Meet the Upholsteress
I'm Tiffany Kay; a creative spirit with a great deal of energy and passion for creating things. I live in Arundel, Maine and am raising my beautiful daughter with my soul partner and our two cats. Together, we delight in exploring Maine through camping (we built our own campervan!), canoeing, snowmobiling, dirt biking, hiking, and beach walks.
I’m inspired in so many ways by my family, nature, and fabric... and lose track of time when my creativity flows figuring out fun new things to make. I enjoy various mediums to express my creativity such as cooking, painting and photography -- but my deep passion lies in sewing and upholstery.
My decision to launch Tiffany Kay Expressions offers me the opportunity to share my passions and talents with you in a meaningful way. I bring an authentic approach to transforming your furniture and bringing your ideas to life.
I am also passionate about keeping furniture out of landfills and limiting waste where I can. Scraps from my shop are used to make cat toys and fill dog beds for friends, family and local shelters. Any materials eligible for safe compost (grass, horse hair, etc.) are done so here vs. transporting them to our local transfer station.
My Story
My grandfather, who passed in 2019, used to reupholster a lot of his own furniture, fix everything in his entire house and any vehicle that came in the driveway. Although he only had one working eye and 8 full fingers, he found a solution for anything that needed fixing. And after that was done he could sing and play guitar with anyone. I remember Grampy teaching me how to thread a sewing machine with his good eye in the damp earth basement under their 1800s family farm.
Although I've been sewing since seventh grade, my first sewing machine was gifted to me in high school. Small hobby projects were my focus – but I really wasn’t that focused on sewing back then!
​
I discovered upholstery when my grandmother gave me two small mid-century modern chairs, about ten years ago. We were in our 20s with a dog and two cats... we had no business owning fabric furniture, so I wrapped the chair in vinyl. The chair had three seams in the curvature of the back that I 'eyeballed'. The bottom edge was finished with some cheap nail heads, and it honestly came out way nicer than I expected! Kaya, our vizsla loved the chair. She didn’t actually fit, but she always made it work for her.
When I became a stay at home mom in 2016, my creativity began to flow more and more. Spending slow days at home with my infant, something clicked for me and I picked up sewing again during fleeting naps over the years. I tore apart chairs and splurged on fabric to re-do the two chairs from my grandmother. I lost complete track of time taking them apart and learning how to put them back together. I learned how much enjoyment I get doing this work and creating with my hands. It wasn’t until we suffered the loss of our third long standing family pet in a year that I finally promised myself I would pursue this work as a passion and share my work.
​
The most unexpected aspect of this work is what I’ve learned about myself. I’ve experienced a significant amount of unexpected personal growth in a few short years. My choice to pursue this work is incredibly personal. I’ve learned how much I value my time, my talents and my energy. My offering here will not be for everyone. I am committed to a rhythm and a flow of connection with clients where we work together to create a piece to inspire you at the stage of life you’re in, recognizing that will change over time. I’m passionate about transformation. Bringing a fresh, energetic approach to recreating your existing furniture not only helps keep furniture out of landfills – it puts you in charge of your space.
A home is a sacred space. Lets work together to make your space inspire you and reflect who you are and where you’re at. And whenever that changes for you – meet me back at the shop and we can line up another transformation.
My Favorite Project
My aunt called one day and said she had an old couch on her sun porch she needed to offload and she knew I had done a few chairs by then. I said sure – send me some pictures and I’ll let you know! She sent a picture of a stunning Victorian settee, and I was there the next day.
I stopped by a fabric store and bought 7 yards of beautiful navy velvet with a tint of green colorways in it. I knew as soon as I saw the fabric it was the one. I tore down the project for hours and learned so much.
​
The way the couch was thrown together reminded me of the way my grandfather would just use whatever material he had around to accomplish a goal. And now that I’m thinking about it – I really am feeling that my grandmother did the same in her kitchen. She was a master – any food really, but baking was her jam. The way she would just throw together a lunch for whoever showed up was magic. So in a way, taking apart the couch reminded me of them – and so many people like them do their very best with what they have.
​
I took a lot of photos and saved the fabric for pattern making. I wasn’t starting a business at this time and this wasn’t for a client so I did what my grandparents would do. I used what I had around. We had recently finished insulating our campervan with sheep’s wool and had a lot of extra that I used in the sofa. I fell into bliss going through the process. I learned to carve time out of my day to work on the sofa and fell in the flow of creativity. It was exactly what I needed.