Give Rust and Found's once-a-month weekend hours just a cursory glance and you might find the Canal Fulton store's business model flawed. But study its staged windows — filled with glittering chandelier orbs made from wine barrel straps and teardrop crystals, and benches built from galvanized washing tubs topped in plush orange fabric — and you might understand why a line forms at the door before the store opens Friday at 11 a.m.
By limiting the shop's days of operation (this month Nov. 7-9), owner Becky Dunn is free to scour flea markets for antiques and trinkets in places as far-flung as Nashville, Tennessee. She supplements her out-of-state stock with finds from area auctions and estate sales, returning to her Jackson Township home to reimagine each piece with fresh paint, fabric and more.
"My favorite thing to do is build things from scratch," Dunn says, scanning the two-room store until her eyes rest on a coffee table ($350), its base made from a Victorian-era home's former corbel, now whitewashed and wedged between spindle chair legs supporting a rectangular glass top. "I just knew that corbel needed to be a table," she says.
In the days before her open hours, which Dunn has dubbed "show and sells," the owner creates scenes for people to walk through — a kitchen area here, a bedroom space there. Her hope is to reduce her stock to next-to-nothing by the end of the weekend, so that the store will look entirely new at its following opening.
"It's about giving people an idea they haven't thought of," Dunn says. She muses she might fill a 7-foot turquoise china cabinet ($300) with bathroom towels. "I want to get people to think outside of the box."
When You Go
Rust and Found 111 S. Canal St., Canal Fulton, 330-280-1548, rustandfound.com
Cattle Call
New 'Do
Nearby Find
Choose from several teas and browse jewelry, candles and cards at the Dragonfly Tea Room and Gift Shop. 116 S. Canal St., Canal Fulton, 330-854-4832, dragonflytearoom.com
