Adding Curb Appeal - DIY

Welcome to Quince Cottage!
If you've been following us for a while, you know that our house is a new build in a subdivision. There are many things to like about new construction and subdivisions, but character, distinctive charm, and quaintness are not among them. Yet those are exactly the qualities we love in a home. What to do?
Add them!
Not only have we been busy doing exactly that on the inside, through shiplap walls, a sliding barn door, buffalo check wall treatment, doing an antique look finish on our mantel, and a brick kitchen backsplash (no post on that one yet, I'm sorry to say...but it's in the works), but we've also been doing it with landscaping.
This post will show you where we started and where we are a year and a few months later.

Where we started April 2015 © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Yep, bland foundation plantings and two scrawny trees basic builder package...

One of our first projects was installing a little black metal fence to create a courtyard garden in front of the porch. This provides a focal point at the entry and an enhanced sense of welcome. We decided that within the courtyard all the flowering plants would be white or very pale pink, blue, lavender because Rhiann was enchanted with the idea of a moonlight garden. We chose black metal fencing to coordinate with our black lanterns, black fountain, and dark bronze door hardware. The black fountain was something we brought from our previous house.
The fence panels were purchased at Lowe's and aside from the fact that each place we went to sink a post spike we hit rocks and construction debris, installation was relatively easy. Be sure to measure carefully to see how many panels you'll need. A metal tape measure, rubber mallet, and a level are essentials for this task.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

A closer view of the garden itself. We planted a climbing hydrangea where that black metal trellis is. It does well in shade and that's a pretty shady corner. It also tends to stay moist there, so we planted some ferns along the front of the porch, you can see those in a later photo. Toward the front of the courtyard we planted a white camellia (left) and a New Dawn rambling rose (rose).
Tip 1: Put an overly ripe banana in the hole before you put the rose bush in. We swear we didn't make that up, it came straight from the rose grower.
We also added a black planter box for annuals like Dusty Miller and white Impatience. The original Japanese holly shrubs stayed, but were slightly relocated. To play up the moonlight angle we created a dry riverbed of sorts with white pebbles and stepping stones. Under the mulch we laid some of that black cloth to try to prevent as many weeds from poking through as we could.
Tip 2: buy lots of mulch when it's on sale, it never goes nearly as far as you think it will...

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's a closeup of the New Dawn. Isn't she a beauty?

New Dawn Rose ©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

The camellia blooms in late winter and she didn't disappoint either. A little brown around the edges, as this one is a bit past her peak, but still gorgeous.

White Camellia © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's the front of the house in early fall of 2015. Ron painted the stair risers and front trim board white, which looks ever so much better than the unstained lumber. He also installed a number plaque we found on Etsy. To keep the mulch where it belongs and to make things a little neater, we used some of that plastic edging that comes in a roll. We got ours from Walmart (online). It's dark brown to match the mulch.
We replaced some of the original shrubs on the right side of the house with two gardenia bushes and two pink and yellow knockout rose bushes.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

 Both of them have beautiful blooms, and the gardenias give off an amazing fragrance.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Rhiann brought some inside to enjoy that heavenly scent. That middle bloom is from the shrub rose we planted to the right of the courtyard garden.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Early this spring Ron stained the floor of the porch. It looks fantastic.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Maybe you noticed the fountain isn't a fountain anymore. Yep, the fountain pump broke and then the fountain blew over in a storm, so we upcycled it into a planter instead. You can read more about that here.

Rhiann loathes arbor vitae so we paid professionals to relocate the two we had to the backyard. (We had already moved some of the smaller unwanted shrubs back there). In one arbor vitae's place on the right of the house we planted a climbing pink rose. The trellis matches the one in the courtyard garden to maintain a sense of continuity.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

She's so pretty...

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

On the left side we replaced the arbor vitae with a light pink crepe myrtle. You can see it below.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

We'd already replaced some ho hum shrubbery with a quince bush and a blue hydrangea.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet 

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

All in all, it's looking pretty good considering how young most of the plants are (you know that old saying "First year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps). Maybe we'll do an update to his post next year, during the "leap" stage. Now if this darned North Carolina heat would just ease up, we could sit on the porch and enjoy the fruits of all our hard work!

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

We are by no means expert gardeners. We learn by researching, talking to local plant people, observing our neighbors' gardening successes, and yes, trial and error. If a plant doesn't do well in its original spot, we relocate when possible, and discard if not. For instance, the lavender we planted last year didn't do very well where it was because it was too damp and shady. Relocated to almost full sun, it's gowing like gangbusters.
We like an informal cottage-style garden with pretty flowers and plants that don't need a whole lot of pampering. There was a fairly epic battle with Japanese beetles this year, and some fungus and black spot, but all in all the plants have done well with the heat and sporadic rain.

