Stairs: I just finished gluing the pieces of sm. dowel pieces to the steps and hand rail on my house. The way I found to be easiest is to glue the dowels to the handrail first, and then glue the whole thing to the steps.

Tracey in Texas

Stairs: I have learned through trial and error (mostly error!) to drill holes in the treads to accept the spindles before I put the staircase together. Stack up the treads and do several at a time.

Dani Rice

Gutters and downspouts: In the US you can purchase lengths of wooden guttering; painted gloss white, it is very effective. I had my DH drill a hole in the bottom of one end, and I inserted a length of dowel rod for the downspout. I used a piece of bendable straw for the bottom of the pipe - the diameter of the dowel depends upon the size of your straw. One of my very, VERY few ventures into the world of Fimo was to make the little concrete splash guard to go at the bottom. I finished it all off with a puddle of Elmer's Glue, which dries clear, and sprinkled 'doll house dirt' on it for a mud puddle.

Dani Rice

I have the instructions that came with my Houseworks stair kit and the way they indicate you put them together is to first glue down the treads to the risers, then glue in the balusters, putting a small amount of glue on the wide end of the baluster and then placing the end into the hole drilled in the tread. Then glue the top of the hand rail to the Newel post. After the glue has dried then glue the flat end of this Newel post to the staircase top riser. Allow to dry. Align top rail over the line of balusters. Starting at top, gently with your index finger and thumb pull the top portion of the spindle into the groove on the underside of the rail. Continue this process until you reach the bottom tread. Next glue the remaining Newel post to the handrail. Allow to dry.

Gutters and downspouts. In medieval times, they put gargoyles on the roofs to "spit" the water away from the building – so I guess there would have been gutters to collect the water but no real downspouts. I don't know when downspouts came on the scene but I do know that in Savannah, Georgia there are some really old buildings there that have these marvelous downspouts with dolphins at the end to direct the water away from the foundation. I was so fascinated with them that I took pictures hoping to be able somehow to duplicate them for my miniature house. Maybe someone in Savannah could let you know the exact age of those buildings. I plan to put gutters and downspouts on my house. Houseworks makes a gutter molding and I would think drinking straws would probably be convincing looking as downspouts after proper painting.

Doris McIntyre

Gutters & downspouts: My dollhouse kit came with gutters & downspouts. The gutters are made from wood shaped like gutters. The downspouts are dowels cut to different lengths and angles like a real gutter would look. I used a mini miter saw to cut the angles. Looks great. Painted it white, the rest of my house is trimmed in white also. A lot easier than it sounds. Glad I added these, which I almost didn't.

Rachel

Staircases: When I put together staircases, I glue the bottom newel post and the balusters first. Wait til the glue is dry. Then I put on the rail. Last I do the top newel. This is because if the newel was glued you couldn't adjust it without messing up the job. They never seem to be where they are supposed to when your fitting in the rail.

Deanna Spanjar

Gutters: Northeastern makes a gutter in 1" scale and I just got 1/2" scale from Scale Design--don't know who makes it--. Have never seen drainpipe advertised but have seen it in photos, so it's out there somewhere. In 1" I've used the bendable drinking straw painted silver for the drainpipe.

Rose

Stair Spindles: Glue the spindles on the treads and let dry overnight. Put small bit of glue on the spindle ends and fit the handrail in position. If you make an L-shaped jig with scrap wood--one leg of the L the width from the stair edge, the other leg the width from the riser--and use that for positioning the spindles, they will all be in alignment.

Rose

Slate Roof: Regarding slate roof, I used white poster board rather than cardboard and painted it with acrylic paint (the kind in a tube). I used black and white and mixed a little at a time, painting random tiles. Each batch of paint was a little different in shade so the slates were not all the same color intensity.

Linda Roebke

Slate Roofing: I have spent a lot of time contemplating slate roofing. I haven't actually gotten to the point of finishing my mini roof yet, but here's the info. I have:

1. The Earth & Tree web site has some tips on slate roofing
http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com/toms-tips/roofing.html (scroll down almost to the bottom)

2. There is an American company called "What's Next" that makes roofing shingles. They do make smooth slate grey shingles (as opposed to granulated shingles) but I haven't come across them too many times in the shops. I ordered some via mail order from the Dollhouse Factory in New Jersey.

