I've found one of my most useful tools to be a package of one-piece adhesive label paper. Rather than having many labels on a page, the whole page is a single label.
With a cheap color ink jet printer, you can print realistic brick walls, either plain, or with embedded signs. You can make wooden forms, such as the arches shown below, and apply printed bricks.
Even a non-color printer, ink jet or laser, can produce signs for your layout. Some examples from my layout are shown below:
