Tess Loo’s high-fashion and posh interior design hits the mark on sustainability, too.
Tess Loo’s luxe home decor is anything but ordinary, in fact, much of it is secondhand or DIY. As co-owner and Chief Fashion Officer of Eco-Chic Consignments—a collection of boutique resale stores including My Sister’s Closet, Well Suited and My Sister’s Attic—Loo is all too familiar with the unique style and joy that preloved interior design can bring.
“I believe that in decorating, you can do high and low. You can buy a piece from Goodwill for $35, mix it with an antique you might have, and nobody knows and you don’t ever have to tell them,” says Loo.
Her immaculately decorated three-story home is filled with uncommon treasures, many of which hail from Loo’s own My Sister’s Attic boutique. Starting on the first floor, you won’t find a television in her living room, but instead you’ll find yourself immersed in fine artwork and decor contained within a chic black-and-white motif.
“In my first floor area I wanted it to be strictly entertainment, no TV, no distractions,” she says. “I like people talking and being together. This was such a fun area to decorate!”
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Tess Loo
Loo recovered all of her living room furniture in solid black and added pops of her favorite color, pink, throughout the space. You can also spot many varieties of pears on her first floor, which Loo has an affinity for collecting. The shining centerpiece of the interior design is an off-the-wall rendition of The First Supper painting.
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“This painting has traveled with me through decades, no matter where I go it comes with me. I love it so much.”
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In the kitchen, clean black and white design is accented by chic glassware, each of which represents one of the seven deadly sins, and a man-shaped stainless steel knife-block that Loo was gifted by her sister and lovingly refers to as her “ex-boyfriend.”
“I got to pick out every detail, color and cabinetry,” says Loo. “I had a lot of fun with the kitchen and I’m such a fickle creative artist, because once I get things finished I want to instantly redo it. This has been a great lesson for me because it just needs to stay the way it is for right now.”
On the second floor of the home, Loo took down a wall separating two bedrooms to create one larger space, which now houses her office. Her desk space is adorned with home decor and memorabilia from her notable creative projects throughout the years, including her incredible work done in partnership with the Arizona Humane Society and the Phoenix Art Museum.
On the opposite wall, you’ll find more artwork created by Loo. After her Range Rover was totaled by her daughter at age 15, Loo was inspired to create a painting using the letters from the vehicle’s nameplate. She went to the junkyard after the accident, heels and all, with a screwdriver in hand to get what she needed.
“I was there in the junkyard with my screwdriver, propping my letters off of my Range Rover and then I came home and made this painting and turned the letters into jewelry, just to show there’s a silver lining to every story,” says Loo.
In her bedroom, which contains all recycled furniture, Loo has another very unique and special painting—but this time the artist is an elephant. The painting was done at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, by Lucky the elephant.
“I got to watch him do that painting and then he stamped it with his trunk,” says Loo.
“I am a firm believer in using your beautiful bags and shoes as decoration,” says Loo. “If you're low on space it's a brilliant way to put your pretty things out and still you know you have a place for them.”
Also adorning her bedroom is one of her favorite pieces she has ever purchased at My Sister’s Closet, a voguish Chanel belt.
“It’s about 15 years old, but it was new and still in the box, and it is a treasure,” she says.
“I don’t wear it very often because it’s so fragile, but it’s over here like a little crown and just makes me happy to know that beautiful things were made back then and still today.”
A key interior design tip that Loo embraces is to take those luxury handbags and accessories out of the closet and put them on display.
“I am a firm believer in using your beautiful bags and shoes as decoration,” says Loo. “If you’re low on space it’s a brilliant way to put your pretty things out and still you know you have a place for them.”
Adding to her sustainable home, the silver ottomans in the room were recovered by Loo in SoulCycle shopping bags. She chose the SoulCycle bags because they were reminiscent of her time spent living in Laguna Beach with her daughter and the classes the two would religiously take every day.
Upstairs on the third floor, you’ll find Loo’s cozy hangout, decorated with eye-catching red velvet chairs from My Sister’s Attic and a collection of buddhas of all types.
“I love Buddhas and what they represent, meditation, peacefulness and kindness,” says Loo. “I’ve always collected them.”
Her advice for crafting well-thought out interior design in a sustainable home? Start with what you have.
“When you are decorating the first thing you need to do is edit your own house and see what you have room to room, because you can move things around to make it more balanced and make it make more sense,” she says.
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