Faded Finds - Fort Thomas, Kentucky - Upcycled Furniture

Owner of Faded Finds, Heidi Dutcher-Barrett is holding a week-long anniversary sale to celebrate her 1-year anniversary. Faded Finds is located at 654 Highland Avenue, in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. 

If you haven't been to the Highland Plaza in a while, located at 654 Highland Avenue in Fort Thomas, you may be surprised at the growth of some of the businesses in the back.

Anchor tenant, Cobblestone Cafe, fills the parking lot with cars for lunch and dinner on Tuesdays, but  retailers Alterations and Monogramming by Frances, Monera Chic Boutique and Faded Finds have made the plaza a shopping destination.

If you still haven't been to Faded Finds, next week might be the time to go.

Owner, Heidi Dutcher-Barrett is hosting a week-long sale with extended hours to celebrate her one year anniversary, which was on March 7. The store will be open March 22-March 27 (full hours and sales listed below).

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"I had to evolve and change for my customer base, because what I thought my store was going to be when I opened has totally changed. I'm doing so much custom and design work than what I had thought, but I love it,"  says Barrett-Dutcher. "I'm also finding so many people are bringing me things to create for them, which is not something I thought would be our core business, but it has been."

Faded Finds features vintage and upcycled furniture with a splash of antiques. There are repurposed home assessors, signs, lamps, artwork, pillows and jewelry all over the beautifully-decorated store.

Also offering interior design services, Dutcher-Barrett handpicks items and turns them into something that no one else has.

"I'm a Pinterest saver of your 'Pinterest-fails'," she says.

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Faded Finds never looks the same anytime you go into the space and perhaps one of the biggest differentiators to the store is Heidi's ability to find a piece of furniture that works well in someone's specific house with their specific taste.

The store is normally closed on Monday and Tuesdays so that Heidi can create her "faded finds," sometimes even directly in her customers' homes.

Fort Thomas resident, Jessica Duke, speaks to her uncanny ability to deliver.

"I'll text her a space in my house, and I'll say something ridiculous like 'we need a octagon mirror, we are redoing our bathroom,' and she found the perfect one. Not only did she find it, she sent me options," said Duke. "She does all the hard part. She finds it, designs and can repaint it so it fits perfectly in my house."

So where does she find her "finds?"

Auctions, garage sales, goodwill stores, or they are donated and cast off.

"I look for pieces that I think are interesting that are smaller, because I know space is an issue for Fort Thomas homes and then I start working on them," she said. "Nothing in my store is from a catalogue. Some items are old, some are new, but everything has my spin on it."

Dutcher-Barrett will put her "raw" pieces in her work-in-progress area that is in the back of her store, so customers can browse that before she begins to restore or repaint them.

The oldest piece she's working on right now is an oak cabinet with beveled glass, that she bought from an old-log cabin in California, Kentucky, that she estimates is from the late 1800's. She's in the process right now of turning it into a bourbon bar.

Kathryn Martin Ossege said she regularly treks across the Ohio River to come to Fort Thomas for Faded Finds.

"I first worked with Faded Finds owner Heidi on several frustrating design challenges in my house and I’ve learned to buy what I like when I see it because things move fast here," she said. "Once, I sold her a small wood chest that was gathering dust in my basement. She refinished it and I liked it so much when I saw it on display in her shop that I bought it back. Faded Finds is a home decorator’s dream, and Heidi is a joy to work with."

Says Dutcher-Barrett: "My customers have been so great this first year. Please come by and visit this week and if you've never been you are in for a treat!"

Anniversary hours and weeklong sale includes:
Sale will include 15% off all items throughout the week

March 22, 10-7
March 23, 10-7
March 24, 10-6
March 25, 10-6
March 26, 10-4

Tuesday 25% off lamps
Wednesday 25% off pillows
Thursday 25% off mirrors
Friday 25% off crosses and wall decor
Saturday take 25% off one item

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