Bella Tucker is a collaborative partnership of husband and wife team Brooks (the creative talent and artist) and Dana (I do everything else) Tucker.
A funny thing happened on our way from there to here. Not funny like, “ha, ha” but funny like, “are you kidding me?”. This is our third name change. No joke. We were previously “Faux Daddy Designs” when Brooks first launched the business in 2006. Then in 2009 we partnered with another artist and used both our names as the company name. In 2011, our partnership ended and we decided to move in different directions. At this point, we re-branded ourselves as “Bella Tucker Decorative Finishes”. Why not go back to Faux Daddy Designs? We actually LOVE that name. We still have close friends and family who still think that is the name of our company. But, unfortunately faux finishing has taken a bad rap in the design world. We are working to educate the design community about the fabulous work being done by “faux” or decorative artists around the world and in order to do that we have to drop the word “faux” from our title to side step any preconceived notions and re-brand ourselves.
So, who are we?
Brooks Tucker is a 6th generation Texan born into a Navy family.
Brooks Tucker
As a teenager he spent several years in Italy and travelled extensively throughout Europe. It was here that he developed an appreciation of time worn plasters and Old World design. He attended college at Southwest Texas where he discovered a talent for singing and entertaining. He moved to Nashville with wife Dana in 1997 and pursued a music career. In 2002, their 2 year old twins were diagnosed with autism. Brooks stayed home with the children full time to manage their therapies and education. All the while he was experimenting with paint colors and textures in his own home. After seeing the amazing finishes he was creating in his own home friends and family started requesting Brooks to paint for them as well. After studying under Martin Allen Hirsch at the Faux Finish Institute in Louisville, KY Brooks decided to pursue a full time career in faux painting. He launched Faux Daddy Designs in 2006. He has continued to study under accomplished faux artisans throughout his career. He is talented, creative, and tidy. Due to a quirkiness jokingly self diagnosed as obsessive compulsive disorder, he always leaves his work space WAY cleaner than what he found it. As a matter of fact, he will clean it before he starts a project, each day when he leaves, and then when he is finished. Our clients LOVE that!
Dana Tucker
After 4 1/2 years of taking classes that sounded interesting and didn’t include much math, Dana Tucker graduated from Western Kentucky University. Towards the end of her tenure there she discovered that she could bundle up all of her credits that really didn’t point towards any specific major and walk out the door with a Bachelor of General Studies, so that is exactly what she did.
She dreamed of a career behind the mic in broadcast media until a very wise DJ told her the REAL money was on the business side of the industry. She shifted gears and worked in radio advertising for 20 years helping clients to create brand awareness, drive traffic into their locations and increase overall profitability. Always one to look ahead at trends she turned down a job with America Online in 2000 because she wasn’t sure the Internet was going to catch on. (what was she thinking?) Determined not to miss the boat the next time it came around, in 2005 Dana was lucky enough to be employed by a cutting edge radio company who began intense training on Internet marketing and social media. In 2012, she launched her own Internet Marketing, Social Media, and Public Relations company Forest Home Media with business partner, Nancy McNulty. She has since left that position to focus full time on Bella Tucker.
In her free time you can find Dana devouring design blogs and shelter magazines and posting the golden nuggets to her social media accounts for everyone to enjoy. Dana has a passion for helping others achieve their design vision through paint and plaster. She manages the day to day operations of Bella Tucker including marketing, client relations, estimating, color consultation and design services. She holds it all together by having a very strong faith, awesome support system and a lot of self administered interior design therapy.
Brooks and Dana are the proud parents of 16 year old twins with autism that require a very hands on approach for their schooling and medical care.
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