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Door Hinges

   If you choose not to use the tiny nails that come with door hinges, a good alternative to affixing the hinges is super glue. It holds well! After it's glued into place, paint inside the holes where the nails would have been with a bit of matching paint.

Wallpaper

   I visited a wallpaper store and asked if they had any old sample books to give away. I walked away with 12! While most of the patterns in the books are much too large for 1" scale, I did manage to find about 200 pieces which were very much usable in a dollhouse. I've also found that vinyl contact paper works well, and there are a great many with tiny patterns.

Inexpensive Wood Trim and Siding

   I found one of those roll-up slatted wooden doors for less than a dollar at a yard sale. The slats are 1/2" wide, 1/16th thick, and 4 feet long. I cut the knots off the bottom of the strings, which enabled me to slide every slat right off. I ended up with several hundred of them, all in great condition! I've used these for numerous things, such as siding and trim. They cut easily with scissors and take stain well.

Using Testor's Paints

   I love using Testor's model car enamels to paint shiny gold and silver fixtures. It works well! Hint: do not try to paint over it with any kind of clear coat or varnish. It will run like crazy and ruin whatever you painted.

Clocks

   Watches make great working clocks! I recommend using cheap plastic watches. Remove the band, then the "arms" that stick out at the top and bottom of the watch can be shaved off with an exacto knife. You can hang it as it is or build a cabinet for your clock (which will hide the stem.)

Carpet

   Upholstery fabric makes perfect carpet! It's the perfect scale and is heavy so it will lay flat. You can find this material at upholstery shops. I'm certain if you ask for scraps you'll walk away with a small fortune in dollhouse carpet. All kinds of colors, patterns, and textures are to be had, just for the asking. You can even cut throw rugs out of some of it...I have some that cuts perfectly and doesn't fray at the edges, so all I have to do is cut it and lay it on the floor.

Sanding Small Areas

   Those cheap metal nail files that you can find in packs of five at dollar stores work great for sanding small areas!

Doll Clothes

   If you need tiny doll clothes to fill your closets and drawers (and perhaps even to dress your dolls!) look no further than yard sales and junk stores. There are tons of little dolls 6" and less that are fully clothed to be had for cheap! The dolls may be in terrible condition, or ugly, or maybe not even resemble humans, but their clothes are great to stuff in closets and such. I've bought a ton of strange looking critters (even a Kermit the Frog who was wearing a really cool t-shirt, which is now on my man-doll).

Fasteners

   Those little "butterfly clips" that come several on a card in the "hairbrush" section at Wal-Mart or wherever are extremely useful for holding things together while glue dries. They are the perfect size for small items. I've used them so many times for so many things I can't begin to tell you. They have really freed up my hands and my time (I hate holding things in place, waiting for glue to dry, when I can be doing something else!)

Toothpicks

   I use toothpicks for so many things. They are great for mixing paint, painting tiny areas, putting tiny bits of glue in hard to reach places, and numerous other things.

Measuring Tools

   My most-used tools are a 15" metal ruler and a triangular ruler (officially called a "speed square") which has all angles marked. These have been invaluable to me. The metal ruler is great when I want to cut something straight with an exacto knife, just lay the ruler on top of the material and cut right along its edge with the exacto. Makes a perfect cut every time. The speed square was helpful in making sure walls were at right angles to floors when I installed them. That ruler is only 6" long so it fit well inside all the rooms. It's useful in mitering corners for windows and picture frames, as well.

Textured Ceilings

   I used spackle and a paintbrush to "texture" my ceilings. It took a long time to do them all, but it looks good! It dried hard and looks just like real textured ceilings. You can make swirlies and patterns with it, and can even paint it after it dries if you don't like white.