Kitchen Flooring Idea: I just redid my full-size bathroom and was covering the shower window with this vinyl contact paper. It is described as frosted, what it has is small diamond pattern, kind of what you would see on a kitchen floor linoleum but smaller, so I suddenly thought why couldn’t I stick this down on top of colored paperboard to create a kitchen floor? It seems to be of the right scale, textured and shiny like floors.

Jeanette

Sandpaper Shingles: I wanted to share something I just discovered about my shingles that are out of sandpaper. I got some white paint on black shingles. So I took a sponge brush and dabbed black paint on the shingles. Now there is no residue coming off the shingles and I can dust the shingles –something that was next to impossible before. They look great too.

Penny

Applying plastic brick to your walls. If your brick is the stiff plastic brick from Houseworks, use Quick Grab. Use according to directions on the pkg. Works great!!! Should mention that these thick, stiff bricks can easily be cut with a miniature table saw. And a miniature jig saw can also be used for curves and cuts that are not straight with the world!!

Betty Dann

Unfinished roof: Put some black construction paper on it to look like tarpaper. Temporary with a gluestick in a few spots. Start a few shingles, at least 3, and have a ladder nearby. This could be a work in progress. Start some landscape and have a work in progress here too.

Ann in AZ

HINGED BASE / OPEN SIDES: If you split the base to open along with the sides of your dollhouse, ALL hinges must be in the base (and perhaps in the cornice if it protruded exactly the same distance out as the base). To work, all hinges must be aligned with each other. One way to hinge your sides and still have a (low) landscape would be to hinge only from the first floor up. Have a high, basement foundation which does not open and limit most of your landscape to that height. One or two trees may be OK if you don't mind plucking them out of their socket before opening / closing. The horizontal "cracks" in a hinged panel can be hidden from the outside by the cornice and water table trim. For dollhouse opening, unless you really love geometry problems, piano hinge is best. It aligns in a single piece, stabilizes easily, and if one plane is 90 degrees to the other, it helps prevent vertical warp. Do install multiple stabilizers on the free end to also limit warping over time.

Actually, warp prevention is a major concern if a flat panel is hinged. Use top quality material for these panels even if the rest of the dollhouse may be foam board or such. When gluing siding, wall paper, etc.: CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP to prevent warping during the drying process. I like to add aluminum angle stock on the interior at ceiling cornice positions.

Mel Koplin, Las Vegas

Rolling out tiles and making tile floors: To those who were asking about making tiles and rolling the clay evenly. The answer to rolling the clay out evenly is to use two pieces of wood on either side of the clay. Have the narrow strips of wood the same thickness that you want the tile to be and roll out the clay keeping each end of your roller on the strips. The clay has to roll out the same thickness all over. I roll out the clay on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet and then place the whole thing in the over. Be careful that the cookie sheet does not warp when the heat hits it. I have one that does this. I think you can also bake on the tile. This would probably be better.

Barbara D.

Fimo Tiles: The best way I have found to make tiles or sections of flat flooring with fimo or clay is to first make yourself some 'formers'. Just simply use different thicknesses of wood, from strip lengths, mine are about 6" long and thickness vary from 1/32" to 1/4" with other sizes in between. Find a small roller, like a plastic rod or a child's small rolling pin and place the strip wood to the left and right on your tile and you can then get very even strips by just rolling as you would pastry.

I usually use a plain white 6" square tile and roll out on this and then bake without moving the Fimo or clay. Very simple and very effective.

Kaye in L.A.

Fimo Tiles: You can use a pasta machine to roll your fimo out to equal thickness. But you have to have a pasta machine only for fimo. My friend who is my expert says you can never use it for food once you use it for fimo. I used hers to roll out white and make ghosts for my haunted house. You just keep putting the clay back in the machine till it is as thin as you want. Hope this helps.

Carbomax

To make the tile shiny and ceramic-y looking, use Sculpey glaze. Just one coat does a great job! Available where polymer clays are sold.

Alice Zinn

Hawthorne: The Hawthorne was my introduction to the mini world. It was my first mini project and perhaps I should have cut my teeth on a smaller house but I had a wonderful time building it. It is beautiful and I am very proud of it. I bought the kit at a local ministore (Depot Dollhouse, now closed) where they had a model already built. For the most part I found the directions easy to follow, but due to my inexperience I sometimes had trouble visualizing the end result of certain steps. At this point I would run down to the ministore and examine the display.

