Dulling Aluminum: How about coating it with lemon juice? I used this on the aluminum tape I used on my house roof and it worked.

Colette in Kidlington, Nr. Oxford, UK

Dulling Aluminum: To those of you pondering about a way of turning aluminum dull - you might try the dishwasher. Put your item in the silverware basket so it doesn't get lost. I know that the action of the dishwasher detergent and hot water will turn aluminum pans as I missed reading the directions once regarding washing an aluminum pan, socked it into the dishwasher and when I took it out, it certainly wasn't bright and shiny anymore!.

Lynn K. Kuhnert

Painting- Use dried spaghetti to lay your house or project pieces on to dry and they won't stick. I lay newspaper, then depending on the project, spread the spaghetti over the paper.

Karen from Dubai

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: All you need is a thin, flat piece of wood that you can score lines in to duplicate boards. Then you stain in whatever 'wood' color you want, and finish. Looks like the real thing.

Kaye in L.A.

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: You can get wallpaper with the design of wooden floors.I have used them covered with a coat or two of modge podge. I have also used real wood and think the paper ones look as real or maybe even more realistic because the thickness of the paper is more "in scale".

Harriett - Framingham, MA

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: Go to the printable sites listed on the SmallStuff home page and look for printable wood flooring. You can print them out, seal them with acrylic sealer, glue to your floor and put on a couple coats of varnish or whatever. Very inexpensive.

Carole Pierce in TN

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: I made my hardwood floors for free - I used the luan veneer from an old hollow door (finished plywood scrap can also provide a source). The veneer will separate if the wood gets wet and it can then be dried and cut into strips. I had some veneer warp/wrinkle when I tried to paint it, but the flooring strips I glued down are great. I went for an aged wood effect so I darkened it with lampblack rubbed into the wood grain and plank ends. I sealed it with MinWax and am very pleased with the result

Jacqui Martin

Easy Inexpensive Flooring:

A. If your house is made of wood, you may score the floor with an X-acto knife. This is the least expensive way to make a wood floor.

1. Mark your board pattern with a pencil. I prefer to use a small metal ruler with a cork back. It does not slip when I press on it.

2. One of the blades in the X-acto woodcarving set is a very small v-shaped chisel. Gently push the blade down the ruler away from your hand(to protect against cuts.) You do not want to go too deep, just get a good score.

3. Smooth the floor with OOOO steel wool, using a tacky rag to remove any particles of sawdust.

4. Apply the color stain of your choice.

B. You may use one of the wood grained papers, such as the original ones by J. Hermes. Apply like wallpaper, but seal.

Becky Holliday

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: For years, I've used the very thin balsa wood, I think about 1/32" thick. A strip 3" wide and about 36" long runs $1 to $1.25 depending on where you buy it. Score it with a pen or pencil, according to the type flooring you want (fine, narrow evenly spaced strips for a "nice" room or wider, more random strips for a more casual or rustic look.) Then, since balsa doesn't like stain much, I use paste shoe polish. Just rub it on, no drying needed. Tan polish gives sort of a blonde oak look, which I don't care for, but a light coat of brown is more of a golden oak ... add a little more and it's more of a maple-ish tone. Oxblood -- who knows? You can then lightly sand it for your traffic areas, or put a high gloss on it AFTER it's glued down and dried. This is CHEAP and easy -- I just did both levels of a small Greenleaf kit for under $3. Mail me privately, and I'll try to send you a picture of the finished floor.

Paula Isaacs

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: I made flooring from the backing that came with the mini flooring I bought, I made lines with a ballpoint pen in black, then stained it. I guess I could have put a gloss coat on but I did not think of that. When I laid it, it looked good. I did put pin holes on with the pen. Try it.

Chris Evans

Easy Inexpensive Flooring: Before you assemble your house, set it up and mark where the floor will be. Score with an awl down the side of a metal yardstick. I marked mine 1/2" apart and, although that isn't in scale, it accentuates the floor. I feel that if any smaller, you would be covering up all your work. Then add some lines across your marks to resemble joints in planks. If you want nail holes, just tap the awl with a hammer right by your joint marks. Sand the floors and stain! I did try to wood burn some of the lines to see what effect it would have and the burner operator got a little off track from the wood grain, though it would look great in a old 'lived in house (like my real one, with kids and pets)or a log cabin setting.

Lisa Lynn

Attic Wallpaper: Just a thought, but how about scanning in some full sized newspapers, resizing the pictures to teeny...(not a official scanning size, I'll admit!) and then printing on a yellowish paper? At this time of the year all the catalogs come out, and some have reprints of old newspapers..."The year you were born" type of thing. (There must be some other way of getting copies of old newspapers, but I can't think of where that would be.)

Kaye in L.A.

Attic Wallpaper: One of the miniature wallpaper companies makes a wallpaper pattern that looks like old newspapers. I used it on my Heritage attic walls. Pictures here: http://gerdesdesign.com/hobby.htm

Check with a dollhouse store in your area, or one of the online ones if there is no local one.

Anne Gerdes

Wallpapering Tips: Decide what each room will be, and then select papers - average 2-3 sheets of paper per room. In minis, we usually do not try to 'match' patterns, like in the real world of wallpapering. One sheet for each wall, or less if the room is smaller. Do the back wall first, slightly wrapping a little bit of the edges (right and left sides of the paper), so that those edges cover a bit of each left and right side wall.....this will give you just a bit of 'boo-boo' advantage when you paper the side walls. Papers are usually 'taller' than your walls,leaving excess to trim off at the ceiling or floor. BE CAREFUL if you have wired....don't forget that wiring is underneath those papers - :) If you cut off the excess paper, you may cut right through your wiring - YIKES!

To avoid that, I usually make 'patterns' from plain paper to fit each wall, then cut the wallpapers from this...they will fit almost perfectly when you paste the papers to the walls. If you are a 'bit short' at the top or bottom, just hide this with crown moldings and/or baseboards.

Laura in OKC

Filling Wall Seams: I used wood putty to fill the seams in the walls/siding. I used water-based putty, then sanded smooth, and the seams do not show under my wallpaper.

Michelle Fox

Wallpapering Tips: I found the easiest way to wallpaper was to make templates first using drawing paper that's not too thin. You'll find the same templates can be used for more than one room. If your house has rooms of the same size but different heights - just adjust accordingly. You will also find it easier when matching patterned wallpaper as you can lay out the templates on the wallpaper with the pattern all lined up. I paper the side walls first allowing a small amount of paper to go around and onto the back wall. The back wallpaper is cut to exact size and can then be put on last to cover these overlaps leaving no gaps. I use ready mixed border adhesive but it does not give any time to maneuver so is probably not to everyone's liking. After pasting the paper and placing it on the wall, I smooth it over GENTLY with a piece of soft dry kitchen towel to get rid of air pockets. The thing to remember is it doesn't matter if you do it and it goes wrong. It only takes a minute or two to strip it and start again and practice does make perfect! One last thing - when you open your dollhouse, you can see all or most of the rooms at the same time so choosing your wallpaper to coordinate works better than having the rooms in colors and patterns that clash.

Karon

Sealing Wood: The best thing to use is also one of the cheapest. Go to the hardware store and get a small container of shellac and a small can of denatured alcohol (if you would prefer, you could probably go to the liquor store and get a large container of 151 rum -that way you could drink the rest if you run into too many problems with your house). Mix 5 parts alcohol to 1 part shellac. Brush it liberally onto the surfaces (it will dry in seconds). They are now sealed. If you are going to paint them, you can sand them at this point.

Tom Berkner

Sealing Wood: Use shellac, available in your hardware store, probably what they call 3 lb. cut. Shellac every single piece on both sides before you put it together preferably. Don't forget to do the edges also and make sure that they are coated well. I also paint before I assemble and use two coats of acrylic paint with a water based varnish to finish. You might prefer an oil based varnish or a polyurathane.

Barbara Del Duco

Wallpapering Tips: I cannot measure properly and even if I did, I would never be able to cut it correctly. Consequently, making templates of rooms is out for me. What I do is to paper the whole room including windows and doorways. I let it dry for a couple of days to make sure the paste is dry and then cut out the window and doorways with an X-Acto knife. If you don't let the paste dry, the paper will start to tear when you cut it. I don't care if the edges are not perfect, that's why molding was invented. It covers a multitude of sins. Corners present a special challenge and if the wallpaper corners don't meet, I put 1/4 round molding, painted a complementary color to the wallpaper, in the corners and you would never know that the wallpaper doesn't meet properly. The molding is barely noticeable. The wallpaper doesn't have to be perfect at the ceiling and floor because I use molding to cover that up. Of course, I have let out my secret on why there is so much molding in my dollhouses but, what the hey, I'm among friends.

Carol

Patching Stairway Hole: First I glue in a piece of wood that matches the thickness of the floor. (Sometimes I get that from a scrap, sometimes I buy aircraft model plywood which is pricey but very sturdy for the thickness. I often don't put in a divider for an attic room and use that). Many houses have punch outs that can be glued back in. Then take the scatter rug and glue it to a piece of aircraft plywood that is 1/16" thick and a little bigger than the cutout. Use Fun-Tac putty or similar material to fasten it gently to the floor over the patched hole. Use the spackled ceiling below the cutout. This is great for a little bit of reinforcement without permanently gluing on the rug, especially if your upstairs hallway won't always be that color.

Rebecca in Texas