Beyond the western suburbs
Dara Agruss Design is a full-service interior design studio based in Elmhurst. Most of our work happens in Chicago's western suburbs and DuPage County, but we take on projects across the state, from the North Shore to the North Side and further out when the project is right.
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. Distance changes how we plan the schedule; it doesn't change how we work.
Recent work
Whole-home projects across DuPage County, western Cook County and Chicago, and beyond when the project is a fit.
Before & after
The design approach is the same whether the house is a Lake Forest estate or an Elmhurst rebuild. Start with what's already good, edit rather than replace, invest where the room actually needs it.
What we do
Most of our 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 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.
Across the state
Illinois residential architecture varies more widely than most states. The North Shore — Lake Forest, Winnetka, Highland Park — has grand estates and lakefront houses. Chicago has its greystones, pre-war co-ops and modern high-rise homes. The western suburbs run from 1870s Victorians to teardown-and-rebuild new construction. The collar counties add everything from ranches to farmhouse conversions.
Every region has its own building rules, its own trade network, and its own construction rhythm. We plan around those specifics: preservation review windows in historic villages, service-elevator schedules in city co-ops, and travel logistics for projects beyond DuPage.
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 →
For whole-home projects the answer is usually "as far as needed" — we've worked well beyond DuPage. The consideration is trade logistics: some of our workrooms and installers are Chicago-area, so out-of-region projects need slightly more scheduling runway. On the initial call we'll talk through the specifics.
For smaller-scope projects — single rooms, virtual design — we stay closer to the studio, roughly a 45-minute drive.
Yes. About one-third of our work is inside Chicago: vintage greystones in Lincoln Park, pre-war co-ops in the Gold Coast, and newer high-rise homes. City projects share the same team as suburban ones.
In co-ops and vintage buildings we plan around alteration agreements, approved work windows and elevator bookings, and those constraints shape the schedule as much as the design does.
Also serving
The same team works across DuPage County, western Cook County and Chicago.
