I suggest you try to work with the existing menu system. You can add img tags through filters like “wp_nav_menu_items”. This is assuming Avada is using the wp_nav_menu() function to output menus. I’m pretty sure it does. At the menu’s root is a standard ul/li structure, so it’s really no different than the tab technique. The main difference is how the elements are styled. A tab system would not have normally have sub-tabs, so avoiding sub-menus when defining your menu would be very helpful.
Given all that, the appearance of the menu/tabs is a matter of correct CSS styling that overrides the theme’s menu styling. Altering some of the classes and IDs used in the menu output will accomplish that. If you are going to do that, it may be best to use a custom walker to generate the HTML instead of trying to alter what Avada does. You can force your Walker to be used by hooking the ‘wp_nav_menu_args’ filter.
