The COI Journal
Practical writing for facilities managers, operations leaders, and HR teams across New England. No buzzwords, no listicles. Just the things we wish more buyers knew before signing a furniture contract.
Recent Posts
Five articles to start. We add new posts as projects, conversations, and questions surface from the field.
What Is Actually Driving Office Furniture Price Increases
List prices moved again this year. Most of the increase is not the furniture. Here is how to read a manufacturer increase notice, what an open-line dealer can do about it, and how to hold a budget you set six months ago.
Power and Data at the Desk, Before the Extension Cords Show Up
Nothing exposes a furniture plan faster than the first Monday of occupancy, when power strips start crossing walkways. Here is how to get power and data right in the furniture, not after it.
Ancillary Furniture: Lounge Seating People Actually Use
Most offices have a lounge area that sits empty and a hallway where everyone stands to talk. That gap is an ancillary furniture problem. Here is how to spec soft seating that earns its floor.
Training Rooms That Change Shape in Under Ten Minutes
A training room used twice a month is expensive floor. The fix is furniture that lets the same room run a class, an all-hands, a workshop and a lunch without a crew and a hand truck.
Private Offices Worth Keeping: Specifying the Enclosed Rooms
Private offices are back on a lot of floor plans, smaller and doing more jobs than before. Here is how to size them, furnish them, and avoid spending executive money on a room that is used four hours a day.
Choosing Office Fabrics That Still Look Right in Year Eight
Fabric is the part of a furniture order that ages in public. Here is what the test numbers mean, where to spend, and how to pick textiles that survive a commercial floor and your cleaning crew.
What Architects and Designers Should Expect From a Furniture Dealer
You specify it, someone else has to deliver it. Here is what a furniture dealer should be handing your team at each phase, and the questions that separate real project support from a catalog and a smile.
Furniture and Green Building Certification, Without the Guesswork
If your project is chasing LEED or WELL, the furniture package carries real points and real documentation. Here is what certifications to ask for, what to collect, and when to ask for it.
Senior Living Furniture: Specifying for Residents, Staff and Cleaning Crews
Senior living furniture has to be safe for residents, workable for caregivers, cleanable on a strict protocol, and still look like a home. Here is how those requirements sort out in a real specification.
Branch Furniture for Banks and Credit Unions
Branches stopped being transaction counters and became advisory offices. The furniture has not always caught up. Here is how to plan a branch refresh across a network without a different answer at every location.
Making Artwork Simple Again: Commercial Art, Planned With Your Furniture
The furniture is selected and the finishes are coming together. Then someone asks what goes on the walls. Here is how COI and Great American Art fold artwork into the same process, with no upfront GAA design fee.
Furnishing a Nonprofit Office Without Overspending or Settling
Nonprofits get offered a lot of donated furniture and a lot of bad advice. Here is how to build a decent office on a real budget, and when free furniture costs more than buying it.
Contact Center Furniture: Density Without the Noise
A contact center floor is the hardest furniture problem in an office: maximum seats, constant talking, long shifts and heavy use. Here is how to get density without a floor nobody can work on.
Furnishing Your First Office Without Regretting It in Year Two
Your first office is furnished with a smaller budget and a less certain future than any office you will furnish later. Here is where to spend, what to defer, and the decisions that are expensive to undo.
Lockers, Hoteling and Where People Put Their Things
Shared seating works right up until people have nowhere to leave a laptop bag. Here is how to plan personal storage for a hybrid floor so desk sharing stops feeling like being a guest.
Office Furniture on the Seacoast and in Southern Maine
Portsmouth, Dover, Portland and the towns between them are a real office market with very few furniture dealers in them. Here is what buying locally looks like from this corner of New England.
Biotech Furniture Beyond the Single-Brand Default
An aligned furniture portfolio can be a sensible default. An open-line approach gives biotech facilities teams another option: select each product around the room, the process, the evidence and the installed scope.
Healthcare Furniture Without Brand Lock-In: A Practical Alternative for Capital Projects
Aligned dealers offer convenience inside one major portfolio. An open-line dealer offers a different advantage: healthcare-specific product choice, compared against the requirement of each room.
Office Fit-Out Responsibility Matrix: Who Owns Furniture, Construction, Technology and Move-In?
Fit-out means different things to different parties. Here is how to divide furniture, construction, technology and move-in responsibility before the schedule turns it into a field problem.
