When Tami Vazquez’s second son was born, the Los Altos resident knew she wanted to spend more time at home with Mateo and older son Ricardo than her corporate job would allow.
“I went to work right away after my first (son) was born, and I felt like I was missing out on too much – all the milestones like, ‘He crawled today! He did his first smile!’” Vazquez said.
So she left FedEx and started her own business from home. Vazquez founded Restoration Illumination, a business that creates furniture, signs and wall decor from used items that would otherwise end up in the landfill.
“I’m very passionate about reusing things, trying to keep things out of landfill,” Vazquez said. “Especially with two boys, you keep thinking about their future. So (I’m) just trying to do my part, as little as it may be, doing what I can for them and their future and making an impact.”
She added that her passion for preserving the environment came at a young age. The art part came from her parents – her dad loved woodworking and her mom was artistic as well.
Vazquez’s boys have also taken an interest in art. Mateo, now 6, and Ricardo, 8, help her create products in the style of shabby chic, farmhouse and French cottage.
“My favorite part (about this business) is that I’m more available to my kids, and I get to work with them,” Vazquez said. “They’re very talented, they have a very artistic eye. … The best thing about it is I can be at home, doing something I love, and I can still … spend more time with (my sons).”
Vazquez particularly enjoys people’s reactions to her work, like the wall sconce she made from the side-view mirror of a car.
“People will be like, ‘Oh, that’s a nice wall piece,’ and I’ll tell them, ‘That came from a car!’ They’re very surprised, shocked. I like seeing their reaction to it, because they’re just very blown away by the things that are used,” she said.
Repurposed items
Vazquez finds her materials at garage sales, estate sales and by checking the Nextdoor app for old items her neighbors want to discard. She even offers to haul away old fences and cabinets so that she can break down and repurpose the wood.
She markets her artwork over social media such as Facebook and Instagram and online through her website. She occasionally holds boutique sales out of her house or sells her wares at local flea markets. Last month, Vazquez took part in the San Mateo and San Jose Harvest festivals.
“This (was) my first time doing a harvest festival,” she said. “It was exciting – it was the first time I’ve done a three-day show. … It was just a great opportunity for people like me, a small business, to get myself out there, make people aware of repurposing, get that message out and get that exposure.”
Vazquez does custom painting, wedding decor and calligraphy, too. She will shop for people seeking specific pieces and often re-creates items her customers see on websites such as Pinterest. Vazquez also teaches a class on Shabby Chic crafts to adults at South Bay Church in San Jose. Next year she hopes to offer the class to kids as well and teach other classes that emphasize repurposing.
Sharing the wealth
Another of Vazquez’s goals is to start a program to help people repurpose their items by giving them to those in need.
“In Boston, they have the Boston Christmas, where the whole community will put their old furniture out on the street and everyone … (goes) out picking stuff up. I would love to work with the city to see if there’s something we can do here,” she said.
Ultimately, Vazquez wants to educate others on the importance of at least attempting to repurpose items and encourages everyone to list such things on Craigs- list or Nextdoor before throwing them out.
“I see so much stuff next to dumpsters that is perfectly good, and fences that are just being thrown into landfills. … All the stuff that they dump is really good material. It’s perfectly good. It kills me to see it all go to the landfill,” she said.
For more information, visit restora- tionillumination.com.
