Meet Dana & Brooks
Bella Tucker is a collaborative partnership of husband and wife team Brooks (chief painter, creative talent and artist) and Dana (interior design, project manager & client relations) Tucker.
We launched this painting business in 2006. We approached that first set of kitchen cabinets with careful study of proper preparation and products. We wanted to make sure that we were executing a finish that would stand the test of time. We continue to study and network with custom cabinet refinishers across the country. We are constantly refining our processes so we can provide our clients with the finest paint finish, an organized worksite, great customer service, and expert design and color advice.
KITCHENS, KITCHENS, KITCHENS
Kitchens are our main focus. That first set of kitchen cabinets in 2006 has led to to over 400 kitchen cabinet painting projects to date. Along the way Dana was offering design advice to our customers who had hired us to paint their kitchen cabinets. The ones who followed our design advice had amazing whole kitchen transformations. Clients saw the before and after photos of these renovations and started requesting Dana to design and manage their remodel projects. In 2017 we started offering full service kitchen design and project management.
How we got started- The Tucker Story
This is our story. The part about how we started, how we created a sustainable home based business, how prayers were answered and how very thankful we are to be in this place in our lives.
PART 1
I (Dana) was working in sales at a radio station in Louisville, KY. The station sponsored a local band contest. I watched this super cute and very talented superstar perform and win the award for the Best Country Artist. I just knew he was going to be a STAR.
This was in 1997. The HEYDAY of country music. Brooks and I were introduced and hit it off immediately. We dated for about a year when it was obvious that we were in this for the long haul and our future and fortune were to be made in Nashville.
So we moved to Nashville where we were sure that Brooks would be discovered at a local song writer’s night. I can remember the first time he played the Bluebird Cafe. I scanned the room looking for the A&R guys that would surely offer him a record contract after his set. But God had other plans.
Two years and two days after we were married, we became the proud parents of beautiful, healthy twins, Zane and Zoey. TWINS! What the??? With childcare for two infants being super expensive, we decided that Brooks would be the one to stay home with the kids. As they grew it was evident that they both had some developmental delays. They were both diagnosed with autism at around 2 years old. What we thought would be days of caring for children and nights playing music quickly turned into days consumed with therapies, doctor’s appointments, special diets, and basically keeping them alive and safe. And when I say “keeping them alive and safe” I mean that in the most literal terms. Our son was a runner, and an escape artist. We had at least 5 locks on the front and back doors so that we could keep him safe, inside. Our nights were spent recovering from post traumatic stress from our days of being on watch for fight or flight.
We were pretty much homebound. It was nearly impossible to take the kids out into the community because of tantrums and behaviors. We were forced to become the Hosts of any gatherings of our friends. If we wanted any sense of community, it had to happen at our home. Looking for a creative outlet, Brooks and I started decorating our home. Brooks started experimenting with paint, pattern, texture and technique. Our friends who would visit our home would always say, “Can Brooks paint something for me?” Our answer early on was, “No, he doesn’t do that. He’s an entertainer.” But God was writing a different story.
It became apparent that Brooks had a special talent for decorative painting. Around the same time I developed a passion for interior design. I literally consumed every design blog, magazine, website and home tour available. I began practicing some of what I was learning in decorating our home. My new found obsession + Brooks’ talent for decorative painting started to evolve into a concept for a business model; Me doing the design and Brooks doing the execution. A friend was able to land us several features in local publications and we started picking up some outside projects. And then the recession hit.


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Part 2- The Tucker Story
The recession of 2007-2008 was a wake up call, a game changer. We went from a very comfortable living mostly from my radio advertising sales job to having to use credit cards to cover our monthly expenses. When a business is faced with budget cuts, unfortunately advertising is one of the first things to go. We were in for a major lifestyle adjustment. People across the country were cutting expenses. Guess what most people also consider a luxury? Decorative painting and interior design. Wham- Bam. 3 for 3
Instead of throwing up our hands in defeat we started thinking about the future. I made it my mission to systematically and methodically start working on our internet presence. We put all our efforts into marketing our company to attract people looking to have their cabinets painted. Remember when I said that I was an avid reader of design blogs? We were creating beautiful spaces, we had great projects to talk about, it was a natural progression that we should start sharing our work through our website, blog, and social media. I started posting our home renovation projects, and people liked them. I mean really liked them. That is a pretty good feeling. My friends were posting photos of their children’s athletic events, social activities and accomplishments. Although we rejoiced along with our friends at the milestones their children were hurdling over, we still had broken hearts that our children were not achieving those same milestones. The banner we could wave was that of pretty spaces and our faith that God was in control. We started sharing our client projects and before and after photos and after a while we had attracted some loyal clients and fans of our work.
God was making beauty from ashes. The recession had forced us to re-group, redirect our efforts and really trust that God had a plan for our family. Our dreams for the future looked different than what we had planned, but we were trusting for a better tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. One day at a time.
Every time one of you hired us, wrote a review for us, shared, or liked, or commented on one of our posts you were helping us grow our business and reach new people. You are our ambassadors, our cheerleaders. We don’t take that lightly. We are forever grateful for the way our community (starting with the ones locked inside our home with us) has supported us, encouraged us, recommended us and helped us succeed. What started as a one guy part time operation is now a multi-person full time painting and kitchen design and renovating machine.