Cristina Miranda

Brick Foundation: I used the Real Good Toys Brick Strips to put a brick foundation on my house. It looks very nice, just like real bricks. They are true to !/12" scale too. You can make the corners look just like a bricklayer does. I painted them the color of bricks and then filled in the cracks between the bricks and it looks like cement there. I haven't seen anything else that looks as real.

Carol

Brick Foundation: I suggest you use the plastic brick sheet available from Houseworks. It is the easiest brick to work with no matter your experience level. It can be cut with and Exacto knife and straight edge or on any of the micro table saws available on the market. It can also be scored and snapped. It is an overall easy product to work with. To determine the amount needed measure the "footprint" or perimeter of your house to determine the running length you'll need. You will have to cut the bricksheet into strips aprox. 1" to 1-1/2" high. I suggest you mount the brick on a wooden backer{ a solid piece of strip wood) around 1-1/2 inches thick and the height required for your foundation. Keep in mind that the foundation will be setback up to 1/4" from the finished siding material to maintain a realistic appearance. There are many other methods of making brick in miniature that require a little more advanced building skills. Hope this helps.

Lloyd

Dulling Glossy Furniture Finish: Get some pumice powder. Dip a soft cloth into oil (I used baby oil, but any kind will do) then into the pumice powder. Rub the furniture. Presto, no shine. I used a toothpick to push the cloth into all the little, tight spots on the chest I did.

Quinn

Metal Miniatures: I guess I am way too lazy, but cannot stand to scrub it, so I use Floquil primer(micromart). Lay a shipment on a tray and spray. A plus is that it enhances the details and makes it easier to see the details to be painted. I always finish final paint coat with a spray of Krylon matte finish.

Sue Thwaite

Ageing Paint and Wood: There are a couple of ways you can go about getting this peeling paint finish. First you have to age the bare wood, so that what is "bare" appears to be aged. You can do that with bug juice (several recipes available), India ink and denatured alcohol (be sure to wear gloves with this as denatured alcohol is absorbed directly into your body through the skin and can do considerable damage to your liver or kidneys) or a really nasty dirty water wash.

Both of these techniques were taught by the Thomas's.

1) Randomly apply rubber cement to your clapboard. Let dry. Paint with your clapboard color. Let dry. Peel back (i.e. rub) the areas where the rubber cement has been applied and it gives a wonderful effect.

2) This is how they have been teaching it in class for the past 8-9 years. Stain your wood with Bug Juice. Let dry. Take a foam brush "load" one side of the brush with a moderate amount of paint. Daub on paper towel to remove excess. "Daub" on siding - more where you want more paint, sparingly where you want it more bare. By daubing' I mean briefly press the foam brush on the wood and immediately release it- it is especially good if it bubbles because it will look great when it dries! .

Renee

Self Adhesive Carpets - my suggestion is make a paper template for the room and use it as a pattern to cut out your rug. then instead of peeling the paper backing off, leave it in place and use double stick tape to secure the carpet.

Linda

Removing shiny finishes: To take the shiny finish off cheap $ store furniture, dip a rag in some oil and then into pumice powder and rub. This is the fastest, easiest way I've found to cut the high gloss on these pieces. Took forever to find the pumice powder. Finally found it at WoodCrafters after hitting every home improvement store in the area. It's in a 16-oz can for around $5.

Quinn

Peeling Paint Finish: with wood showing thru, try this: before painting smear some vaseline randomly over the surface very sporadic. Paint the entire surface and let dry. Rub the surface when dry withyour thumb or a cloth, and the paint will peel where the vaseline was applied. I learned this trick in a class 8 yrs ago with Sandra Wall. She teaches a fantastic flower class but the aged container in this class was my favorite trick.

Sue Thwaite

Attic: I made an attic, and I am going to do this in my Santa's workshop attic also. I used mini newspapers that looked yellow in age (you can age them yourself) and wallpapered the walls with the "newspaper". Then take wood strips that have been stained and make "ceiling joists". Looks like a real attic. For the floor I am going to used wood probably paper wood flooring and then seal it.

Barbara Bower

Room bags: I have made many giftbag roomboxes.   I use a gatorboard ceiling in my roombags so that I can glue on sprigs of tissue paper to look like a real gift!  I also install a 10" strip lighting bar in each one and add a toggle switch on the line.  I don't like dusting so I like my scenes enclosed.

Of course you certainly can leave it open without a ceiling and you can also cut a plexiglass ceiling and glue clear cellophane instead of tissue. Ceilings are removeable and the window slides up and down for access to the
scene as well.

Roz Weitzman