Prior Lake friends bring interior design business, The Designery, to Burnsville

Prior Lake American

It’s a common saying that you shouldn’t go into business with a friend.

Prior Lake resident Dyonne Danielson and Prior Lake High School graduate Jill Deiss ignored that adage and opened up an interior design business in Burnsville in November 2017 called The Designery.

“What I loved about school was collaborating with all the women I was in school with,” Danielson. “I knew I’d never want to go into business by myself. It’s boring. If you can’t have fun with what you’re doing, I kind of feel bad for you.”

Deiss and Danielson met through the two-year interior design program at the Dakota County Technical College. Both were mothers who wanted to start what they call their “second lives.”

“We love to have fun,” Danielson said. “We’re serious about design, but we want to make design fun, we want to make it super interactive for clients and we don’t want clients to be afraid of the process.”

Danielson had owned businesses with her husband and was a cosmetologist for 15 years. She took a poll from her friends on what she should do when her kids flew the nest.

“I felt a little bit hollow,” Danielson said. “I knew I needed to do something for me. I think because I was so committed to helping everybody else, I didn’t know who I was or what I was good at. I took a poll from people who knew me best.”

Her family and friends told her to go into design.

Deiss said she was looking for something different.

“I’m a creative person and I needed an outlet,” Deiss said. “I have an advertising degree with a minor in film. I will always need to express myself visually and to do that for somebody else is even more rewarding.”

The duo rented a space in Burnsville before they had picked out a name or finalized the details of what the business would provide. At a Twins game with their husbands, Deiss said something was “designer-ey” and that was that.

“(Renting the space) was probably one of the best decisions that we did,” Danielson. “We trusted ourselves enough that we were like, ‘We’re going to do this and be just fine.’”

The Designery provides services from picking out a couch to taking over a full remodel. Deiss and Danielson are able to do 3D renderings, design concepts, plan spaces, write contracts, draft construction documents, source products, pick out finishes and more.

“Tell me ‘x’ and I can tell you what we can do for ‘x,’” Deiss said. “We don’t want to be intimidating. We’re savvy, we know people shop online. ... We don’t want to present ourselves as you have to buy everything through us. We’re TJ Maxxinistas!”

Everything is done based on a flat fee or a budget as opposed to an hourly fee. The pair will also work to create a room or home on a budget that doesn’t look like a room or a home on a budget.

“You don’t have to have every piece that’s a showstopper,” Danielson said. “Who can afford that? I can’t even afford that crap. It’s how you piece things together that don’t make it look cheap.”

When rooms don’t feel right and need a redesign, it’s obvious, Deiss said.

“Being home with three young children and things aren’t working right — that’s frustrating. If I can relieve that frustration for somebody and I can be a part of providing that positive experience for them, I’m all in.”

Danielson and Deiss said they prefer commercial design, but love to do residential as well.

“We are interior architects because we have to design a space that works,” Danielson said. “We want to make sure the interior flows and feels good to people who walk in there.”

They want to make spaces feel and look like what their clients need — they don’t have a particular style, Deiss said.

“We’re not going to design a space so it looks like Dyonne and Jill — we want to make it look like you,” Deiss said. “We are trained in knowing all the different design styles.”

Even though they went into business with a friend, it’s going well due to what each of them brings to the table, Deiss said.

“I think we offer thoughtful design,” Deiss said. “I think we both bring different things.”