Warping: For warped wood, I soak the piece in the bathtub then place it on the garage floor, cover with wax paper and drive the car up on it.  If it is really large, cover it with another piece of wood before the car tire.  Leave it overnight.  It does too work!!!

Fannye in TX

Cutting Luan: If you score the Luan on the "cut" line with sharp utility or X-Acto knife, using a straight edge, you will minimize to problem of splintering. This works well on any plywood also.  When cutting on a table saw, place the "good" side up so the blade won't tear out the wood on that side.  If your using a hand circular saw, place the "good" side down.  You can also use some masking tape on the cut line to eliminate tear out.  These tips also work with full size lumber for "real life" projects.

Spencer in Taos, NM

Warping and Sealing: I presume from the warped wood problem you have that you are doing a house with 1/8" luan. The problem is often in the manufacture of the plywood (they didn't use equally dried wood )and not with the kit mfg. I have found that many times one can pull the warped piece into alignment when the house is fastened together if the warp is not too bad, but o straighten a warped piece I use this method: DO NOT  seal the wood first! Place the wood with the warp (the curve facing to the floor), then SPONGE the convex side with preferably hot water (do not wet both sides of the wood). You will need to get that side fairly wet and spritzing it does not get enough water in and on to do any good. Then flatten it out and lay REALLY heavy weights on it. Then let it dry thoroughly.  BE SURE TO KEEP THE CONCAVE SIDE DOWN AND THE CONVEX SIDE UP like this ^.  You will have a 50-50 chance of getting it to straighten out. You can then seal both sides AFTER that. As to the shellac: I think many of the  manufacturers are calling it a primer (I can't think of too many other uses for shellac).  The one I prefer with the dollhouses is white shellac - it has a white pigment added. This will give you three benefits even thinned: 1. you can see exactly where you have painted (clear shellac dries very fast and is almost invisible when dry) 2.it primes the walls inside so that your wallpaper's color remains clean and the glues are not sucked up into the wood. And 3.by priming BOTH sides you now have solved any future warping problems. Clear shellac is also good but stay clear of orange shellac because of the color problem. Shellac does not have to be used straight (as it dries out over the years it tends to "alligator"- remember all those crackled finishes on antique furniture?)  - its effectiveness for the purpose of sealing is perfect at the proportions of 1 part shellac to 5 parts DENATURED alcohol (obtainable where you get the shellac). The Furniture Guys of Furniture To Go fame call it a spit coat.  As an aside : for anyone who has an animal odor problem (your dog pee'd on the floor and you can't get the smell out or mice made a home in your piano or whatever) or you have a color paint problem like trying to cover red with white (red always bleeds through) use shellac...it creates a barrier to the offending odor or color).  I found this hard to believe but that spit coat DOES do the JOB!

Ana Gerard

Gesso: The best gesso on the market, in my opinion, is Liquitex brand. I bought mine at an art/arts & crafts store.  The bottle I have is several years old, it is a 1/2 gallon (54ounces) and can be used for canvas or whatever you need it for.  I think it has thickened over the years, which makes it better, and maybe you could thicken it faster by leaving it without the lid. It will skim over, but it is still good.  That large bottle will last a very long time, but I use it for many things.  I used mine last week to seal wood and siding on the outside of a room box.  It is white in color, acrylic, no odor and water clean up.  Of course, you can't use it if you are staining. For that I would use a "spit" coat of shellac (1 part shellac and 5 parts denatured alcohol).  It helps even out the stain, and is good for sealing dollhouse kits before assembly.

Patty Adamson in Bandera TX

One of a Kind Wallpaper: I made my own wallpaper. I took a digital photograph so I could get it into my computer. I used a photograph of a plate from a magazine. You could use a pattern from fabric and scan it...the idea is to get it into a graphics program on your computer so that you can change the colors or take out the round, plate shape, take out a shadow whatever has to be done to it. Then you copy, paste the best part into a program where you can save it. duplicate the pattern onto the page as many times as you need then print. You aren't done yet. As soon as it gets wet, your ink will run, so you need to spray it lightly with an artist fixative for use with ink. DO THIS OUTSIDE. Most of these things are not compatible with life.  Spray both sides and let it stay outside to air. THEN, you are ready to use it as wallpaper and its exactly what you wanted!

