Our Top 10

Ten is a very tiny number when it comes to listing our favorite things.  The true list is endless, but for now, we'll give you the abbreviated version.  Here are some items and or design concepts we're currently in love with.  Some of these you can find in the store now.  Others are things we have on our own wish list and will be looking for when we buy for the store.

*Please note, these are in no particular order.  Don't make us choose! 

Starting off the list is one of our all time favorites; silver! This is a staple in the store, and the older and unpolished, the better.  We love teapots & water pitchers for flowers, trays for serving, as well as displaying, and cream and sugar cups, just because!

Another constant favorite of ours are curtain crowns.  We get them in the store from time to time but they are hard to keep in stock!  Our customers share our love for these.  Great for little girls' rooms but can be transitioned into gorgeous master bedrooms.  Obviously you need the perfect curtain to go with them, but we can help you with that too!

Copper; a new favorite around TWR!  We haven't found much yet but we have our eyes out.  Use it similarly to silver; decorate and repurpose it for this and that.  But do not use it as a replacement for silver.  Number one rule at The White Rabbit: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO MIX!!

Okay, when I said not to ask us to pick our favorite of the 10, I wasn't thinking about this one.  This just might have to be at the top of our list.  And really, no description is necessary. 

There she is, in all her glory.  We found her a week ago and it took three days to clean.  It was worth every minute. 

The next of our favorites could be an underestimated gem.  Books.  It's as simple as that.  Old books can be used to create height within a display or bring color or texture to any nook in your home.  We have them around every corner at the store! 

Some may think this next one is seasonal, but we think shells can be used all year round.  Why wouldn't you want to?  It's that small reminder of the beach.  Who doesn't need that from time to time?  Currently, we are loving sea fans.  We will be ordering more due to the fact the first shipment sold out within the week.  In addition, we love coral, and obviously starfish. 

Now we want to make this clear, nothing will ever replace our beloved Cottage White paint.  It's been our most popular paint color for YEARS.  Lately, however Perfect Taupe by Behr has been a top seller around here.  The color is very neutral, with just a hint of gray.  It looks great next to unpainted hardware, like the pull of a drawer.  It also brought new life to one of our china cabinets.  Needless to say, both of these pieces are sold.  

Each employee at the store has their own unique style when it comes to home decor.  With one exception; we are OBSESSED with anything gilded.  I do not say this lightly.  "I saw it first" is a common statement heard at the store.  Mirrors are something we all collect, but any little trinket with a bow, heart or cherub will really get us going.  

Another item we are looking for lately has been rugs.  They are harder to find because the older ones are not in the best condition, but sometimes, when we're lucky, a perfect one will come our way.  Vibrant colors, intricate patterns; we can't say no.  And don't think for one second that you just need one rug per room.  NO! Layer, layer, LAYER! 

*PS: These pictures are from two of our employees houses.  Can you guess which employees?? 

Rounding out the list are peonies.  Both fresh and dried, we have no preference.  They are great in any arrangement, in any part of the house.  I mean really, what makes you happier than flowers??

We hope that our list brings you some inspiration.  Come into the store and we'll help you create your own Top 10 List! 

It's Spring!! Some pics of the store and a Spring Photo Contest!

Yippee!  It's officially Spring and we are so excited about what that means for decorating our homes!  It's time for bright colors, new paint, and fresh flowers!  We've been busy getting the store looking fresh and cheery for the beautiful weather ahead.  Here are a few pictures of what we've been doing for Spring.  Take a look and then read about a contest where we'd like to see what's in your home!

We've been experimenting with sort of a purple/gray color, yellow, and turquoise.  We are loving gold mirrors with the shabby chic look.  

We are STILL in love with the mint green color that was popular last Spring.

 We've been loving a few special items WITHOUT paint(GASP!)
Yep, that's a real first for us!  This is a bench made from an old headboard.

 Pretty, pretty turquoise is amazing on vintage pieces.  It gives them a whole new life!

Colorful curtains and pillows.

 Above all for Spring of 2014, we are using a lot more color in the store.  We still love white and it remains the best-selling color for vintage painted furniture but we've added a lot of colorful pillows, curtains and wall decor.

