Living Well: A Q&A with D.C. designer Joe Ireland

Joining the D.C. design scene was a natural move for Joe Ireland. He was born in the District and raised in Gaithersburg, and recognized his knack for arranging furniture at an early age.

“I remember helping a neighbor out with the furniture layout of her living room when I was 8 years old,” he said before adding, “I fully realize how strange that sounds.”

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(Courtesy of Hemphill Fine Art/JULIE WOLFE) - “Conversion” by local artist Julie Wolfe.Ireland has two of her paintings in hispersonal collection.

(Charma Le Edmonds/SHELTER STUDIO) - Pearl Dive Oyster Palace on 14th Streethas become Ireland’s “fast favorite.”

When he was 19, Ireland moved downtown to dress windows at Axis Salon in Dupont Circle. Before long, the salon’s clients began asking him to decorate their homes.

In 2000, he joined the local design firm of Jose Solis Betancourt, then started his own firm in 2001. Today, he runs J.D. Ireland Interior Architecture and Design with high school friend Julie Weber; she has a degree in architecture, he is self-taught. The pair were included in House Beautiful’s “Next Wave” of designers in 2010 and have appeared on the HGTV cable network show “Curb Appeal.” In what he calls a “totally bizarre coincidence,” their offices are directly above Axis.

Ireland, now 36, lives in a condo on U Street that he decorated with neutral furnishings and one-of-a-kind art and sculpture. Neighborhood revitalizations, such as the U Street corridor, are one of his favorite things about living in Washington.

“There’s a new restaurant every week,” he said. “You walk outside and never know what to expect. At this rate, I’ll never leave.”

We talked with Joe recently about his life in the District and his personal style. Here is an edited excerpt.

Design approach: Architecture first. We always consider the bones of a house and then build upon them. If you stray too far from a home’s character, it becomes a mess. It’s inauthentic. Style can be expressed through the details; that’s how we put a contemporary spin on it.

Where you start with a blank slate: Rugs and art. They give you an automatic palette to work from. And again, they’re bigger-ticket items so working around them makes sense. Ideally, they’re investments that you’ll hang on to until they’re inherited by someone. For art, we always visit Hemphill Fine Arts, Gallery Plan B and J Fine Art. For rugs, we check out Timothy Paul Carpets on 14th Street.

Least favorite design trend: Sponge-painted walls and wallpapered borders. Can’t say I’ve ever seen any I love.

D.C. design in three words: Up and coming. We have a lot of the same resources that New York has, which allows us to be at the forefront of interior design. But as a city, we’re still blossoming.

Paint: My go-to neutral is White Dove by Benjamin Moore because it’s perfectly soft.

You have $1,000 to spend on home decor in the area. You go: Straight to West Elm. Style at a good price.

You’re lusting after: The Bryant Park Wedgewood rug from Galleria Carpets at the Design Center.

Biggest weaknesses: Dining tables and upholstery. They’re some of the most-used pieces in a home, so sturdiness matters, quality matters. I don’t feel bad splurging on them. You can find good accessories and pillows that give you a lot of bang for your buck, but we count on the bigger pieces to make the statements.