Buster is saying, "Mom. Mom. Stop making it be so hot outside!" It's literally been over 100 (heat index) practically every day for the past two weeks.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Daisy is just SO over it.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Tell us in comments what kinds of flowers and plants you like to grow, we'd love to hear about them!
While you're here take a look at our Etsy shop, we've got some great new vintage items, and we are adding more all the time.
Click the meme below.

©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Thank you so much for stopping by, we hope you'll come back soon!

Summer of 2015 ©Rhiann Wynn-Nolet 

Quince Cottage Style is a mix of vintage 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: Tiling the Kitchen Backsplash

Welcome to Quince Cottage! Or, welcome back, if you've visited before.
Today we're going to talk about tile. More specifically, how to add some visual interest without breaking the bank or taking on a monumental project.
In a later post, we'll show you how we handled the rest of our backsplash with thin-brick, but for now we're focusing on the short wall behind the sink.
We didn't want to carry the brick through here, because architecturally it wouldn't have made much sense. But a plain old sheetrock wall is so ho hum, not to mention it can get stained from all the sink activities AND it's not exactly waterproof.
We considered subway tile, but we've BTDT and wanted something more interesting. Pinterest has been peppered with cool tiles lately and after some browsing, we headed out to Traditions In Tile at Brier Creek in Raleigh. This is a specialty tile store so their selection was far more extensive than the big box home improvement places. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly and we'd highly recommend them!
Our kitchen color palette is soft creamy white, gray, and bronze, with stainless steel appliances. It made sense to choose a tile that was warm white and gray.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

The tiles came in either matte or gloss finish. We went with the matte because it looked softer and older.
If your tiles are patterned and mixed, like ours, lay out the design you want before you start setting them.
Happily, these tiles come mixed in a box and one box was more than enough to cover the area. Obviously before you purchase anything you need to do the math, length x width, plus at least 10% over that for breakage. A 12" x 12" tile came fairly close to filling our space, but there was a sizable gap both top and bottom. You'll see how we addressed that later on.

First you'll want to remove outlet covers. Because the tile adds thickness to the wall, you'll also need to bump your outlets forward using plastic spacers. These can be found at any big box home improvement store.

After you're done with the outlets, draw a level pencil line along the wall, so you'll have a guide for laying the tile. Why yes, those are bats on our dining room wall - we actually did this project back in October...

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Butter the back of the first tile with mastic adhesive. This is the adhesive we used.

Available at Lowe's © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Then you'll butter the back of your first tile with the adhesive.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Be sure to have a couple of damp rags available to take care of any blobs that fall off your notched trowel. Good idea to cover your counters with newspaper too.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Use the notched edge of your trowel to make grooves in the adhesive as seen above, and then stick the tile on the wall. Be sure it's lined up correctly and then press firmly for a few seconds. Repeat with each tile, using spacers between tiles and below them to keep them in place.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Cutting the tile to fit around outlets is best done with a wet saw. Measure twice, cut once! You can see that we used narrow stock trim pieces to fill much of the gap between granite ledge and the top of the tile, leaving only a reasonable amount to be filled with grout. We painted them our trim color first.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

After the tile has set, (wait at least 24 hours) apply grout, wipe off the excess and any remaining "haze" with a dampened sponge and allow the grout to dry thoroughly (at least 24 hours is a good rule of thumb).
The final step is applying a bead of caulk between the counter and the bottom edge of the tiles. This fills the gap and keeps any water from getting between your wall and your counter.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's what it looks like all finished!

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

As always we like to share a cute Irish JRT photo with you before you leave. Here's Buster in his preferred sleep position...

Buster © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Don't forget to follow us on IG here and play along with our hashtag, #MagpieMonday where collectors share their favorite obsessions and we choose a favorite to feature in our gallery.

© 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 - Rustic Cabinet ReDo

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.

At the shop © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's a better picture of that fancy (in a naive way) skirt at the bottom.

© 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.

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.

Painted interior © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's a close up of the support strips.

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.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

We installed new knobs, but chose a style that looks antique. They're real glass.

© 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.

© 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!

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Fairy lights and white felt on stacked boxes make it pretty effective. Here's a closer look...

© 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.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Here's a photo of the cabinet in its new setting. Daisy dog for scale...

© 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?

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.

© 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!