Laurie Sisson

Ceilings: Someone asked about creative things to do with ceilings. I use a lot of moldings and wall decorations from Architectural Etc. to give some interest to the ceilings.  Something else to try  is using the  paneled wallpaper that is made by Mini Graphics.  Cut out the panels and you can put them on the ceiling.  I think you can see what I've done with ceilings at http://www.spminiatures.com/house where I have pictures of my dollhouses.

Carol

Silk for Wall Covering: NO Glue on silk...use iron on fusible and a small travel iron. (You will still need to prime your wall.)

Laurie Sisson

Smoothing Walls: Try using Spackle for smoothing your walls in the less expensive dollhouses. Spackle comes in tubs and can be found in the hardware store. Just spread it on and let it dry. It only takes minutes to dry. Then sand (preferable outside). Wear a mask as you DON'T want to breath the dust in. It sands so easily and it is so smooth. I love it. I use it on all the wood parts in the dollhouse, even the trim. The best thing to do when starting a dollhouse is to shellac, (look in the hardware store). the wood pieces first. This keeps moisture from getting in and warping the wood. Then use the Spackle and sand smooth.

Barbara D

Ceilings: I have a great way to do the ceilings ... I went to my local Ames Department Store and bought a product called Clear-Tex it's made by DecoArt. This product is a mixture that you add to your paint and as you paint the ceiling it adds texture , so that you can't see the brush strokes, I also went back over the freshly painted ceiling and patted in an orderly fashion this helped to not have a specific  pattern. You add whatever color paint you want, it works very well. I originally bought it for the kitchen ceiling , but I think I'll do all the ceilings with this product.

Charlotte

Ceilings: I recently did ceilings by cutting piece of poster board to fit the ceiling (actually used the floor, since it was the same and the house was already built), then mod-podging pieces of lace paper doilies, then painting with white acrylic gesso before gluing into place with tacky glue. If you did it before the house was built you could glue the paper doilies directly to the ceiling after priming and then paint over them with gesso, that would be easier. The hardest part was getting the poster board to stick to the ceiling, I had to stand there and pat it back into place until it was tacky enough to stay on its own.  I think someone on this digest posted the idea of using the lace paper doilies to imitate the fancy patterns of old plaster ceilings.  Actually, hardly anyone ever sees the ceiling of most houses.

SUSAN AT WRH

Shingles: The neatest way  I have found to finish the roof is to buy a piece of corner angle wood molding- it is shaped like an "L" with both legs the same size - basically just a right angle.  You can get the slightly more expensive thin variety at dollhouse shops or the thicker cheaper stuff at the hardware store.  Paint it white, stain it, paint it to match the color of your exterior walls, but in any case glue it over the top of the peak covering part of your last row of shingles for a more finished look.

Bonnie Gibson - Tucson, Arizona

Shingles: You can 'lace' a row of 1/2 shingles along the ridge (place them on alternate sides as you go, so they overlap).  You can take two boards and glue one on each side.  Most mini shops will sell you a pre-made ridge board (its an angle like corner trim) made of cedar (from Alessio).

Tom Berkner

Dying wood and Frottage faux finish: Several years ago (and I do mean several), House Beautiful had an article on using Rit dye to stain full-size furniture.  The thing to remember:  SEAL it or you will have Rit dye places you don't want Rit dye.  Don't see why you couldn't brush it on your walls. Or mix some oil paints with glazing medium and use that.  Oils come in wonderful colors.  I love Prussian Blue. Someone asked for the Frottage directions from BHG paint decor magazine.

Supplies:

2 latex wall colors (light Ivory and a tan or beige color three shades

darker than the Ivory)

Latex glazing medium

Floetrol (extends drying time)

Paint pan and roller

Newspapers

Large disposable container with lid for mixing and storing glaze medium

Paint wall with lighter color.  Let dry 24 hours.  Cut newspaper desired size (for stone block about 7x12"). Mix enough of formula to cover area to frottage so color is consistent.

