Category: News


NeoCon 2015

A group of Furnishings and Design’s designers visited Chicago, IL in June to attend NeoCon, the premier interior design conference where new commercial interiors products and trends are displayed for attending designers to gain inspiration for upcoming projects. NeoCon describes itself as “the commercial interiors industry’s most important annual event – bringing together the right people,…


Year End Furniture and Fabric Orders

Furniture and fabric must be ordered prior to year end deadlines to secure FY2015 funds. Due to the high volume of requests, priority will be given to Design Requests submitted by Friday, August 14th. Project requests received later will be handled as time permits. For new projects with furniture or upholstery needs and year end budget requirements, please email the…


Website Renovation

Much of the basic information departments often need from our office can be found on our website. We recently updated the site with the help of Procurement Training Manager, Jennifer Clark, to make this information more easily accessible to you, our clients. The first major change was to give the page an easy to remember web…


Starting a Renovation Project

There are two separate forms used to initiate a renovation project, so how do you know which one is appropriate for your department’s needs? Generally speaking, the Design Request Form (DRF) is for those smaller renovation projects and the Project Initiation Request (PIR) is for larger renovation projects. Design Request Form The DRF is used…


Extra Help for Upholstery Shop

Each month, the Upholstery Shop completes over a dozen projects. Some of these are simple fixes that only take an hour or two to finish, while others are a part of much larger projects that require hundreds of hours of work over many weeks. This keeps our two upholsterers very busy in order to meet…


What Happens to Your Extra Fabric?

The Upholstery Shop is a beehive of activity, with projects constantly rotating in and out of our facility. When a client requests an upholstery project to be done, a fabric is quoted, selected, and ordered. Our upholsterers carefully evaluate the project to determine the amount of fabric needed so as not to create waste and…


Summer Projects

Don’t let the chilly weather fool you – summer will be here before you know it! Summer is a busy time at the University.  We take advantage of the decreased student presence to complete projects that must be finished before classes begin in the fall. If your department needs furniture installed or pieces reupholstered during…


Residential vs. Commercial Furniture

When purchasing furniture for office spaces, it is important to understand the differences between commercial and residential furniture. Commercial furniture is more durable and can handle the wear and tear of constant usage, while residential furniture doesn’t have to be as tough because it simply does not experience the same traffic. Because of its longevity, professional appearance,…


Furniture Warranties

Did you know that most office furniture purchased through the University’s furniture contracts come with warranties to cover manufacturer defects? If you have a piece of furniture that isn’t functioning properly, contact us, and we will work with the appropriate vendor to determine whether or not the problem is covered under warranty.  Please provide pictures of the furniture, identifying labels,…


Ferguson Center Renovation

This year has been a busy year for capital projects, and August saw the completion of the Ferguson Center renovation and expansion. Mary Kathryn Holt was the lead interior designer, who gave new life to an outdated student center originally completed in 1973. With Fresh Food moving to its own stand-alone building, the Ferguson Food…