Indesign Interior Design Studio Closing After 31 Years in Danville

After 31 years doing business in Danville, Indesign interior design studio owner Arlene Russ has decided it’s time to close the curtains on her popular West Linda Mesa Avenue studio.

Russ is retiring and is currently holding a retirement sale at her studio. Once the studio is closed, she plans to relocate to Santa Rosa.

Russ started the business in 1980, when her husband Jack retired from the United States Navy after a 30-year career, and began working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

After living the life of a Navy wife on the move, she says she could finally "put roots down," and decided it was “my turn to have a career.”

Russ earned a degree in design at the University of Washington in Seattle. She says she had been practicing her profession since then—for free.

Russ is passionate about the benefits of hiring a designer. She says you pay them for their time and expertise about “what is new in the market,” ultimately saving you time and money.

Over the years, Russ says she has enjoyed long relationships with many of her clients—she is helping one client decorate a fourth home.

She says Danville has been a "wonderful place" to live and work. As a business owner she has seen a lot of changes through the years.

Most notably her designer’s eye is drawn to the changes to buildings around town, and the move to update their look over the last several years.

Russ owns the West Linda Mesa building that currently houses her studio, which she plans to lease once it closes.

Russ is looking forward to a new, more relaxed, lifestyle with her husband in Santa Rosa, but says she can’t entirely stop designing.

She says she will continue to design for longtime clients from her new home base.