in the details: patrice rios

Try to think back to the first time you thought about what you wanted to be when you grew up. Can't remember, or didn't know? At 10 years old, many kids don't know what they would like to be, with the exception of interior designer Patrice Rios. Rios knew she wanted to be creative from the start.

Rios describes her fixation on architecture and the creative process as a child almost as an obsession and reminisces on how she always wanted to look at model homes. As she got older, the tick stuck, and she filled up her schedule in high school with a plethora of drawing and drafting classes and continued her interest in design in higher education, finally finishing her academic career with a Masters in Architecture from the University of Detroit Mercy, which coincidentally is also my mother's alma mater (at this point in the interview I, of course, had to rave about my love for my native city and provide a couple of recommendations on the best places to check out in Detroit).

Now, here is the part where many of us can relate to and possibly give us a little hope for our future. While graduating from college is supposed to be an exciting time and some form of a stress reliever for most, graduating into a recession is not. Unfortunately, the timing when Rios exited UofD in 2008 could have been better, and Detroit was not a sustainable option whatsoever. Nevertheless, not all of her resources were exhausted and she decided to reach out to an interior designer who she had previously interned for in Los Angeles, who recommended her to a luxury hotel design firm based in Shanghai, and from there hopped on a plane to move halfway around the world. Rios found her passion for designing boutique hotels and since then her resume has been nothing short of impressive. (Food for thought, we may not end up where we think we want to be, but we end up where we need to be.) Flash forward about 2 years which Rios describes as an amazing experience, the recession still hadn't let up, and Rios needed to figure out her next move quickly. In comes Austin, Texas which was recommended to her by a friend who mentioned how the recession hadn't hit them quite yet. Rios, a Texas native, decided to move there and hasn't left since, even creating her own design company, Troo Design, based here in Austin. Rios who still travels outside of the Lone Star State every once in a while prefers to keep her brand local, describing the booming city as "busy" causing her schedule to stay full.

After a couple of years of side hustles, Rios created her personal website in January 2012 with photos of her work from her portfolio which eventually garnered interest from HGTV to do the first season of Buying and Selling which took place in Austin, alongside the Property Brothers. The publicity from the show gave her own business maximized exposure, and although exciting, Rios described it as a learning curve. Adding the question if being on such a popular network added pressure to represent her brand in a certain light, she responds enthusiastically with

"Oh yeah...yeah. For sure." This wasn't where her HGTV involvement ended though, after some time working on her interior design business Troo Design, the popular network reached back out to her to take part in their show Container Homes which challenges designers to turn shipping containers into chic, livable spaces. After navigating production again, she says that the work and episode "turned out amazing" and once again maximized exposure to her brand as well as reintroduced her to designing boutique hotels again. Maybe second times the charm after all.

Currently, Rios still has not slowed down, even with COVID-19 looming in the air. With her unwavering interest in boutique hotels, she describes her work on the Colton House Hotel down on South Congress in ATX, whose owners also developed Guest House Hotel in Chicago, as her "next big launch". As for where she gets her inspiration when working on these projects she cites historical references of the space and focuses on textures and patterns often seen residentially, and when it comes to residential projects, she focuses on hotel aspects. For many of my

readers, decorating a dorm or small apartment space seems to have become a skill we have not perfected at all and to this Rios suggests having a designated gallery wall to fill with framed pictures, lots of plants, and to keep the bedding plain to open up the small space, adding the use of patterned pillows and rug. Here she states: "Everything is in the details".  As for any advice she has for those seeking to become an interior designer or anyone venturing out in a field in general, she says "Make sure you have the passion and lots of confidence. No one is going to believe in your ideas if you're not confident, and be honest with yourself" and even goes on to say that success is a combination of "passion, commitment, and obsession". While we as young adults might still be figuring out what we are exactly passionate about, committed to, and obsessed with, one thing rings true and that is the fact that we are obsessed with Patrice Rios.

Link to Patrice's website is below, and feel free to scroll through the gallery to see some of her designs!

https://www.patricerios.com

P.S - Don't forget to subscribe for more!