Faux Wrought Iron: They can be made using the twist ties that come in packages of garbage bags. If you want to repeat a shape (like a heart) use something to bend the pieces around and glue the hearts between straight pieces of twist ties, perhaps twirling some. Glue them together and spray with flat black paint!

Alice Zinn

Wainscoting. Mine are 3 inches high which would be equal to 3 feet high. It's a good idea if you're unsure about the placement of things to check a real house. I had read somewhere that chair railing is placed 3 feet high and that's how I decided where to put my wainscoting. Before I put the doorknobs on the door, I checked the height of the doorknobs in my house.

Carol

Chair rail height: Standard chair rail height on new houses is 32",(about 2 2/3" or 2 1/2" plus three lines at one twelfth scale) coming mostly from the fact that 8' sheets of material divisible by 3 is 32", and therefore you get the most out of your sheets. You may find that if your little house has tall ceilings, you'll want to adjust a little higher to make the wainscot more in proportion to the height of the walls.

Kathy in Kentucky

Dark Wooden Floors: I have made lovely wooden floors on mdf :- Score with steel ruler and craft knife to resemble floor boards, then apply several coats of 'scuff stuff' self-shine shoe polish in combinations of mid brown and dark tan layers. Have a practice run on scrap board to get the colour you want. Good luck.

Lyn

Dark Floors: You asked for a method to make dark wooden floors without using lots of varnish. At a workshop I attended recently we used Brown shoe polish. Since it has wax in it, it can be buffed to a nice shine. You would need to be sure there is no glue residue on the seams as the polish might not cover. "Stain" the floor before putting into your room, as you don't want to get the polish on your walls. I would test several shades and types of shoe polish to find the one you like best. We used a liquid shoe polish but I think the paste would work as well, and perhaps give you a better shine. Hope this helps.

Diane in San Francisco Bay Area

Dark Wooden Floors: you could stain it with walnut stain to get it nice and dark. Then when dry use several coats of Mod Podge high gloss. It dries in less than an hour. Between coats rub it down with 0000 steel wool. This would come out dark and shiny like you wanted.

Helen from San Dieg

Floors: I've not been doing minis for long but did do the floors on my dollshouse and am pleased with the result. Use a stain/wood dye to colour the floor (might be useful to try it out on a small sample first to test for colour) when dry, sand with fine glass paper/steel wool. Clean off all dust and use a good quality wax polish (Liberon is excellent but any good wax polish will do) rub in well with very fine steel wool, leave to dry again and repeat process of polishing.....You can use as many coats as you wish to achieve the desired effect. No doubt there are other methods but this worked well on the floors I did. Good luck,

Jacqui in Hampshire, UK

Choosing Paint Color Help: We went down to the Home Depot to purchase some paint and I found this neat program put out by Glidden paint company. It allows you to choose interior or exterior shots and you add color to the walls, ceilings, trim and furniture.
It cost about $5.99 plus tax. It does not have to be placed on your hard drive it runs from the CD.
I have problems choosing color that go together and this program seems like it will help. You might check it out. If you don't have The Home Depot you might check out other companies that handles Glidden paint they might carry it.

Sclarise

Paper lace. I assume she means paper doilies. I think if you decoupaged or glued some to bedroom furniture (head and foot boards and drawer fronts) it could then be painted and would look like carved wood decoration. You could actually glue it around curved surfaces since it's thin. I used gold paper foil to make a Roman soldier's breastplate and armor and it looks pretty good.

Paulette in IN

Paper lace: Actually, she was talking about the lace paper sold through artists' suppliers (the reference she gave us was: http://www.dickblick.com). It's a very fine, delicate paper that resembles lace. All I could think of as far as mini uses were: 1) pull-down window shades, 2) those type of oriental fans that are hoop-shaped, or 3) panels for a screen.

Molly/StormBorn

Lace paper: I have a little shelf that I received as a swap with lace paper trimming the edges, it's adorable. Perhaps it could be used as shelf edging in those $1. Michael's hutches as well.

Marilyn, MI

Upholstery Remnants: Use for carpeting (area rugs, stair runners), cushion covers, upholstery - amazing how expensive some nice fabric can make even the cheap import furniture look, carpet bags and modern soft-sided luggage. Hang onto the samples and uses will come to you!

Loretta.Sniarowski

Upholstery Remnants: I haven't tried this, but with so many colors and fibers, could you clip them (like a haircut) and use the "droppings" as wool for sheep, cat fur, dog hair etc.? U can see why I NEVER throw anything away - it might come in handy in my
next life! (LOL)

M.H.Lee

Tiny stamps: I once owned a ceramic shop and as I was going though some files ( to make room for my mini info) I found some stamping tools. They are by Erika Zavori. They come in seasonal, animal (also a rooster) flowers and many different designs that I think will work for our Minis. You can use them to make wallpaper, stamp on you dishes, make title for the bath or kitchen. Just think of all the things you could use them for. If you are interested here is the web site.
http://www.voyagerweb.com/zavorimold/catpg61.htm

Dianne in Minnesota

Curtains: D. Anne Ruff did a how to article about swag valences in the April 1989 issue of Nutshell News. Also, in the book "The Decorated Dollhouse" by Jessica Ridley, she has a pattern for swags and jabots on page 59. Gail Vaughn might talk about them in her Mindstorm video, "Working with Fabric." (See http://www.mindstorm-inc.com/mm20.shtml for more info on that video.)