Now that you've seen a few pictures of The White Rabbit this Spring, we'd love to see what you've done with something you bought from us!  Send us a picture(1 pic only please!) of something from The White Rabbit in your home along with 2 or 3 sentences about why you love it.  I will post the pictures on the blog and then ask people to vote for their favorite photo.
The winner will get a $125 gift certificate to The White Rabbit!!

Send your photo to emailtwr@yahoo.com along with your 2-3 sentences and your name.  Deadline to enter is midnight on April 1st.  I will post the photos on the 3rd and count the votes on the 10th and announce the winner.  I'll also be promoting it on Facebook so you can link to it on there too.  Can't wait to see your picture!  

P.S. Sorry to our 7 employees but I think it would be unfair for you ladies to enter.  (I knew you'd ask, especially Emily...lol.)  

You're going to love this pool house re-do!

So when our friend Susan told us that she was renovating her pool house I pictured the typical, safe beach theme that everyone uses.  You know it what I'm talking about; the fish, the shells, the aqua color on the walls, fake surfboards, Hawaiian flowered bedding, etc.  Boy did I guess wrong!  She managed to create a multi functional open space that is both comfy and stylish by using a little creativity and some color common sense.  As soon as I walked into the space I thought, "My customers are going to love what she did!" 

Not only does Susan make awesome décor, gifts, and jewelry for our store and for her website (Knollwoodlane.com), but apparently she can decorate like a pro!  Who knew??

Above is the outside. Gorgeous.

Below are 2 bronze goats that were her Mom's.  This is definitely a family of animal lovers.

When you walk in, you can see this big open room to your left.  The first thing that strikes you is how clean it feels.  She decided to go with white walls and ceilings so that any color in the room would pop out.  Sometimes color used sparingly can have even more of an impact than a lot of bold choices. 

The bathroom to the right has a vintage chandelier she got from her mother-in-law and sprayed white.  She hung a bright blue bookshelf on the wall to house all of the colorful towels.  I love that she went with white for the chandelier because she knew she'd have a lot of color in the towels.

 

The first thing that happened when I walked in with my camera was that the puppies followed me and wanted to be a part of the fun.  Here's Grits posing on the sofa that Susan slipcovered in dropcloth.  Yes, dropcloth from the hardware store.  It's super cheap and once you wash it, it's soft enough to sit on.

All of the curtains are also made from dropcloth!

 Since she had a huge space, she got 2 rugs from Ballard Design and turned them to make them fit the space.  I love the touch of chevron. 

 

Once Grits got his photo op, Daphne had to get in on the action.  Here's the little stinker on the zebra chair we found during a trip to market.  I love that she wasn't afraid to put a zebra patterned chair with a chevron rug.  Most people are afraid to mix patterns together but it looks amazing!  Isn't Daphne cute?!?!?! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're curious about the pillows, Susan makes them!!  We have a ton of her wonderful creations in the store but she also has a website.  Here's the link to her pillow page.  She doesn't have the one with her family's last name on the site but I'm sure she'd make you a custom one if you sent her a message!

And now onto one of the coolest things about the space; the bunkbeds! See how she angled the chairs in front of the bunk beds to section off the areas?  My mom always says that people need to avoid "circling the wagons" or, in other words, placing all of the furniture around the room against the wall.  Let your furniture create divisions in a large room.  I know it can be tricky but once you scoot it into the right place, you'll look like a design expert. 

The built in bunkbeds are cool for so many reasons.  First, Susan made the headboards herself.  She used plywood, batting, and dropcloth.  She prints a lot of fabric for her business, knollwoodlane.com, so she printed these adorable silhouettes of her dogs on each headboard.  Then she just attached them to the wall above the bed.  How cool!!  We found the bedding from one of our wholesalers at market.  I love the texture.






































Don't you want to climb up there and have a sleepover? 

Here's a closeup of the little crown detail she put on the sides of the bunkbeds.

