Welcome to
Quince Cottage!
As you may know, we like to go bargain-hunting. Thrifting, junkin', antiquing, call it whatever you want. Finding a diamond in the rough, or "buried treasure" is always exciting. Earlier we did a post about finding a shabby dresser and making it look all pretty again.
Here is that post, if you're curious.
At the very same shop in Raleigh, we found a rustic cabinet. Now, please understand we weren't in the market for a cabinet of any kind. Our house isn't all that big, so impulse buys of large objects don't happen very often. To make it clear, the inside of our garage has never seen a car because storage is an issue here. But this cabinet had the "it" factor. It was clearly crafted by someone who didn't make furniture for a living, yet the curved detailing along the skirt and the walnut inset panels indicated that the maker was trying. Trying really hard to make this piece special. At least in the front - the back not so much. The other compelling feature was its price.
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| At the shop © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Here's a better picture of that fancy (in a naive way) skirt at the bottom.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
After a bit of haggling, we became its new owners. The dear old thing was delivered to our home the following week.
Inside was a shelf and below it, a board with some hooks attached. Ron removed all that, along with the doors. He then gave everything a much-needed deep cleaning.
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| Removed the doors © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Did you notice in that photo above, taken in the garage aka workshop, that there are no cars to be seen? Told you.
We decided to paint the interior for contrast, and to make a more pleasing background to display whatever we ended up putting on the shelves. We had some leftover Valspar latex paint from an office redo a few years ago. The color is Blue Arrow. It's a perfect shade, not too "baby", just a little "dirty" (meaning it has some earthy warmth to it). This chip is a bit darker than the color is in real life.
Also because the cabinet's new purpose was to display pretty things, this old beasty needed some sturdy shelves. We bought pine boards from Lowe's and Ron cut them to the desired length. Using some leftover molding strips we had lying around, he created supports by cutting the strips to fit, then gluing and screwing them to the cabinet interior. These do a nice job while maintaining a low visual profile.
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| Painted interior © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Here's a close up of the support strips.
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| Support strips © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
After the painting, a coat of clear polyurethane was applied to the interior surfaces only, including the shelves
Ron waxed the au naturel wood exterior with paste wax. This provides protection and gives a lovely, warm glow.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
We installed new knobs, but chose a style that looks antique. They're real glass.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Then we added some gimp along the edge of the shelves for a finished look. We got a good deal on some closeout trim at a fabric outlet. We took care to choose one that looked vintage and had a bit of blue in it. Hot glue worked just fine to adhere it to the shelf edges. We only burned ourselves once or twice.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Now the fun part! Styling!
You might have noticed this cabinet in our post about Christmas decor. If not here you go - we displayed our mercury glass collection, our white pitchers, and created a Winter Wonderland for our Snowbabies!
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Fairy lights and white felt on stacked boxes make it pretty effective. Here's a closer look...
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Now that the holidays are over, but it's still winter, the Snowbabies are hibernating. We've gone all white for a fresh, simple look with white ceramic pitchers and milk glass. There are some pillows and throws on the bottom shelf to contribute warm, soft textural elements.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Here's a photo of the cabinet in its new setting. Daisy dog for scale...
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Now of course, it wouldn't be fair to deny you a cute Irish Jack Russell picture, right? Daisy looks suspicious, doesn't she?
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| Buster & Daisy © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Don't forget, if you're on Instagram, please follow us
here and join us for #MagpieMonday ! We want to see your decor collections! There are four co-hosts and we each choose our weekly favorite to feature in our gallery and in the following week's meme.
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| © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet |
Quince Cottage Style mixes old and new, rustic and opulent.
Our goal is to make our new subdivision house look inviting, beautiful,
and as though it wasn't born yesterday!
