Transitioning the Mantel to Early Spring!

Hello there, welcome to Quince Cottage!
We love every season here in North Carolina and we try to savor each for its unique natural beauty. We do this not only through daily doggy walks, but in our decor as well.
Having said that, we're getting a teensy bit tired of the dull browns and grays of late winter. So when we received a beautiful gift from a dear friend, that was all the excuse we needed to tweak our mantel display with a sneak peek of spring.
If you didn't visit us during the winter, here is our holiday mantel.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

And here is our post-holiday-but-still-winter mantel.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

And now, here's a view of the right side of our mantel.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

See those rose plates? They were in storage until Rhiann got them out for an IG post about collections for the MagpieMonday hashtag she cohosts.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Aren't they pretty?
Here's the left side of the mantel. That gorgeous pink hobnail covered compote is the gift we received from our friend Juls. She's an extremely creative and obviously generous person, with fabulous taste. Here's a link to her Instagram , she is definitely one to follow.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

You might have spied our recent shadowbox project up above as well. Click here for the DIY if you're curious. And now for the whole shebang... We'd originally planned to take the crystal garland down along with the other winter decor, but it's just so pretty we're leaving it up for now.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Are you decorating for spring yet? What are your favorite spring themes?
We mentioned #MagpieMonday earlier. Follow us on IG here for more about that.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Now it wouldn't be right to leave you with no doggy pictures, so here here you go! Buster in front, Daisy being camera-shy.

Buster & Daisy © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Quince Cottage Style is #agrarianchic - a mix of 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!

DIY Coffee Filter Wreath

Welcome to Quince Cottage!
If you're on Pinterest, no doubt you've seen a coffee filter wreath, and maybe even made one yourself. But if you haven't, and are feeling crafty on a small scale, here's a quick how-to.
You will need: a wreath form, 2 packages of paper coffee filters (8-12 cup size), a hot glue gun, a good sized artist's paint brush or a Sharpie. You can also use a piece of twine if you want to create a way to hang the wreath easily after completing it. This wreath is easy to make and quite inexpensive (about $10).

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

My advice is to leave the straw wreath wrapped in plastic, less mess and better adhesion. You could use a foam wreath form if you prefer. I used a length of twine and tied it around the straw form in two places so that I'd have an easy method for hanging this sucker just about anywhere.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Load and heat your glue gun. Put your capped Sharpie or the non-working end of the paint brush in the center of the filter and pull the sides up around it like a closed umbrella. Dab glue on the filter where you've created a small area for contact with the wreath form. Using the marker or paintbrush allows you to poke the filter into place without getting hot glue burns (well, okay, I did burn myself twice, but it had nothing to do with using the helper paint brush).

Start with the inner part of the wreath (around the central hole). Work in ever-expanding concentric rings from that first inner circle. In retrospect I think I packed the filters a little too densely. You can easily leave an inch between filter contact points and your wreath will turn out great. I fully intended to take a photo "during", but my glue gun had other ideas and was churning out molten glue so fast I never got to take a break.

Once you're finished, you can trim off any filter edges that protrude past where they should. Here is the finished product adorning the rusty windmill head on the planked wall in our dining room. I think it makes a nice, fresh-looking warm weather wreath, but it's also quite suitable for a white winter holiday scheme. By the way, if you're interested in the planked wall DIY, click here.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

We hope you've enjoyed this quick and easy project. Buster and Daisy aren't all that interested in artsy-craftsy pastimes...

Naptime for Daisy and Buster © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Remember Mondays are #MagpieMonday on Instagram, where you get to show off your collections of decor items. Follow us here to learn more.

© 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!

DIY Old Clock Shadowbox

Welcome to Quince Cottage!
Today we have a small-scale DIY project to share.
Rhiann blames Pinterest for this one. All those pretty pictures of fascinating, artsy shadowboxes made from Altoid's tins made her want to make one for herself, but in a somewhat larger size.
We found an old clock at a thrift shop. It wasn't working, so no need for remorse about disemboweling it. Besides, we plan to upcycle all the parts into various other projects.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Once the innards were out, it was time to scrape off what remained of the decal ornamentation on the glass front.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

She painted the inside a light blue to blend in with the sky image she found on the interwebs. After copy/pasting it into a Word doc, she printed it out, cut it to fit and glued it in. She used a different image, this time of mountains and hills, and repeated the process for the lower section.
We found a ceramic bird magnet at a little shop. A blob of hot glue and it's forever flying high!
A real twig, broken to size, simulates tree branches. A dollop of hot glue holds the stick in place. There's no need to over-worry the matter of scale. In other words, the ingredients all make sense, and that's sufficient in this kind of piece. Some moss from the hobby shop lines the bottom of the clock. (again hot glue here and there).
Finally the crowning glory--a real bird's nest that Rhiann found blown out of the trees after a storm. Look at that pretty blue thread running through it! That bird had a decorator's eye for sure.

Nest © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

This is what it looks like close up, with the door open.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's the finished creation.

Shadowbox © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

This was a fun project that didn't take very much time at all. Maybe we'll do another shadowbox soon!
If you're on Instagram follow us here and show your decor collections for #MagpieMonday!

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

This week feels like winter here in North Carolina, but last week was warm enough to spend a little time relaxing on our back porch. Here's Daisy basking in the sun. What's the weather like where you are? Tell us in comments, we love to hear from our followers!

Daisy © 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!