FAUX THE LOVE OF IT - Key Persons

Heidi Sutherland: Heidi started her career as a teacher. She taught for 13 years before deciding to stay home with her children. While home with her children she realized how much she loved the field of interior design and found her passion for faux finishing. Over the past 10 years she has taken many faux finishing, furniture, and stenciling classes from the Faux Finish Institute in Addison, IL, Kathy Carroll from Chicago Institute of Fine Finishes, the Kelly King Institute of Fine Finishes in Omaha, NE, and from Gary Lord of the Prismatic Painting Studio in Cincinnati, OH. Heidi enjoys working with clients, designers, and builders to select colors and finishes that enhance the architecture of a home while creating warm inviting spaces.

Tina Engel: A professionally trained artist with additional training in Faux Design. She has enjoyed numerous specialty painting courses over the last 14 years from Pierre Finkelstein of the Institute of Decorative Painting Inc New York, Randy Ingrim and Brian Townsend of New York, Kelly King of The Kelly King Institute of Fine Finishes in Omaha Nebraska, Kathy Carroll of Chicago Institute of Fine Finishes,Faux Design Studio of Addison Il, Victor DeMasi of Monarch Painting Co in Redding Conn. Keren Navarro of Twig and a Feather of Dundee Il, John Cappi of Fox River Grove Il, Jacek Prowinski of Addison Il as well as Lynn Fife of Arlington Texas. A graduate of Northern Illinois University with a B.A. in Art Education, Tina taught in the public school system for many years. After the birth of her first child, she became a stay at home mom. It was at this time that she rediscovered her passion as an artist and began creating and painting items for family, friends and eventually selling them to the public. She quickly realized her ambition to design unique paintings for homes, businesses and schools. After creating many murals and accents she expanded her training to include many elegant and unique signature faux finishes.