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TESSIE'S SHOP
ABOUT TESSIE
Meet the creator of Tessie's Creations, Teresa Shevel.
Teresa has run her own furniture restoring business since 2010. She originally began restoring and re-purposing furniture and household items years before, but she hadn't considered actively pursuing it until a few years ago. In the beginning, it was just about finding a hobby in which she could create warm, inviting pieces for her own home, but it quickly became a passion. While entertaining a friend in her home, Teresa was told that her home had a certain warmth and comfort that was almost tangible. Teresa had been brought up in a household with enigmatic and solid furniture and so it had never occurred to her what having pieces like that in a home would feel like to people who otherwise had not. That was when she realized she wanted to share that with others; give other people the opportunity to own small pieces of history in a modern world. Not only are the pieces Teresa restores 50 to 100 years old, her flair for colour and her ability to turn something that is destined for a life of loneliness into something useful again makes the pieces she offers her clients unique and astoundingly beautiful.
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What was the first piece you refinished or re-purposed that first developed your passion?
Gosh, I have been refinishing and re-purposing for years. I have never liked to see things go in the trash that could be used, even if it was for another purpose. It is sort of in my blood. My Dad would take the cabinets of the tv’s he could no longer repair and make them into pieces of furniture, like nightstands for our bedroom. I guess my passion was learned from my Dad and then I developed it over the years. I used sew all my Christmas presents and the left over fabric from pi’s would then become quilts, old clothing would become quilts and purses that I designed. Then I noticed how much of once loved furniture was either put to the curb or dropped off at the thrift stores. I knew that these pieces had many years of warmth and love and I also knew that they could withstand many more years of it. So I would haul them home and clean them up to get ready to paint and sell. I was testing the water so to speak to see if there was a market.
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What is your favorite part of doing a project?
My favourite part of doing a project is seeing the vision I had for a piece come to reality. Many times I can have a piece sit for a days or even months before it hits me what exactly I want to do with it.
How did you determine what kinds of paints and waxes to use and why did you finally settle on the one you now exclusively use?
Over the last 4 years I have exclusively used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and waxes. I have tried other paints prior to choosing ASCP but I found I could do so much more with ASCP. Not only are the colours beautiful and complement each other, they mix well together to create another colour. That is something I do a lot of, I don’t like to waste a drop of paint so I am always creating new colours. On the pieces that have stained tops, I use exclusively Minwax. They have the colours that I like and I sometimes layer different shades of their stain to give more depth and dimension to my pieces.
Where do you get your inspiration? For instance, you did a nightstand in mod podge with pages from a book, it looked like, how did you think up to do that?
The ideas tend to just come to me, sometimes they don’t turn out as I envisioned but that great thing is that I can always start again. There are times I am out or even travelling and I will get an idea and can’t wait to get home to try it out. I do belong to quite a few groups that are dedicated to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint artisans and when I was first starting out I took a lot of inspiration and confidence from them.
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Do you have a story of any time you found or received a piece that had a significant history behind it? What was it?
One day there was a waterfall dresser at the curb, around the corner from my place so I dragged it home. The drawers were lined with brown paper which was often done to protect the wood. When I removed the brown paper there was a large envelope in one drawer. Inside that envelope were pictures that were sent to whomever owned the dresser and these pictures were of Queen Elizabeths boys. You never know what you can find inside an old piece of furniture.
How Does She Do It?
Everything Teresa restores or re-purposes is done by hand. The process starts with a nice sanding. Depending on the finishing, Teresa will use 3 different grits of sand paper. Before adding the stain, she will go over the pieces with an extra-fine steel wool to ensure it is as smooth as possible. And then, between each layer of stain, she will run the wool again to ensure she is getting her desired texture. Once this is completed, she applies a nice layer of either clear or dark wax to bring out more depth. It is not uncommon for her to layer numerous different stains to give the piece even more depth and dimension.
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Everything Teresa does is hand painted, never with a sprayer. It is hand distressed to add character, hand waxed, and buffed. Teresa uses only the finest paints and waxes and has found that Annie Sloan is the only paint and wax she feels comfortable using every time. She has now exclusively been using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Wax for years.
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Where Does She Find The Pieces?
Teresa has been known to find furniture and household items pretty much anywhere. Where someone sees something unsalvageable, Teresa sees potential. Some of the pieces she brings home are curb finds outside of the city. She has friends bringing her pieces they have found themselves knowing and trusting that she can bring it back to life. She regularly peruses thrift stores and online retailers. Sometimes, she even travels to find her pieces. While she visits her daughter in Georgia, she will hit up antique markets and thrift stores along the way. She can always see the potential, even when others can't. ​
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Does she always know what she is going to do when she brings an item home?
Teresa doesn't always have an idea of what she is going to do with the piece when she brings it home, but she always knows that whatever it is, it has the potential to be beautiful. However, in her creative process, Teresa only works when she has the inspiration to do so. Although she does take custom pieces here and there, she prefers to work outside of time constraints and prefers to allow her creative juices to flow, let the brush guide her, rather than going into it with a very exact plan. Sometimes, she will take her item home and immediately set to work. Other times, an item may stay in her "stash" until inspiration strikes.
Follow Me!
DID YOU KNOW?!
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On top of working a full time job and re-purposing furniture, Tessie also makes amazing soaps and creams?! Where she finds the time, we will never know, but how ever she does it, it's worth it!
"I highly recommend Tessie's products. I especially love the French vanilla lip balm and Amy's Bee Cream. I'm picking up more stuff today and I'm sure I'll love it all. Great customer service as well. Definitely 5 stars!!"
