Even though so much of today's furniture is made from plastic, there is something about wooden dolls house furniture that adds an air of realism. The warm hues of natural woods create an inviting, homelike atmosphere better than resin or plastic ever could. If you are creating a miniature home as a collector's item, wooden furniture is a must for adding value and an antique appearance.

Quality Hardwoods

One of the most important aspects of realistic wooden scale-model furniture is the wood it's made from. Hardwoods are generally more durable, more richly colored, and less likely to splinter than softwoods. Quality wood furniture may not be cheap, but the mini variety is a lot more affordable than its life-sized counterpart. If you're designing a dolls house you hope will last several generations, these woods are well worth the investment. Some of the most popular high quality hardwoods for miniature home furniture are:

Mahogany

Oak

Cherry

Walnut

Budget Woods

As nice as quality woods are, they are just not practical in every situation. A prime example is when you are choosing furniture a small child will handle. No matter what, those charming little tables and chairs are going to get scratched, dented, stained or lost under the fridge. Safety is also more of a concern.

In this case, cheap yet sturdy maple furniture is your best option. Maple comes with an attractive tan color and smooth finish that's gentle on little fingers. Obeche wood is also popular among craftspeople who create miniature furniture. This wood can be dyed to imitate other woods and is generally free of splinters. Pine is another good option, although it tends to splinter more easily than hardwood.

Attention to Detail

Quality craftsmanship is critical for both durability and a realistic appearance. Minimalist furniture designed for young children can still look all right even when mass produced. If fact, that's part of what keeps the price down.

Detailed-rich hardwood furniture, on the other hand, looks best when handmade. If you're a stickler for detail, you can buy a dolls house furniture kit and do the job yourself. Otherwise, look around for miniature home artisans who handiwork appeals to you. Naturally, artisan furniture is little pricier, but worth it if you're creating an heirloom piece.

Planning by Furniture Period

Wooden scale-model furniture is designed in American Colonial, Victorian, Edwardian, contemporary and a number of other period styles. While it's not an absolute must, using one style through the house gives you a better chance of achieving a realistic look. If that sounds a bit too restrictive, try choosing a style for each room or section of the house. An eclectic mix can also work well, but plan your purchases carefully so you do not end up pieces that clash.

Detailed, scale-model furniture is what really makes a dolls house look like a true miniature home. Genuine wood furniture adds and even greater feeling of homeliness. So, before you buy, take a little time to shop around and find …

Read More »

Proper Ventilation

When building a chicken house it is imperative that you must take into consideration proper ventilation of the coop because chickens need to be cooled down during the intensity of noon-time heat. Free flowing inflow of air within the building can tremendously help keep the temperature from rising; thereby making the chickens fully comfortable.

Good Drainage

Chickens must be dry most of the time; and you must avoid getting them wet. For this reason, the coop must have well designed drainage system that fully flushes the water out of the building; theby ensuring that the poultry is not wet since the moment that they are wet they are also highly susceptible to various health issues and diseases which could affect the entire poultry.

Proper Lighting

Lighting is essential in keeping the chickens warm during night time when the environment is cold; as well as during winter time and cold season. Bear in mind that chickens are not only sensitive to extremely hot condition but also to cold environment; and one way of keeping the room temperature from going down much more is to provide proper lighting.

Maintenance

Cleaning and maintenance is important since this can greatly affect the poultry; in terms of health.
So, you must also give provision for cleaning; ensuring that it is very easy to clean.

Appearance

Of course, when building a chicken house it is also ideal to make your coop look good within your property or farm. Here, it may be optional but it is also highly recommended to have some creativity in making its design and appearance very pleasing to the eyes of the viewers.

Therefore, when building a chicken house always keep in mind the aforesaid design factors because they can greatly affect the success of your business; failure to consider some of the vital aspects of the design can tremendously make a lot of differences on the overall condition of the poultry and your business. …

Read More »

The problems with synthetic stucco claddings are well documented. Lawsuits involving Internal Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) have been common knowledge among the home inspection community for years.

