Old liquor barn transformed into home goods store

Kierstin Kirk

On College Street in downtown Bowling Green, there is a quaint furniture and home decor shop called Rummage 300. The old liquor barn that once occupied the space has been transformed by the owner Judy Knifely and her son, Brandon Knifely, to a place where they can share their unusual finds. 

“It’s really just something different for your home,” Brandon said.

Both Brandon and Judy  have always had a passion for finding unique furniture, but their recent discovery of Annie Sloan chalk paint compelled them to open a store. 

“The chalk paint by Annie Sloan is a pretty well-known brand of furniture and decorative paint,” Brandon said. “We tried for a long time to get the contract and bring that to this area because we felt like it really needed it.”

As they were working on getting the contract with the chalk paint, they put their focus into building up the furniture and home decor side of the store.

“We also have some vintage stuff — just home décor and unusual things — and we opened with that side of the store first, while we were working on getting the contract, and, then, now we do both,” Brandon said.

Brandon does a lot of traveling to ensure the pieces he brings into the store are unique and not commonly found in Bowling Green. 

“We don’t buy a lot of the vintage and hand-picked items in Warren County just because I like to bring things from different areas that people haven’t seen,” he said. “So I travel to Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and we do a lot of areas in Kentucky.”

The style of the store is hard to describe because there is such a variety of style.

“It’s an eclectic mix of vintage and new and gift ideas,” Judy said.

The pieces the store has to offer reflect both Brandon and Judy’s own style. They both think that although it can be extremely different, people in Bowling Green seem to like it. 

“I feel like my aesthetic is a little, not necessarily dark, but it can be a little strange for some people around here, but then some people just love because it is unusual,” Brandon said.  

Brandon describes the price range of the store as fairly competitive for what they sell. He says they try to stay pretty affordable. Even though they could charge more for items like the chalk paint, they choose not to.

“Even if it’s pretty valuable, we don’t mark up stuff too much,” Brandon  said.

Brandon attended WKU for a while and has always loved design and hunting for uncommon pieces. He enjoys merchandising and staging the store. Working the store fuels his love of old things. 

“It’s my passion for sure. It’s what keeps me going. When we stay busy here, it keeps me out on the road looking and finding stuff, because I travel to find a lot of the old stuff, and that’s really what I love,” Brandon said. 

The store also has more to offer than just furniture. They provide classes for people to learn how to use the Annie Sloan paint and repurpose items. 

“We do a lot of teaching and helping people with design ideas and that sort of thing,” Judy said. 

The store also houses and sells work by local artists. Brandon loves the local art scene and believes it’s important to show the community’s artwork.

“In the future, hopefully the near future, I want to designate an area in here that is for the local art,” Brandon said. “We love the Warren County artistic audience because we’re kind of artistic ourselves. We are off the beaten path for retail, but we’ve made ourselves a destination, and we’re striving to continue to make ourselves a destination so people will seek us out.”