Kyle Bouwens and Pamela McCabe   Grand and Ghostly 

Where Mini Things Go Bump in the Night

by Pam North      

A trip to the Texas Miniature Showcase in May of 2016 was the catalyst for Grand and Ghostly, a piece created by Kyle Bouwens and Pamela McCabe which brought them a First-Time Entrant Winner Award in the 2016 Creatin’ Contest. The friends, who live in Mt. Pleasant in northeast Texas and share a mutual interest in dollhouses and miniatures, spotted a haunted dollhouse on display at the event. “We had both said that if we ever made a joint-project dollhouse, a haunted house would be fun,” Bouwens explained, to which McCabe corrected, “The idea of a haunted house was completely Kyle’s idea.” Bouwens continued, “When we bought the backyard bungalow kit for the contest, we  started looking at pictures of run-down houses, and we both liked the idea of an abandoned Victorian home.” As this was their first dollhouse, and the first time they had entered the Creatin’ Contest, they at first were unsure how close they needed to adhere to the simple design of the original kit, and how much they could add on; by researching past entries they found that the contest allowed the addition of many elements as long as the bones of the original kit were recognizable in the design. All the ideas that they had discussed were put down on paper. Keeping the porch was important, although the size was changed, and they kept the doors and windows intact. Moving the new elements around the porch finally metamorphosed into an exterior that would accommodate the rooms they had elected to create for the interior. Bouwens drew up basic designs that she and McCabe then reviewed for their final decision. The next step, before cutting any wood, was to create a complete set of drawings, floor plans, and scaled elevations that included details of all the dimensions, room heights, moldings, brackets, bookshelves, sizes of each wall piece, and how all would be cut and routed. “As a professional architect and artist, I had experience in all areas necessary to design, assemble, and decorate the dollhouse. With Pam’s expertise in woodworking and my architectural skills, all the pieces went together perfectly, with nice, tight 90-degree corners, and floors that slid right in,” Bouwens explained. “As with all projects, there were challenges, but we were able to easily and  successfully work through them.” Some of the furniture pieces were purchased, but they made changes to all the pre-made items. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) was used for structural walls, and basswood for the custom moldings, wainscoting, paneling, bookcases, and the attic. Walnut wood plank flooring was used on the first and second floors. Spectrum glass was used to make the stained glass windows, and also the clear windows. “My favorite is the glass she used in the library, seeded glass, which is a bubbled glass that I think adds a lot of character to the house,” Bouwens commented. They tried to make as many of the pieces as they could, but purchased the shingles, siding, windows, railing, walk, and fretwork trim and those pieces were given an aged appearance. Crystals were added to a plain light fixture to make the chandelier in the dining room. Sand paper was used to age to fabric on the chair in the library. The piece was a product of their teamwork and combined artistic abilities in the construction and decoration. “The piece changed a little in the process, but not much at all. It was basically what had been planned from the start,” remarked McCabe. “It morphed a bit;” Bouwens added, “we changed the library around a bit to accommodate the working radio Pam had made. We plan on adding a few more features, such as sound effects, to Grand and Ghostly before we put it up for sale,” 
Bouwens’ favorite part about the piece is the attic. “That was the first room we finished, and it turned out exactly as I had envisioned. We made each piece for the walls and floors. I love the way the stained wood turned out. It was the perfect setting for my flying ghost, who seems to be quite happy up there.
I had a blast during the whole process; creating art always brings me joy. The making of the ghosts was fun, as was the spider ceiling in the parlor. It was fun researching materials, designing and bringing the 3D ceiling to life, and seeing the pieces going together.”
McCabe shared her favorite aspects, saying “Kyle and I had worked on many parts of it separately, and to actually make everything mesh together was very satisfying. I was very pleased with the end result. I love stained glass and beautiful woods. I plan to continue to work to build furniture pieces, and I want to put stained glass in some of my work. The hardest part of the project was distressing surfaces to look old. There were times it was painful to me to mess up a piece after I had spent days working on it to get it just right. Kyle, on the other hand, had no trouble distressing the things I had labored over!”
They would like to sell the piece after everything is finished, and when they have determined the price from comparable dollhouses in the marketplace.

Contact Information:
Kyle Bouwens - Mise-En-Scéne Miniatures”
Email:  kyle_bouwens@suddenlink.net
Website: http://www.mise-en-scene.wixsite.com/bykyle
Phone:  (903) 573-5552
Address:  114 Mockingbird Street, Mount Pleasant, TX 75455