Juliette Palarea
Juliette Palarea is the Founder, Principal, and Lead Designer of JPStyles Interior Design, bringing more than 25 years of distinguished experience in high‑end residential interiors. Based in Towson, Maryland, with project reach extending to Sarasota, Florida, she has earned a reputation for guiding multimillion‑dollar renovations and new builds that yield timeless, sophisticated environments.
Palarea’s design philosophy centers on homes that are both refined and livable—spaces that fuse beauty, comfort, and functionality while authentically reflecting each client’s individuality. Throughout her career, she has distinguished herself by restructuring her firm to manage every project facet under a single umbrella, ensuring a cohesive, seamless experience from concept to completion.
Under JPStyles Interior Design, Palarea oversees the entire process, including construction management, builder selection and interviews, coordination of architectural modifications, securing approvals, and designing all interior furnishings and décor. This comprehensive oversight preserves the integrity of the creative vision and execution, offering clients a singular, trusted leadership throughout the transformation of their homes.
This holistic model found its genesis in a long‑standing Maryland client relationship that culminated in a design and development project in Sarasota. After collaborating with the couple for nearly a decade, they entrusted Palarea with managing the entire endeavor from start to finish. The result is a landmark collaboration and one of the achievements Palarea holds in highest regard.
Today, JPStyles Interior Design is sought after precisely for this full‑service approach. Clients value Palarea’s proven ability to steer complex, high‑impact projects with confidence, creativity, and meticulous attention to detail, all while delivering an impeccably cohesive final product.
• Towson University
• Business of Design program with Kimberly Sheldon
• Young Life
What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a huge believer that you should never stop learning. I've had a lot of business consultants come in people that I feel like are smarter than me in certain categories - and I learn from them. We just completely implemented AI with a business consultant over the last 4 months. I think it's about just learning, and growing, and being humble enough to know that you don't have it figured out, ever. You'll never totally have it figured out. I follow all of the big interior design firms that I admire, and I love their work - they've certainly had a big impact on me. I also have this very strong belief that design is innate - you either have it in you or you don't. You can train to understand a lot of the different aspects of interior design, but I believe you have to have that natural ability. My training has really been hands-on. I don't think you can teach certain things - I think you have to be in the field doing it to learn and get better and faster at that. It takes a lot of practice to perfect the skill sets that are required to do this.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
First I would ask her why. One of the biggest myths is that interior design is this fun, glamorous job, and it is absolutely not. It's down and dirty. There are thousands of moving parts - it's hard work. A lot of it is admin, and there's nothing exciting about admin. I have done this with young women who have wanted to get into this industry, and some of them have decided, I really did not know what this job entailed, and they've gone in different paths, even if it's in the same industry, just different paths in the industry. I would also ask them what their strong suits are. Do you want to do this because you love designing, or do you want to run a business? Those are two very different things. I have young gals that work with me who went to school and have degrees in design, and have decided from watching me run the business that they would never in a million years want to do that. They've kind of found their pocket in the industry that's very different than what they originally thought they would love.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I have struggled beyond what I could communicate with dealing in an all-men's business. I don't get the respect, there's constant pushback. It's just 10 times harder than if I were a man. Sadly, that still exists, big time. The challenge of dealing with men has been the most difficult, especially because I decided to shift the platform so that we control everything and run all of the sourcing through our business instead of letting builders get all of the profit. I'm extremely passionate about helping women succeed and break through these limitations that have bound us forever. It's a hard thing to take on - you get a lot of criticism. I think it's funny that the Taylor Swift song says, you know, if a woman says these things, she's a bitch, and if a man says them, he's intelligent.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My kids went through a program called Young Life all through their schooling. It's a Christian-based organization, and I support that heavily. My main focus has really been adopting children around the world that I support, things like that. I would love to shift and add more to that now that I'm in a whole different space in life and my kids are adults. One of my biggest passions is helping women succeed and break through these limitations that have bound us forever. I'm extremely passionate about that. I also believe strongly in never stopping learning - being humble enough to know that you don't have it figured out, ever. I think it's important to bring in people who are smarter than me in certain categories and learn from them.