pin ends are exposed and need to be hidden, make the architectural corner trim removable with inset magnets and slugs to hold it in place OVER the hinges. Lift off the corner trim before opening the hinged panels.

Finally, once your row house is to a point where it VERY seldom needs to be opened, I would suggest screwing the panels closed in several places to (again) provide maximum support against warpage. Hide the screw heads with gingerbread rosettes painted a uniquely different color and leave a note in the house's history log as to how it can be opened up by family archeologists of the future.

Mel K.

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

Rustic floor ideas: Early cabins often had dirt floors.   The dirt would get pounded down pretty hard over time, and the floor could be swept.  Slightly more affluent might be rough boards laid atop the dirt or on poles.  Knots and gaps might give this floor character.  Nicer cabins would have smoother boards well fastened down. You could just say your cabin was built "chinkless"; a technique where each log is gouged out to fit atop the previous one.  They are chinked, but it's hidden between the well-fitted logs.  If you want the chinking to show, how about some heavy thread or string soaked in glue and shoved between the logs.  You could paint or dye the string and let it dry before gluing.

Lee Steiconi

Siding Ends: After my last post about using round doweling to fill the gap in clapboard siding at corners, thought about it a bit and will try top be brief on another alternative to mitre joints. Lay siding on one wall (#1) with a very slight overlap. Use a sanding block on the adjacent wall (#2) to bring siding ends down to being perfectly flush with that adjacent (#2) face.

Lay siding on #2 wall with slight overlap at both ends. Use a sanding block again but with no abrasive on top edge and sand the end where #2 sidling overlaps #1 using #1 siding face as your guide. You may prefer to CAREFULLY carve excess at first and then just finish sand. A bit of scrap paper or shim stock along the #1 face siding butted up to the end overlap should help avoid grinding the face until you are down to the last couple 1,000ths of an inch.

Use wall # 3 as guide to flush sand the opposite end of #2 wall siding, etc., etc., etc., until all the way around. When siding all in place, take and blow loose dust and brush liberally with sanding sealer being sure to fill any tiny cracks. The nonabrasive top edge of sanding block mentioned above is to prevent distorting shape of the lip.

Also relatively simple would be the use of corner boards (vertical trim) up the corners so clapboard, shingles, etc., butt squarely up between such trim. Use above system to overlap corner board trim laying and shaping one wall then the other.

Mel K.

Tiny Floor Tiles: I used the Laguna brand terra cotta air dry clay for the floor tiles in my SW mission tile house. It worked out great and has just enough unevenness to look very realistic. I also made some garden pavers with this clay, the adobe mission tiles on the mission tile house, and I am now using that clay to fill my flower pots before adding the topsoil. It dries overnight and looks good.

Bonnie Gibson

chinking for log cabins: I used the caulking for bathtubs etc. that comes in a tube for the chinking between the logs. It doesn't dry out or crumble.

Harriett in Framingham, MA

Mortar: You can use stucco patch for mortar - when dry it looks like the chinking in between the logs.

Dollhouse Maker (Norma Cevetello)

Wood into Mortar? Pat Kohar asks, "... does anyone out there have any ideas how I can make my pieces of wood look like mortar in-between the logs ..."
I'm not quite sure I understand the question. As a new maniac miniature maker (no slurs intended- I'm proud of my obsession!) I hesitate to offer advise, but here goes anyway.
First, is there a specific reason you are opting to use wood instead of actually using mortar or a mortar like replacement?
If you are dead set on using wood, how about taking a craft stick and beating the side edge until it looks like a gouged up, chewed-up mess? This could be layed flat in between the logs. I haven't tried this, but I'm just brainstorming here. Then you might gob on white glue until it gets all lumpy and sticky and maybe even place a few tiny pebbles in some of the deeper holes. - Just a thought:

Denise.

"morter" between logs: The morter in use was (in them thar days) mud. Perhaps mixed with a little straw to make "daub" and "wattle". You can do about the same by either taking sawdust + Elmers glue + acrylic (watered down white) and filling the spaces or perhaps to be more realistic use some stiff thread to make the illusion of straw.

DrBob

Wall Thickening: I fall on the side of those-who-are-bothered-by-thin-die-cut-walls. I think the easiest solution offered so far is Rik's -- lining the interior with foamcore. One thing I've always done has been to add a half inch wide trim piece to the back, open edges to give the illusion without decreasing the size of the rooms. Someone could treat the interior walls as sheetrock and extend the exterior walls with posts and beams (creating hollow, double walls -- is that clear?) before applying brick sheeting or clapboard siding.
I've used a technique for my Tudor Cottage and on my current, much despised project -- the Glencroft. Of course, it only works in the Tudor motif. I add 1/8 inch thick timbers to the interior and fill them in with TEC brand Premixed Patch 'n Repair Adhesive and Grout from Lowe's. I fill in the exterior timbers the same way and end up with 3/8" thick walls and added stability to the assembly. The grout adds very little to the weight of the house, just enough to keep it from flying in a stiff wind.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Removing hot glued shingles: One time I purchased a house from a yard sale and they used hot glue to put on the shingles I used an old iron to remove them. I would get a section hot by moving the iron over the shingles until I was able to lift them off using a large putty knife.
They came off in large sections and didn't take much time to remove. This method might even work on wall and floor joins.

Sclarise

Wainscoting Height; The North American old house books I have say height should be 30 to 36 inches from the floor. Anagalypta and lincrusta (spelling?) imported here from England comes in 36" height specifically for wainscoting, to be applied above the baseboard, which, in the last old house (about 1910) we did was 10". Anagalypta plus baseboard makes 46 - 52". I guess it depends on the height of the room as some old houses have 12' or higher ceilings on the main floor.

I like the chair rail above the wainscoting to be at the height of the top of the chair back so the two levels don't fight and make the room look choppy. Usually this means shorter than 36" total height from the floor.

Heather

Wainscoting height: Linda, inch scale wainscoting can be anywhere from 2" high to 6" high! I've used those heights and several in between heights on various dollhouses. I find that 3" is a very popular height. Put the 6" high in a wonderful dh kitchen and bath at the owner's request. I didn't think it was a good idea, but she was paying the bill and we 'aim to please'! It worked out wonderfully well.

Dottie in Tucson