Next to the bunkbeds, Susan had her carpenter build some shelving and storage with a hidden murphy bed in the center.  For the front of the cabinet that houses the bed, she used the front of an old wardrobe she got from The White Rabbit.  She also got the metal M from us.  We sell so many of those!  They're really cool!

Susan also made a little study area with a shabby table and aqua chair.  I love that she left the table totally chippy.  There is a touch of blue in the paint so it goes great with the lamp and chair.

There is even an area with a dining table and chairs.  The bright chandelier above the table is probably my favorite part of the room.  I thought she was a little crazy when we ordered it at market because it is SO bright but now I see how fun it is in the space.  When you use a lot of neutrals, I think it's important to put in some color to keep the space from feeling too serious. 
Hanging the chandelier above the table also illustrates how you can ground an area by hanging something above it.  Even though there aren't any walls separating the dining/living/sleeping areas, it feels separate because the chandelier sort of "owns" the dining space.  The living room feels separate because the sofa is in the center with it's back to the rest of the space.

Don't you just want to get a couple of girlfriends together and play in there??  You could get out some magazines, lounge around looking at Pinterest, and eat some sort of dessert.  Her daughter is in her teens and she gets to have friends spend the night in here.  So jealous!

I hope you love Susan's pool house as much as I do.  I think it's a great example of mixing new and old elements, using creativity to save a little money, and putting really personal touches into a design.  What a fun space! 
Susan makes a lot of things for our store and has just started her own website, Knollwoodlane.com.  Please check it out and tell her Angie and Lindsay sent you!

Ohio Flea Market Trip

My mom and I rarely get away from the store so we were excited to plan a weekend trip to Ohio for a flea market recently.  Hoping to get a lot of goodies, we rented a 15ft truck from Enterprise.  My mom has never driven a big truck before and she was a little nervous.  Here's a picture of me on the back of it before we left.  Notice my tall boots.  I was ready for anything including mud and rain!

We each took a picture of each other in the truck.  It was so big that it was hard to climb into. 

The drive was about 6 hours...Well, it was supposed to be 6 hours.  A few hours in, there was a light on the dashboard that turned red.  It said DEF level low.  We looked at each other and both said, "What the heck is DEF??"  My mom called Enterprise and asked what to do and we were told that we needed to find some DEF at a truck stop.  Um....ok.  I drove to the nearest gas station and asked the clerk if they had it.  Never heard of it.  Yikes.  Luckily, at the next gas station we tried, there was a truck driver filling the gas tanks underground.  We asked if he could help us and he was so incredibly nice that he actually put it into the tank for us.  He said that DEF(Diesel Exhaust Fluid) is actually cow urine.  I just looked it up and it does say that it's made of urea but I'm not sure they actually get cow urine to make it! 

Tank full of DEF, we made our way through nearly flooded roads to Ohio and checked into the hotel.  As you can see in the picture, the water was on both sides of the roads, threatening to block the way.

We went to bed really early because my mom always says about flea markets, "The early bird gets the vanity!"  Got up at 5 the next morning and checked my phone.  Temperature: 29.  As in, below freezing.  Ugh.  We bundled up as much as we could and headed out. 

It was a little disappointing to see as we pulled up that there weren't many vendors there.  Apparently, not many people are as crazy as us!  They were still sleeping!

 

There were a few cute things but the prices were kind of high.  I found a nice desk and a pretty French chair.  My mom got a potting table, a bench and some small vintage items.

We got the bench below that's made out of an old Eastlake style bed. 

Here's the french chair.  I didn't even care that it was stained.  Stains add character right?

We also got a chippy turquoise table and this chair.  What a fantastic color! 

 

After a VERY cold day of shopping, we headed back to good old St. Louis.  We found a random flea market on the way home where we discovered a lot of guns, livestock, socks, old electronics, and used clothing.  Not exactly what we were looking for.

  Since we hadn't gotten much, we went to see a few of our pickers and filled up the truck. Here's my mom looking proud of herself for filling it. 

 

Even though we ran out of urea for our truck, froze our butts off, and didn't find much, the trip was still a lot of fun!  My mom is hilarious and we somehow never run out of things to talk about.  What should be our next trip to find cool stuff?  If you have any ideas, let us know!