Most home inspectors, however, are ignorant of the problems that are occurring in high priced sub-divisions with both coat plaster stucco and the newer one coat stuccos. I believe that the number of homes with extensive rot and mold reflected within the walls is fundamental.

Traditional three coat stucco is a mixture of Portland cement, lime and sand. In older applications it is generally installed over some type of sheathing material such as plywood. More recently stucco has been applied over foam sheathing or engineered Oriented Strand Board panels known as waferboard or OSB. A water resistant barrier, usually building paper or a house wrap, is applied to the sheathing and then wire lath is attached to the framing. The stucco is applied in three coats, the scratch coat, brown coat and finish coat.

Stucco is actually a porous material and designed to allow the absorption of water. The water restive barrier acts as a drain plane and as the stucco dries water flows down the building paper and weeps out the bottom of the stucco. As long as the wood sheathing holds dry and water does not get trapped in the wall cavity problems will be rare.

One relatively recent noteworthy change in practice is the use of OSB sheathing rather than plywood. OSB panels have very poor moisture resistance qualities and tend to easily delaminate when wet. When OSB gets wet, it swells and rots at a much faster rate than plywood.

Another change is the use of house wraps such as Tyvek HomeWrap rather than the heavier felt building papers as the water resistant barrier. There is evidence to suggest that when stucco is applied directly over house wrap there is a chemical bond which can occur between the house wrap and the stucco. When this occurs the house wrap loses its ability to prevent water from migrating through the water resistant barrier. The 2006 International Residential Code and Dupont, the manufacturer of Tyvek, no longer support one layer of Tyvek HomeWrap as a water resistant barrier. Dupont now recommends StuccoWrap which is correlated to allow drain. A layer of building paper is also recommended as a bond breaker between the Tyvek and the stucco.

By far the greatest problem is the improper flashing of windows. Water runs down the window frames and if the window is not properly integrated with the water resistive barrier large quantities of water will get into the wall assembly. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to determine if the window is flashed properly after the stucco has been installed. Sometimes the only visible clues are the stains at the stucco and trim junctions.

An infrared camera can be used effectively to diagnose leaks behind stucco. Areas of the stucco which retain large quantities of water such as around window flashings and roof wall connections …

Read More »

After working for seven months as a member of city council, Ahok got a lot of support from his people in Belitung. The people encouraged him to join as a candidate in East Belitung Regent election in 2005. Ahok maintained his campaign way, which was by serving the people. He also has his own personal mobile phone number to the people, the same number he used to communicate with his family. In this way he was able to understand and experience the situation and the necessities of the people. With his uncommon campaign way at that time, which was without political money, he became a Regent of East Belitung 2005-2010 with 37.13 percent of the votes.

Having experience as an entrepreneur and also a legislator who understands the financial system and the bureaucratic culture, in a short time as a Regent he was able to carry out free health care, free education up to high school level, and improved the public services. As a Regent, he was known as an anti-bribe person among political opponents, entrepreneurs, and the poor people. He cut the development cost involving contractors up to twenty percent. Therefore, he had much money to improve the people's welfare.

The people through Bangka Belitung heard about Ahok's work so that they wanted Ahok to be a Governor of Bangka Belitung province in 2007. Unfortunately, he could not win the election. He failed to become the Governor because of the data manipulation during the counting process. In 2009, Ahok became a candidate from Golkar party in legislative election. After struggling for a "hot" seat in the House of Representatives, finally Ahok became one of its members.

While in the House, he worked on the commission II. Friends and foes knew him as a simple person, talkative, and easily accessible by the public. He created a new standard for other members of the House of Representatives in anti-corruption, transparency and professionalism. He was a pioneer in the House in reporting working activities such as the process of discussing law and various working visits. All reports could have been accessed through his website. His expert staffs did not only provide the data or the materials for making a law, but also actively collected information about the people needs. He also struggled for improving the recruitment system of regional heads. He wanted to prevent corruption in the election and also cave the opportunity for idealistic individuals to be the regional heads. …

Read More »