Alix in San Francisco

CURTAINS I have done all my curtains on graph paper, pinning the pleats with straight pins and then spraying with heavy duty spray starch. First I draw the window to size on the graph paper. then I tape the paper to an old macrame board (a ceiling tile would work) cover the paper with wax paper. ( I make my curtains just like big curtains with a heading and below that a place to thread the curtains on. I use a bent piece of hanger to make a curtain rod I----------------------I sort of like this I thread the curtains on and poke the pointed ends of the curtain rod in the drawing of the window just like I was putting it into the holes I'd drilled either side of the window pane in the doll house window. Then I pleat the curtain using the little squares in the graft paper as a guide. I hold each pleat in place with a straight pin. When all is to my satisfaction. I spray with heavy duty spray starch. I use several coats ,letting it dry between coats. Then I remove the pins and hang in the house . Since I live in a dry climate (New Mexico) this works very well and I have curtains that have been in place several years and have kept their shape. I hope I have made this understandable. Please feel free to write me at my AOL address with any questions, but do put doll house curtains on the subject line, as I do not open mail when I don't know what it is.

Patsy

Curtains: for the drapes, you will need a surface (like a rigid foam), stainless steel dress pins, graph paper, and a non smelly (odorless) mild hair spray and wax paper. Since you are working in quarter scale, make sure with a flexible glue like Ultimate to seal the edges of the fabric that should be the correct length and 2 1/2 times the width of the window you are covering. Put the graph paper on the foam and the wax paper on top of that. Start by pinning down one side (use the graph paper as a guide to keep it straight). Make your first bump from the top to the bottom of the material. Judge by the height of the bump what would look best for your scale. Then put a pin at the bottom and top of the fabric next to the bump. Continue until you use up the fabric and keep the bumps the same height. When you are done, spray the fabric with hair spray (test on a scrap before you do it on the main piece) You can spray with a mist of water also, but I've found the spray better. Some people have their favorite, so this is not written in stone.

Deanna

Curtains: Years before I got the Pretty Pleater, I did the most of the curtains in my big dollhouse using the graph paper on the ceiling tile method and pleating with straight pins. I sprayed the curtain with cheap hair spray a couple of times. Now, this was about 12-15 years ago and they are still just like they were when I finished them. One set was white batiste in my little girl's room, and they are still white. I sewed the header and hemmed the curtains before I put in the curtain rod and pleated them while they were on the rod. I used the same method as someone mentioned about using the wire angled on the ends and then drilled small holes in the wall of the dollhouse and the wire was pushed into the wall. Worked like a charm. You can see the result in my dollhouse section on my web site: http://fayzerplace.homestead.com. I'm still happy with all the window treatments I did using this method. I did use the Pretty Pleater when I made the vanity skirt in the powder room on the 1st floor and on the lace curtains in the Liv. Rm & Din Rm. Getting the lace (which was a polyester blend) to stay in the Pretty Pleater was tricky because it kept popping out. I think I ended up making an old-fashioned starch mixture and soaking the lace in it and then putting it in the pleater. Turned out very nice.

Fay in St. Louis

Shoes: Doll's cobbler has wonderful shoes and I do have a couple of hers - but if you are going to place shoes in a distant area and would like many, I suggest getting the many styles available at Metal Miniatures from the Reynolds in Illinois. I did an "Imelda's Closet" vignette and filled it with a lot of shoes in different colors & styles. I added raveled Bunka for frou-frous on some and managed to make some of the same styles look different with varied trims and colors. It was loads of fun and not very expensive for a novelty setting. Just an idea for those of you who have open closets or want some shoes in a bedroom.

Jeanette in Wisconsin

Finishing edges of dollhouse floors and ceilings: I used those strips of wood (Basswood, I think) about 2-3ft long that are sold at dollhouse stores, Michael's, AC Moore etc. The solution was critical for my house because I used the round wire method of electrifying it and a bunch of wires were running down the open back of the house. These strips come in all different shapes, thickness and widths (most less than one inch). I used a two sided strip that met at a 90 degree angle. I glued it to the floors/ceilings so that the angle where the two sides meet left a channel for the wires. I'll send you some pictures via an attachment to an email which are pretty poor but good enough to illustrate the point. I painted mine white to match the woodwork etc. but you can stain them also if your house has dark woodwork.

Harriett - Framingham, MA