Designer's Digs: Nashville's Paige Williams
Nashville Interior Designer Paige Williams at home (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
I love color and lots of it. I can appreciate the elegance and serenity of an all-white interior but my heart goes pitter patter when I see a room where the walls are drenched in vivid paint colors like eggplant purple, forest green, and fire engine red, or the furniture is upholstered in rich gem tone velvets and patterns in bold and dynamic designs. For me, more is always more. So when I reached out to Paige Williams, here in Nashville, I prayed to the design gods Paige would agree to appear on my blog and she did. Hallelujah! Her firm, “Paige Williams Interior Design,” was listed among “Reader’s Favorite Interior Designers” by Nashville House & Home & Garden Magazine and “Best Interior Designers in Nashville” by Expertise in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The list of accolades and awards goes on.
A Nashville native, there is nothing bashful, reserved or shrinking in the way this Southern Belle puts her mark on a space. Paige’s designs are a symphony of color, texture and pattern that all work together brilliantly. As you’d expect, her home is a masterpiece that shows off her distinct design sensibility, her DIY projects (the woman has her own set of power tools,) and the many antiques she’s inherited from her beloved grandmother over the years. This is my interview with Paige at home in Nashville.
Paige’s Living Room (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
For so many of us, the pandemic has changed how we live and how we feel about home. What does home mean to you now?
When I’m at home, from the moment I walk in the door, I feel relaxed and calm. My home is where I get re-energized for the week ahead. My brother-in-law tells me when he comes over, “your place is so happy!” I like that. My husband no longer goes into the office, he works from home, so we’re turning the guest room into a home office. I’ve also added a workout room downstairs. It took quarantine to get me to cook and now I love my kitchen more than ever.
Living Room. Paige painted this chair and found the fabric. The mirror, ice chest and clock are from her Grandmother. Her 13-year-old niece made the tassels. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Paige on her living room sofa (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
An impressive DIYer, Paige turned a basic shelving unit into a cute and clever piece of furniture by adding wood to the top and fabric on the sides to hide the items inside (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
When did you know you had a talent for decorating?
Growing up, I loved decorating. My sister and I shared a room which I redecorated a thousand times. It was my canvas. We had a jungle theme at one point. My mom was great and gave us the freedom to do what we wanted. When I moved out, my dad said he had to patch 250 holes in the walls! I also remember my parents building a house when I was 12. I walked my mom through the floor-plans. I could read them instantly, even upside down, but she struggled. I fell in love with the construction process, watching the stakes go in the ground, marking off the property lines. I loved it all. My mom was crafty and had a great eye for fashion but there were no interior designers in the family. My dad was a helicopter mechanic and would build corvettes in his spare time. I supposed I get my interest in how things work from him.
Later on, my dad inherited his parents’ house and he and I renovated it together. It was a very sentimental project and I had free rein as the designer and that’s really where I started my business, in that dining room. That dining room table is now the table in our conference room at the office.
Paige inherited this dining table from her Grandmother and painted it blue. She also made the mini wooden dwellings. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
As an interior designer, what’s challenging about your job?
I went to design school but no one teaches you how to deal with people. Sometimes that’s the hardest part, trying to discover and decipher what the client wants. I had this one client who had purchased a new home and had just moved in. The house was all-white. She hated it but she couldn’t articulate what she wanted. She could only say what she didn’t like about it which was, it wasn’t cozy, lacked personality and that it didn’t feel like home. I went into her closet and it looked just like mine—full of color and patterns and textures. She needed color and once I got that, I knew what needed to be done.
Dining Room. Paige often hangs heirloom china on her clients’ walls. This is china she inherited over the years in her own dining room. The artwork is a portrait of one of her cats. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Dining room corner (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Do your clients every say, “I want to work with you but I don’t like color?”
Oh yes. I did one house and it was all pale blush. We used a lot of textures, embroidery, linen, wood tones and painted surfaces. It was beautiful. Having an eye for color doesn’t mean you have to use the brightest and boldest fabrics every time.
Powder Room. Bee wallpaper is by Katie Kime. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
What are the most common mistakes you see civilians like me making?
Everyone’s looking for a rulebook that just doesn’t exist. People will ask me, “What’s the rule for…”. I tell them there is no rule. There is no “They” who make up the rules. I wish people would be less afraid and trust their instincts more. Mixing styles is another area where I think people are really uncertain. If they hang a mid-century light fixture, they think the whole house has to be mid-century. It doesn’t. The most interesting spaces are mixes of different styles. I think people also struggle with scale. They see something online that they love and then it’s delivered and it’s too small. That’s a biggie.
Paige inherited this game table which holds many of her art supplies. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
A photo wall of pictures taken by Paige’s husband (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Are there any trends you’d love to see less of in 2021?
Probably shiplap. It’s everywhere and there are so many other options for wall coverings like paint and wallpaper. If I did use shiplap, I would paint it a color.
Where do you start with a new client? What’s your process?
I’ll ask a new client to show me something in their home that they love. Maybe it’s a pillow, a comforter, a fabric or towel, a dress, just anything and I’ll start with that. Sometimes I design an entire room around a piece of fabric or a throw pillow.
Paige’s primary bedroom (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
How has the pandemic changed what your clients now want in their homes?
We've done a lot of kitchens and master bathroom suites since the pandemic began. Wives want a luxury spa-like retreat. The husband’s at home, the kids are home and so this is her retreat, her escape. Kitchens have been big too because people are cooking at home so much more and kitchens have always gotten a good return for the money. People want kitchen islands that seat 8 because that’s where we eat now. Dining rooms aren’t used so much. Before the pandemic, we focused on public areas of the home, everyone wanted an open concept but now, clients want a bonus room, home office or master suite where they can get away.
Primary bedroom. The bench was leftover from a design project. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
What are the 4 most important things in your home other than your husband (Paige and her hubby are high school sweethearts) and your 2 cats?
My teal sofa.
The ice chest that was my grandmother's. I had to fight for it but I won.
The photo wall. This is the only thing my hubby got to do.
The white Queen Anne chair I’m sitting in.
Paige painted her grandmother’s mirror seen over this dresser. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Do you have a favorite interior designer?
Katie Kime. She made the bumble bee wallpaper in my powder room. I also love Jonathan Adler and Missoni.
Hershey, one of Paige’s two cats. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Front door entryway (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
How do you unwind at the end of the day?
Usually it’s just me, my husband and our two cats. Since December, we’ve been watching Friends. We started with episode 1. It’s been 25 years since that show first aired but we’re still enjoying it. We play games, we have tons of them, and we love watching movies.
Paige painted and upholstered these bar stools in her kitchen. (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
Paige’s work out and yoga studio (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)
If you could have a second home anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Somewhere south and tropical.
Interior Designer Paige Williams (photo by Julie Lee Simpson)