Welcome to Little Yellow Door
meet paige espey - artist, interior stylist, wife, mama, and podcast host.
Wherever Paige is, you are sure to find rainbow colored glassware, a touch of velvet, and antlers of all shapes and sizes. Her style is eclectic, funky, colorful, unique, and flea-market inspired. Her creative endeavors began when she started making watercolor cards for extra money while in graduate school for speech therapy. Paige had been working as a full-time speech pathologist for almost 2 years when her older brother suddenly passed away in September 2018—an event that changed the trajectory of her life and career.
“I had just moved back to northwest Tennessee and was working in a school system at the time. Will and I were newly engaged and in the process of having our 1930 farmhouse renovated,” Paige says. “There was a lot going on at once.”
Paige says that in order to keep her mind occupied during that time, she would go to antique stores every day after school. “I would just walk around and get lost in the aisles. I needed something in my life that was happy, calming, and distracting—and antiquing was just that. I would dream of new ways to use old pieces as I was buying eclectic items for our home. Something about planning for the future was so comforting during that time. I didn’t really know how all the pieces would fit together, but if I liked it, I bought it.” When it was finally time to move into their house, Paige quickly realized she had acquired way too many treasures.
and so, Little Yellow Door was born.
She began selling vintage items on her Instagram every two weeks. “It’s always been part of me,” she says. “I grew up going to yard sales and auctions with my mom and my nana—both who have also passed.” Paige says that antiquing is a way to keep their memory alive. When she started selling vintage items online, she was also painting and selling art for extra income. When the world shut down in March 2020, Paige was finally ready to take the leap and make art and thrifting her full-time job.
Today, she designs and installs interior spaces for an ever-growing list of clients while continuing to paint and sell art.
All the loss in her life, especially the death of her brother made Paige realize how precious life is. “We get this one life, and we aren’t promised tomorrow. It’s so important to spend your days doing work that is fulfilling,” Paige states. “I had to stop living life for other people, and start living on my own terms.”