Meet Paige Robbins:
Paige is a junior from Austin, Texas studying Urban Studies at Barnard. When she’s not in class, you can find her relaxing or studying in her beautiful room.
For the past two years, Paige and her mom have spent the summer months designing her room for the upcoming school year. This year, she says, she went all out. And it definitely paid off.
Before the end of finals last May, Paige checked out her future room and was “surprised” the walls were purple. Despite her disappointment, she, in the words of Tim Gunn, “made it work”.
What’s her secret? She doesn’t really claim to have one other than ingenuity. She and her mom go to flea markets throughout Austin and scroll through sights like Amazon, Overstock.com, Madmax, and Ikea for decor.
An example of that ingenuity: her curtains are scarves! Paige stresses the importance of a good curtain, “they can completely change the dynamic of a room”. Full disclosure: right after this interview, I went out and bought some curtains.
What inspired her room? Well, she comes from an eclectically designed home. She describes it as an “old 1920’s farmhouse” chock full of color and crazy-wild art like, homeless art, which her mom collects. Homeless art isn’t as weird as it sounds, though. I would definitely recommend checking it out here. It provides the less fortunate with a creative outlet as well as a form of income. Paige survived the somewhat flamboyant aspect of her home in Austin by making her room an oasis from the bright colors and loud art. She says it was her goal to bring that element of serenity to her room here at Barnard (the view of the Hudson doesn’t hurt either).
While she doesn’t plan on doing interior design as a career, the girl still has mad decorating skills. Props, Paige, hella props.
Feeling a little defeated that your room doesn’t look this awesome?
Don’t fret! She won’t judge you for your bare walls and poorly hung decorations. She’s super down-to-earth, incredibly sweet, and full of decorative advice, so hit her up with questions while you still can! She’s planning on going abroad to Paris for the next two years. Can she get any cooler…?