There are a few things I would have done differently had I been more experienced. I did put one coat of paint to prime the walls and floors and two coats on the ceilings before assembling. However, you notice that there is a gable and tower joined to the front of the main body of the house. Where they join there is a crack across the ceiling of the left front first and second floor rooms. The house opens on that side so it is very visible.

Now it is all furnished, wallpapered, electrified with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and too heavy to turn upside down. In those rooms I should have perhaps put wood filler in the crack and textured the ceiling with a mixture of paint and spackle. To do so now would be a real hassle.

The other thing I would have done is made templates of all the floors and walls while they were more accessible. This would have made wallpapering etc. much easier.

Harriett- Framingham, MA

Tin Roof: I have to opt with all who have suggested putting narrow wood strips every inch or inch and a quarter. At least in Virginia and West Virginia, every tin roof I've ever seen has been flat spaces of tin (from the ground they look to be about 12 to 15 inches wide) with ridges where the pieces of tin are joined together (I think it's probably a rolled joint of some type). The corrugated "look" I think would be more comparable to those fiberglass roofs that everyone put on carports for a while. I've seen them on small business type buildings too and maybe they're even made from aluminum, but for a tin roof on a house, I've only ever seen the flat with ridges (lived under one for a while too and the rain was wonderful!)

Mary Lynne in Huntington, WV

Tin roof knock-off. Take corrugated cardboard and remove either layer of the covering paper. This leaves you with a hill and valley cardboard sheet. You can paint this tin color and rust color. OR get some aluminum foil and press it into the hills and valleys and then spray it with hair spray. When the hair spray is dry you can paint the aluminum foil with no problem. Cost=$0.00.

Dr Bob

I have a card board roof (corrugated) on a mini that has been out doors in Florida I.E. hot and humid with no ill effects.

Dr Bob

Tougher tin roof: The idea of using corrugated cardboard to make a tin roof with ridges is a good one. But even painted, the roof ridges would tend to be dented or flattened with handling. So maybe it would add strength to the roof if you first gave the cardboard a few coats of gesso and then applied the silver paint and aging paints. Anything that would make the ridges harden would work to make this roof a more permanent one.

Darlene from L.I.

Tin Roof: Tin roof doesn't have to be corrugated. On my project I drew vertical lines 1" apart on the roof and glued on 1/16" stripwood on the lines. Then I painted the roof with 2 coats of acrylic silver paint. I haven't had time, but I intend to age it with some raw sienna. In the shop we carry a plastic corrugated roof. It looks very realistic painted with the silver acrylic.

Deanna from beautiful downtown Thiensville

Tin roof aging: If the roof is made from aluminum I found that if I apply household liquid ammonia to aluminum it gets a sort of patina. A darkening of the surface.

Dr. Bob

Tin Roof: I came across article in "Creative dollhouses from kits" by Robert Schleicher, on how to make a tin roof. Many of the ss replies were same: gluing 1/16" sq. strips to roof, no wood strip needed at edge. Divide evenly across span. Coat the entire roof with clear silicone bathtub caulk compound, and cover it with heavy duty aluminum foil. Paint the roof silver. When the paint dries, spray roof with Testors Dulcote to give it the gray look of weathered tin.

Alice P.

Finishing Rough Edges of House: I have used a thin layer of wood putty over rough wood and then sanded it after the putty was dry. It came out very smooth. It acts as a "filler" and you don't have that heavy grain to deal with.

Marjorie in CA

Finishing Rough Edges of House: I use vinyl spackling compound to fill in and smooth the edges of plywood dollhouse parts. Especially for die-cut houses, I couldn't work without it. Just apply it with your finger, press it into the edge and then wipe off any excess with a paper towel. No waiting for it to dry. You can paint right over it.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Finishing Rough Edges of House: I seal the edges of my work with plain white spackle. It is easy to sand smooth. I use plain wood putty if the edge needs to be stained. I use a large emery board for sanding. (the type they use for sculptured nails) It does not harm the finish and is easy to handle.

Becky