Glaze:

1 pt. darker latex paint

1 pt. latex glazing medium

1 pt. water

1/4 cup Floetrol

Apply glaze with roller to 12x12" sections. For more texture apply thicker coating of glaze. Apply clean sheet of newspaper to wet glaze.  Smooth out newspaper carefully.  Don't tear it.  Wrinkles are ok.  They add to the final texture. Remove the newspaper and discard.  Continue with a new piece of newspaper. Always be sure there is wet glaze beyond the newspaper to avoid starting and stopping spots. To create stone blocks leave about an inch of space between newspaper applications for  the "faux" mortar.  These are the directions for a full-size wall.  Tiny pieces of newspaper could be substituted for the large sheets.  3/4"x1" maybe?

quinn

Staining:  If you seal a piece of furniture, you wont be able to stain it because the stain won't sink into the grain of the wood.  Pick the color of stain that you would like and stain several pieces of scrap wood, wiping off the stain at different times, e.g.: 1 minute, 2 minutes, etc., until you get the intensity of color you want.  Make sure you allow at least 24 hours for the stain to dry before applying any seal coat of polyurethane if you so desire.  Then rub with 0000 steel wool to get a smooth finish.

Spencer

Fabric for Wallpaper: I used fabric for wallpaper for the first time on this. It was a wonderful remnant I had found at my flea. I took the fabric and ironed it. Then used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to adhere it to heavy card stock. Then I made templates of my wall sizes and used them to mark the patterns on the prepared fabric. Cut with an X-Acto and then installed them on the walls with Yes glue. I tape wired prior to the installation and measured where the tape line was so I had no trouble installing my outlets through the card. I really like how the fabric looks and it was such a "mess-free" way to do the walls.

John Medeiros

Stained Glass: The easiest and cheapest way to make stained glass windows is to print out your design on a transparency. I have stained glass windows on my brothel doors. If you'd like to take a look, the website is:http://members.aol.com/muscka/redgarter/index.htm

Marsha, Newark, CA

Stained Glass: Tracy, the easiest way to do "stained glass" is to get one of the (cheap!) Dover art stained glass books. Since they're copyright-free, you can reproduce with a clear conscience. Browse through to find a window(s) you like and take to a copy shop with a list of your window dimensions. Have them experiment with cheaper black and white copies to get the dimensions you need, and then have them copy on a color transparency. Cut it out and install in your window. With light shining through, they are very beautiful. I've put at least one Tiffany panel in every house I build or rehab, but then I'm nutty for stained glass!

Loretta Sniarowski

Stained Glass: I'm sure you'll get lots of ideas about how to make stained glass windows from this list. I do "full size" stained glass and really had an interesting time trying to replicate that "look" in miniature for my grand-daughter's custom Oakmont dollhouse. This is the URL for the tips on the methods I learned in the process:

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/8157/tips.htm

Wilma Kinder

Jewelry bits: You're on the right track with the jewelry bits. You can also glue them together with broken (or cheap working) watches to make fancy mantel clocks. Use them as fancy curtain tiebacks. Grommets from the fabric store turned upside down are just right as candle cups, so glue those onto bigger pieces to make candlesticks. Get the biggest size triple-hook fishhooks at the hardware, snip off the barbs, glue big sequins and grommets on the ends as candleholders and festoon the hook armature with jewelry bits to make a fancy real-candle chandelier.Then, fasten to a shank button with a jump ring and glue the button to the ceiling. (Cut down the long, skinny birthday cake tapers found at party stores and crafts stores for mini-size candles that fit the grommets.) Bits also make great ormolu to glitz up the cheap imported furniture found at dollar stores. Just keep experimenting and you'll come up with even better ideas of your own.

Loretta Sniarowski

Placing houses on plywood bases--I have used plywood 3/4" for a base but really liked using a heavier wood frame that has a slant back toward the wall rather than the traditional angle at the wall...I used Masonite in the frame setting as the glass usually would, braced beneath by adequate blocks. It gives a finished edge and sets the house up a bit.  I have also used the plastic corners for wallpapering intended to "save" the outside corners of rooms around the edges to "contain: the landscape visually.  It is clear, self sticking or tack on if wider is used, comes in 1/4-1" L-shaped strips about 36-72" long, which I can find at the local hardware/home supply-type store.

Xmas Carol

Diamond dust on ceilings : So how about turning the house upside down? The ceiling them becomes the floor... You might need to make a sling arrangement with webbing or folded up thinly bed sheets/table cloth or something to suspend it (say from a closet hanging rod, a porch swing hook, a hanging plant hook...) Depending on the state of the outside of the house, propping it with bed pillows... I may be missing something obvious here but this seems to me a bit more doable (even if it might be a 2-3 person job to safely suspend it) than, say, reversing gravity (grin).

Carolyn