old seaside fishing towns are full of weathered buildings like that! As for what else would be in them... besides piratey stuff, there'd be plenty of seashore/ship/fishing related items, too. My mom's family have always been sailors & fishermen (and opium smugglers in the 1600's in Cornwall - that's supposedly why they ended up here in the USA - I wouldn't go as far as pirates, though. Though I wouldn't go as far as to say they weren't, either). Decor has included pictures of ships, lights made out of ship lanterns, old harpoons hanging on the wall, lobster traps piled outside, fishing nets (outside with the traps and inside on the walls), floats, buoys, bells, pictures of ancestors, pictures of the ocean, barometers, fishing poles & tackle, small boats at the dock outside (rowboats ,canoes), extra oars ,oarlocks, broken oars, rope hammocks (rope EVERYTHING!!), and lots of macramé. My grandfather actually managed to combine every one of these items into his den - plus he used to macramé anything that held still more than 30 seconds; the rest of the family eventually came to refer to this style as Owen Decor.

A pub would be serving some sort of food - stew, bread, lobster, clams, actual beef maybe. Crates stacked up here & there, or being used as seats or tables. A fireplace. Where there's pirates I'd expect to find gambling, so any card or dice games appropriate to the era of your pub; guns, swords, knives,booty- gold, jewels, cloth, clothing, carpets, perfumes, spices, (opium!), etc. - I expect they'd be using much of it to gamble or just plain display. Maybe a lost and found section of wooden legs, parrots,eye Patches! And of course the MAIN reason the men eventually come ashore (besides the alcohol) - WOMEN!

Grace

Sclarise and her cigar box miniature scenes: Sclarise, I visited your site (again) and love your sofa bed--BUT the cigar box for a mini scene gave me an idea, I hope you don't mind me mentioning your URL. http://www.hughes-ec.com/~frog/cigarbox_art.html. Perhaps Michelle (i think that is who was inquiring) who is looking for an idea for the little girl (who is visiting from out of the country for medical help)--- could use a cigar box to create a miniature scene! What a perfect idea! Most tobacco shops that I have seen have these for sale for $1 or $2 dollars. The ideas are endless for the inside! She also gives directions to make your own Adobe cigar box.

Nursemini

Project for child visitor to take home: For the container, why not use one of those old-fashioned sturdy travel cases for toiletries, etc.? It is perfectly suited for traveling, obviously! She could bring it back as a carry-on and it has a handle. And you can get some of the old ones for cheap at thrift stores. Maybe you can recover one of the fabric or vinyl ones, or decoupage a hard-sided one.

Lynette in WNC

Pirates Pub: How about a carved bow sprit of a beautiful woman attached to a false column against a wall. I seem to remember seeing one somewhere. Maybe one of our fellow shipmates knows the whereabouts of one. How about some ratlines attached from the floor to a loft instead of a ladder. The loft could hold some barrels of ale and maybe a chest of pieces of eight, pearls, and silver and gold booty hidden in the corner. I can see this string going on for a while. What fun!

Spencer

Pirates Pub: Your Pirates Pub sounds wonderful. I'd love to offer hints for accessories but I see the people first! I made myself laugh out loud as I envisioned a bunch of drunken rowdy pirates( many of the missing various body parts) <G>having their way with the boozy, wild-haired, loose wenches! LOL One of the pirate's collapsed from too much rum and his parrot is taking a bit of the brew.

Pearl Jordan

Pirates Pub: In your pub I would have a shelf or barrel where all 'hooks' have to be deposited prior to entry. That minimizes the possibility of bar room fights ending in fatal wounds. What about a pegleg stand? Sorta like an umbrella stand for wet umbrellas but instead it could be for wet peglegs (you know - wooden legs). A Parrot Refreshment Centre where tired parrots can perch and get refreshments? A Stolen Booty deposit box? An eye patch refurbishing service? A hat stand with bandanna style scarves hanging on it in the corner of the room? Instead of a bucking bull in the other corner - a Plank? Women?

Trace, Melbourne Australia

Pirate's Pub... if you've ever played Lucas Arts' Monkey Island, they have great ideas for pirates, including a pub. The pub is right on the pier, and when you walk in the door, there are several round tables & chairs, ship's wheel chandeliers, etc. Then there is a red velvet curtain, almost like a stage curtain, with Very Important Pirates sitting at a long table, next to the kitchen door. Scruffy dog, fireplace in the corner, grungy cook, peg legs, eye patches, etc. Lots of pewter mugs, etc. Sounds like lots of fun!

