Meet Hayley and Craig Redmond-Cilley | Co-founders of Tilt Top Living

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hayley and Craig Redmond-Cilley and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hayley and Craig, what matters most to you?
We have three core values as a business:

Education: Traditionally, knowledge about antiques has been confined to a small sphere of people with the means and passion to do their own intensive research. The only methods of accessing that knowledge have been reading dense academic books or training under someone who is already an expert. Thus, knowledge about antiques have remained obscure and inaccessible to the vast majority of people. Our goal is to make furniture knowledge fun and accessible through storytelling and engaging, bite-sized lessons. We want anyone who has a desire to buy antiques or vintage to learn to the level of their interest. Sharing this expertise empowers people to identify good deals on high quality pieces and fully appreciate their cherished finds.

Sustainability: Fast furniture is made to be affordable, but it is not built to last. Even high quality new furniture requires cutting down more trees and generally has a higher carbon footprint if it was not built locally. While we advocate for handmade antiques because they will last for centuries, we support all forms of secondhand furnishings. Our hope is to inspire people to sustainably furnish their home with secondhand items, which encourages repurposing and reduces waste.

Connection: For us, how home feels matters. We believe people feel most at home when they have a sense of connection to the belongings in their space. Secondhand pieces, whether they are inherited from a loved one or found after a thoughtful search, have their own unique character. We want people to feel a deeper connection to their home by including pieces that have generations of use. Owning antique and vintage items offers us an invitation to continue adding to a larger story. Our sincere belief is that through furnishing your home secondhand, you will feel more of a connection than buying new pieces simply to fit the style of the moment.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
In 2020-2021, we made a dramatic pivot by leaving New York City to return to Richmond, Virginia, buying our first home, and most daringly, creating our antique business: Tilt Top Living! While we do sell antique furniture, Tilt Top Living is an educational platform, where we are building a community who celebrates sustainability and buying second hand. Our main goal is to empower people to find their own pieces by making expert knowledge easily available. In turn, we hope by sharing this information people will find amazing antique and vintage pieces at great deals!

In the midst of the quarantine, we had the gift of uninterrupted time with Craig’s father, Scott Cilley, who is an antiques dealer with over 50 years of experience. The idea for Tilt Top Living came after a conversation with him, in which he worried that younger generations did not seem as interested in antiques. Given the growing movements around sustainability and buying second hand, we felt that people actually would be excited about antiques if they only knew how much they had to offer. We started dreaming of ways we could change our peers’ misconceptions by showcasing how antiques are a great investment, can be styled in a fresh, modern way, and are constructed to last. The only barrier was that we were just beginning to learn ourselves.

In the summer of 2020, we set out to furnish our new home with antiques and vintage to test if our theory was true. We remember walking into a local antique mall and feeling overwhelmed. The sheer number of items, styles, and prices were hard to filter through to determine what was the right fit for us. We had no idea what these pieces were or if they were even a good deal. We quickly realized one of the main reasons why more people don’t buy antiques and vintage: it can be time-consuming and intimidating without guidance. While we were able to study intensively under Craig’s dad, not everyone has access to an expert antique dealer who can help them. In that moment, we realized if we wanted to convince others of the potential of antiques, we needed to make this knowledge fun, relatable, and easily accessible. Thus, we created Tilt Top Living.

Two and a half years later, we have grown so much and feel proud of the unique place we have established in this field. To make antiquing feel fun and relatable, we have an Instagram account, which we use to expose people to the incredible variety of antique and vintage styles and share our antiquing adventures. While we do some education through our Instagram, we are launching a website (tilttopliving.com) where we offer courses and resources, so people can easily access expert antiquing knowledge. Also, we provide a service where we identify the story of peoples’ treasured antique and vintage furniture to build a deeper sense of connection to pieces they own. Finally, we sell high quality antique and vintage furniture that we find on our adventures through an online platform called Chairish. If you search TiltTopLiving on Chairish, you’ll find the latest we have to offer.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We’d like to start by shouting out Craig’s dad, Scott Cilley, who has been in the antique business for over 50 years. He has cultivated an incredible wealth of knowledge about the business generally and about antique American and British furniture. His patient instruction and guidance has been invaluable. Our mission with Tilt Top Living is centered on the principle of making expert knowledge like his more widely available. Without him, our work would not be possible!

Next, we’d like to shout out our families and our friends, who have given us so much support and encouragement in starting our business. When Tilt Top Living was just an idea, they emboldened us to take the risk of turning our vision into action. They’ve helped us brainstorm solutions to challenges we face and celebrate the wins along the way.

Finally, we want to shout out the amazing community of people who have joined us on this journey on our Tilt Top Living Instagram. We’ve been blown away by how many people resonate with our message and love that we can celebrate antiques and vintage together!

Website: www.tilttopliving.com

Instagram: @tilttopliving

Image Credits
Hayley and Craig Redmond-Cilley