Hinsdale, Illinois
Dara Agruss Design is a full-service interior design studio working on whole-home projects, gut renovations and new construction in Hinsdale and across Chicago's western suburbs.
We take on a small number of projects each year so they get our full attention: millwork drawn to the inch, fabrics chosen in person, and an install day when the whole house comes together. Our studio is fifteen minutes up the road in Elmhurst, so a site visit takes half a morning, not a whole day.
Recent work
A studio in Elmhurst working on whole-home projects, gut renovations and new construction throughout DuPage and western Cook County.
Before & after
Hinsdale's overlay district rewards owners who restore rather than demolish. This is what that choice looks like inside: the original built-in wall kept in place, refinished and restyled rather than torn out and rebuilt.
What we do
Most of our Hinsdale clients come to us for the whole house, not a single room. Full-service means we carry the project from the first floor plan to the day the last lamp is placed:
You make the decisions that matter to you. We handle the several hundred that don't.
How we work
The same process for every Hinsdale project, whether it's one room or an entire new build.
A short conversation about your home, your timeline and the scope you have in mind. We tell you honestly whether we're the right studio for it.
We walk your home, measure, photograph and talk through how each room actually needs to work for the people in it.
Floor plans, elevations, renderings, finishes and a complete furniture plan, presented together, room by room, in one sitting.
We place every order, track every lead time, receive and inspect every piece, and coordinate directly with your builder and trades.
Everything arrives, gets placed and gets styled. You leave in the morning and come home to a finished house.
Hinsdale houses
Hinsdale is two housing markets at once. Robbins Park has been a National Register historic district since 2008, when roughly two-thirds of its 475 homes were judged to contribute to the district's character. Queen Anne, Victorian, Tudor and Colonial houses with original millwork, leaded glass and rooms that were never meant to open into one another.
At the same time, about a quarter of the village's houses have been replaced since the early 2000s, and the Historic Overlay District introduced in 2022 now offers tax rebates and permit relief to owners who restore rather than demolish. Those two paths call for completely different design work, and we do both.
Full-service means we handle the entire project: space planning, custom millwork and cabinetry, furniture, upholstery, window treatments, finishes, lighting, art and accessories, plus ordering, receiving, delivery coordination and installation. You make the decisions that matter to you; we manage everything behind them.
We work through trade-only showrooms, workrooms and artisans that aren't open to the public, which is where most of the character in a project comes from. See everything included in our services →
Yes. A significant part of our work is in older housing stock: Queen Anne, Victorian, Tudor and Colonial homes with original woodwork, plaster walls and small closed-off rooms. We design around that character rather than stripping it out.
In a protected district, finishes and exterior changes can be subject to review, so we plan selections with that in mind and coordinate with your architect and the village from the start.
Yes, and it is the right time to start. We come in during framing to select finishes, lighting, plumbing, cabinetry and millwork before anything is ordered. Involving a designer at that stage prevents the change orders that derail a build later.
Hinsdale has a high volume of teardown-and-rebuild activity, and new builds tend to arrive architecturally blank. We work directly with your builder so the interior decisions land on the construction schedule rather than after it.
Also serving
The same team works across DuPage County, western Cook County and Chicago.
