Bhaile is home in Irish Gaelic. It is the foundation behind the b.e.house journey. It defines the meaning of finding home with a style journey that encompasses an evolutionary transformation. Finding home means different things at different times along your life or business path.
I am Tessa Wood. I am the creator + artistic director of b.e. house. The branded environment house is an immersive interior design experience that brings your personal style home. What brought me here is a career in corporate brand storytelling enveloped with a love of high-end interior design. My strength is connecting clients with their personal brand through defining their innate style. The two design worlds in which I live bespoke this path. As an artisan, stylist, designer, and brand strategist, I get to create, cajole, reinvent, and pull style out of nothing every day. Initiating your lifestyle brand is the heart & soul of the b.e.house journey.
I began drawing floor plans on the ground with a stick when I was 7-8 years old, playing under the backyard grapevine structure. My concepts were nothing like the house we lived in, yet my space planning skills were already burgeoning. When I was nine, I began drawing house elevations freehand during art class in school. This was the sixties, and no magazines or computers were lying around! Just TV and visits to other people’s houses whirling around in my little head. I was like a sponge, absorbing colour, design, and architecture! This is what I mean when I say that you are always telling stories with your style! Attending college in London in the ’80s solidified my expanding global style.
I believe a home should tell the truth about the person living in it. Building a personal style narrative means taking the intangible parts of who you are and turning them into something tactile using collections, materials, art, and the objects that already mean something to you. It’s not decoration. It’s identity, made spatial.
Fine-tuned deductive reasoning skills conspire to create the unique environments that will become your personal brand. Together, we will delve into the distinctive nuances defined by your pursuits and passions to create your signature residential or commercial style. Lifestyle branding is all about creating extraordinarily curated interiors that tell your unique story. Thank you for allowing me to share my extensive understanding of the power and persuasion of colour, design, and architecture as we embark on a deeper, more personal level of storytelling.
I am a multidisciplinary designer, painter, and artisan. I have been fortunate to train with some top innovators in the artisan industry, including Adele Bishop, Jocasta Innes, and Gary Lord. I am a Master Woodgrainer, trained by Biltmore Estate restorationist Derek Tickle. Gary Lord trained my mentor and friend Susan J. Warlick. I am proud to carry on Susan’s work; she believed, as I do, that this work is about skill, technique, and being visionary with the artistry and the tools to make it a very personal experience. It was in London, with Jocasta Innes, that I absorbed the aesthetic and became an artisan surrounded by Sir Christopher Wren’s authentic “old world” paint finishes. It’s about instinct, it’s about emotion, and it’s about the fine art of storytelling through restoration. When all of those stars align, it creates an unforgettable environment. I provide signature style through customized paint finishes for branded interiors and furniture restoration:
AUTHENTIC WALL & FURNITURE FINISHES | CUSTOM STENCIL MOTIFS | WOODGRAINING | RESTORATION
Home found me in Greenwich, London. I took this iconic ceiling photo inside the Chapel at the Old Royal Naval College during my last trip home in 2017. The artisan restoration of the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul after a devastating 1779 fire transformed its interior into one of the finest existing artisan-painted neoclassical spaces. Lead architect James “Athenian” Stuart partnered with premier 18th-century craftsmen to reinvent the space, moving away from its original Baroque design to create a highly detailed, maritime-themed masterpiece. This feeling of home became my personal lifestyle brand during decades of summers spent in Greenwich and London, recharging my creative vision among friends, artists, curators, and history. This is why it’s so important to my b.e.house journey.
“I am of the opinion that the boldest measures are the safest.”
Vice-Admiral of the White, Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson