Non-Traditional DIY Autumn Porch Decor

Hey there, welcome back to Quince Cottage!
Today we're talking autumn plaids. Everyone is mad about plaid this year, right? Well, we decided to take a slightly off-the-beaten-path approach.
Maybe we were inspired by some of the brilliant things Nature does in North Carolina this time of year.

 Roadside weed © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Toad on Sweet Potato Vine © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Beauty Berry © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet
You can make jam from these, and use their juice as a bug-repellent.

Passion Flower Vine © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

That passion flower was growing in the weeds between our house and the one behind us. It also inspired another project we'll show you in an upcoming post. Pretty amazing flower isn't it?

As we've said before, we like to pinch pennies when we can, and by sewing your own pillow covers, you can too. It's pretty fast and easy if you've got a sewing machine, even if you hate sewing like Rhiann does. This time around we wanted to make a matching throw too. We bought the fabric at Joann Fabrics.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Being able to reverse the pillows by using a different fabric on each side gives even more options in terms of look. You can use snaps or velcro dots or just a basting stitch to close up the open side of your pillow casing.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

There's the throw in the photo below. Super easy to make using the leftover fabric from the pillows. On either end of the length of the berry plaid, Rhiann sewed a strip of the green plaid. Then she hemmed all the edges. Ta-daaaah! Done! Now we're not saying this throw will keep you warm on a frosty evening, but it adds a splash of color and continues the theme without breaking the bank.

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

© Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

What do you think? Yes, we know, the porch floor needs to be stained. We're currently debating colors.

Of course it wouldn't be a Quince Cottage blog post without some doggy cuteness, so here you go...

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.

DIY - Pillow Talk & End o' Summer Decor

Glad to see you here at Quince Cottage!

What's your favorite season? Ours is autumn. Crisp, sunny days, spectacular foliage, pumpkin everything!
It's still August, we know, but with all the stores trotting out their fall goods, who can blame us for wanting to get a head start? It began with an Instagram #mantel challenge. Speaking of Instagram, we'd love you to follow us there.
We're very fond of our mantel and were at risk for committing the sin of "overgramming" it, so we needed to change things up for the challenge. First we did a little home-shopping and then we hit Michael's for some faux-liage to arrange in our milk glass urns. We got those urns at a wonderful consignment shop in Raleigh called Inspirations. If you're in the area, check it out!

Anyway...here's a photo of our summer mantel

Quince Cottage Summer Mantel © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

And here's one of our late summer-early fall mantel

Quince Cottage Fall Mantel © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

A couple of close ups...

Fall Mantel Detail Left © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Fall Mantel Detail Right © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

And then the mantel thing led to a pillow thing. Yes, Rhiann doesn't like sewing, but she was fairly pleased with the way her summer porch pillows turned out, and this encouraged her to tackle living room pillows.
Fall says earthy natural colors, nubby textures, homey coziness. With that in mind, we hit WalMart (ticking fabric at about $7 a yard), Mill Outlet Village Fabric in Raleigh (Jacobean floral and wheaty linen, both on clearance for under $7 a yard), and TJMaxx where we found the black and cream striped dishtowels we used for the smaller pillows ($3.99 for two towels).

Here's a closeup of all the fabrics.

Swatches © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Something learned during the summer pillow-palooza is that by doing front and back in different fabrics, you can get a lot of different looks using the same collection of pillows.

With four different fabrics, we got four different combinations.

 Quince Cottage Fall Pillows Combo 1 © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Quince Cottage Fall Pillows Combo 2 © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Quince Cottage Fall Pillows Combo 3 © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Quince Cottage Fall Pillows Combo 4 © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Which combo do you like best? How do you decorate your home for fall? We'd love to hear!

Quince Cottage Style mixes old and new, rustic and opulent. 
Our goal is to make our new subdivision house look inviting and beautiful,
 and as though it wasn't born yesterday.

Daisy and Buster are ready for some cooler weather, and so are we!

Buster © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet

Daisy © Rhiann Wynn-Nolet