“For as long as I can remember, I have always loved the act of making a home feel personal,” says interior designer Julia Longchamps. But it was only while taking a furnishings elective during the last semester of earning her fashion degree from F.I.T. that she wondered if she chose the wrong major. “I figured I’d work in sports apparel for a bit,” she recounts. “Then I realized the corporate world wasn’t for me.”

When she and her husband acquired a fixer-upper on Kent Island, it only reinforced her passion for interiors—and inspired her to want to better understand construction documents. Because she already held a design degree, she decided to attend community college between the births of her three children to master software programs such as CAD and SketchUp.

Since then her eponymous firm has grown to include two other designers. Of her clean-lined, classic aesthetic, Longchamps says, “I think it’s ever-evolving. The foundation of my work is updated traditional, then we bring in furnishings with modern or organic textures that you can easily switch out over the years.” That pragmatic approach has won over clients: “When they say, ‘This is a thousand times better than anything I could have imagined for my family,’ that is the best feeling. It’s like I’ve cracked the code.”

Interior Design: Julia Longchamps, Julia Longchamps Design, Stevensville, Maryland. Architecture: Ratcliffe Architects (Hunt Valley). Contracting: Benhoff Builders (Hunt Valley); One Source Contracting, LLC (Annapolis).