Cindy in MA

Pirate's Pub: The first thing that springs to mind is a trollop or two! Pieces of eight (gold coins), a pegleg, a hook, those green glass balls with the rope netting around them (floats), pewter tankards, sawdust on the floor (for unfortunate spills), shark jaws on the wall, netting, cutlasses, a treasure chest, Blind Pew, phew! A good idea would be to rent some pirate theme videos. Yellowbeard is a favourite of mine, then there is Cutthroat Island, and the Muppet Treasure Island, and then there are the classic; ones with Errol Flinn (a good Aussie boy!)! But for REAL style, you can't beat The Dread Pirate Roberts and his pirate ship Revenge1

Fran in Melbourne

Pirate's Pub: Pewter tankards, spittoons on the floor, buxom wenches serving beer. Oil lamps swinging from the beams, maybe two pirates having an arm wrestling competition. A thin mongrel, a few bones on the floor. A skeleton with a noose round its neck swinging from a beam. A lobster pot ,model ships, a ship's figurehead. Bottles of Rum, a dagger lying on a table. Jar of tobacco on the bar.

Jay from Rugby U.K

Pirate's Pub: Hubby had some great ideas...how about a Jolly Roger banner? And maybe a ships wheel? A bust of a mermaid off a ship's front? Not to mention shells,nets, and wenches...

Crystal

Project for child visitor to take home: Why not make a collapsible room of some thin airplane plywood. If you hinge the side walls and floor you can fold it flat, and then pack the things which go in it separately. Perhaps a replica of the room in which she will be staying in your home would bring back nice memories when she goes home. Of course, you didn't say how old she is, so maybe something like a scene from a nursery rhyme or children's book would be more fun for her.

Alice Zinn

Project for child visitor to take home: The idea that popped into my head after reading your post was; a contemporary American room...maybe a kitchen, if you will be spending a lot of time there, or a family room. You could have a TV, a CD player, stuff like that, pizza, (if she will be having any, or hamburgers, etc.) Something so that she can remember her time in the U.S. How about making it out of cardboard, or foam core. Light weight, so she can bring it home with her. Actually, to carry the thought further...how about one of your own rooms? She could help, and even learn the words for things like couches, chairs, tables, etc.

Kaye in L.A.

Project for child visitor to take home: If you choose to help her build a miniature of HER ROOM in your home, Start taking pictures through the window of HER ROOM to use as backdrops in the mini. You can take frequent pictures as seasons change so that she can enjoy the changing view as you correspond in the future. If Russian/English is a difficult translation, a picture for her mini can say 1000 words.

Mel K.

Project for child visitor to take home: How about creating a scene in a child's tin lunchbox? That would be highly portable, and she could even take it out and play with it on that long plane ride home. As for the insides, schoolrooms are somewhat universal and fun to create.

Geo. Held

Project for child visitor to take home: I don't know if you can sew but there have been several patterns over the years in the pattern books for folding dollhouses of fabric that would be very lightweight to carry back on a plane, including dolls, furniture, clothes etc.

Ana Gerard

Free dollhouse plans.: To all SS'ers who are looking for dollhouse plans, there is a plan for a 7 roomed Victorian to download at the following site - http://www.thewoodcrafter.net/projects.html

Maureen in Hemel, UK

Tiny Hidden Hinges: I made kitchen cabinets and faced the problem of invisible hinges.

After beating myself to death over it, I finally just drilled a small hole in the edge of the door, then a corresponding hole in the frame,. Added a bit of glue and inserted a tiny piece of floral wire (fabric coated) Then after it dried, I faked a tiny bit of hardware (actually it wasn't necessary) After considering this problem, I wondered just how often one opens and closes a miniature kitchen cupboard door? This works wonderfully, looks fine and the door stays just where you put it. Open or closed.

After this, I began to wonder how many other doors could be hinged with just a poke of wire. . . . and windows and French doors, and cabinet doors and bathroom cabinets etc. Most of them I suspect. They don't get flapped in the breeze and should be good for many,many years.

They hang straight and look good. What else is there?

Judie

Popsicle stick floors: I made a floor for my very first project out of popsicle sticks. I used Elmer's wood glue and stuck them right to the floor of the project. It never occurred to me that I might want to redecorate someday. That floor has been serving my little family well for over 22 years, now.

Pat, Huntington, NY

Pre-staining shingles: I do prefer staining my shingles before putting them on as I glue too heavy and glue does not stain well. I used two plastic containers that I got at a dollar store, or you could use old ones around the house and a strainer. I put the stain in one container and then shingles, only enough to be covered by the stain. When the allotted time was up, I strained them into the second container. This means that I had shingles in the strainer and stain in the second container. I then put more shingles in the second container and dried the shingles in the strainer with paper towels and put them on wax paper to dry.You keep doing this until the amount of shingles that you want are done.

Isabel-CT

Staining shingles: When I wanted to stain the shingles for my house, I bought two of those inexpensive aluminum turkey-roasting pans at the grocery. I punched holes in the bottom of one to make a "colander" and set it inside the other. I then poured in the stain and a bunch of the shingles and stirred them around a bit. When they were stained to my liking, I simply lifted the inner pan out and let the stain drain into the bottom pan where it was ready for the next batch of shingles.I spread the shingles out on newspaper to dry (it was summer so I could do this all outside) and repeated the process until all the shingles were done. Hope this description is clear to whoever needed the help!

Chris in Minnesota