What Commercial Office Interior Design Actually Involves
What commercial office interior design includes, who owns each decision, and how furniture planning moves from workplace needs to installation.
Office Furniture Removal and Decommissioning: What It Costs in New England
Liquidation, donation, recycling, resale. Four exits for the furniture you are leaving behind, and what each one does to your budget.
Office Space Planning: How Much Square Footage Per Employee in 2026
The old 150 square feet per person rule broke when attendance stopped being flat. Here is how to size a space around a peak day.
The Office Move Checklist: 90 Days From Lease Signing to Day One
A week-by-week office relocation checklist built around the furniture, the trades, and the two dates that actually matter.
How to Choose an Office Furniture Installation Company
Movers are not installers. What separates a commercial furniture installation crew from a truck, and what the work should cost.
Office Furniture in Boston: A 2026 Buyer's Guide
What Boston buildings do to your install budget, when used furniture is the right call, and how to buy without paying the downtown premium.
Turnkey Office Fit-Outs: From Lease Decision to Move-In
A practical guide for facilities and project teams coordinating corporate office design, commercial furniture, installation, relocation and Day 2 support.
K–12 Furniture Capital Projects: From Educational Intent to First Bell
School furniture is more than a product selection. It is a coordinated capital-project workstream involving instruction, accessibility, procurement, documentation, logistics and long-term support.
Airport Furniture in New Hampshire: Arconas vs. Artopex
A practical comparison of Arconas and Artopex airport seating, plus the design, cleaning, accessibility, power, procurement, and installation issues New Hampshire airport teams should evaluate before requesting a quote.
ARMI's ReGen Valley Build-Out: What It Means for NH Biomanufacturing Lab Furniture
A project brief on ARMI's ReGen Valley build-out at 150 Dow Street in Manchester and how flexible Formaspace lab furniture, paired with a local open-line dealer, can support New Hampshire biomanufacturing.
Small Office Interior Design: Making Tight Square Footage Work
A small office does not have to feel cramped. The trick is designing the floor around how people actually work, so 2,000 square feet does the job of 3,000. Here is where the space hides.
Office Design Trends for 2026, and Which Ones to Skip
Trends move fast. Office furniture does not. Here is which 2026 office design directions are worth building into a floor, and which ones will look dated before the lease is up.
Choosing an Office Color Palette That Still Looks Right in Five Years
Color is the cheapest thing to get wrong and the most visible. Here is how to build an office palette in layers, so the floor looks current now and still looks right when the trend has moved on.
Biophilic Office Design: Plants, Light, and What Actually Helps
Biophilic design is more than a plant in the corner. Done right it makes an office calmer and easier to work in. Done for the photo it is dead plants and a maintenance bill. Here is the difference.
Buying Office Furniture in Southern New Hampshire
Manchester, Nashua, and the I-93 corridor have plenty of furniture warehouses. Here is how to tell a liquidation pile from a furniture program, and what buying local actually gets you.
Modern Cubicles and the Alternatives, Explained
The cubicle did not die. It got lower, lighter, and smarter. Here is how to spec workstations that give people focus without rebuilding the gray maze of 2005.
Buying Used vs. New Office Furniture
Used furniture can cut a fit-out budget in half, or leave you with a floor of mismatched parts and no warranty. Here is where used wins, where it bites, and how to buy it without regret.
Furnishing Healthcare Waiting Rooms and Offices in New England
Healthcare furniture lives by different rules: it has to wipe down, hold up to constant use, and seat every kind of patient. Here is how to spec a waiting room and clinic that pass infection control and still feel calm.
Leasing vs. Buying Office Furniture
Renting a floor of furniture protects cash and disappears when the lease ends. Buying it builds an asset and costs less over time. Here is how to tell which one your situation actually calls for.
Fixing the Conference Room That Doesn't Work on Camera
Half of most meetings happen on a screen now, and most conference rooms were built for the half still in the room. Here is how to fix the table, the seating, and the sight lines so remote people can take part.
How to Reconfigure the Office You Already Own
Before you buy a floor of new furniture, look at what you already have. A reconfiguration can cover most of a layout change at a fraction of the cost, if you know what is worth keeping.
Furnishing an Office That Keeps Adding People
When headcount is climbing, furniture either gets ahead of the growth or chases it. Here is how to spec a floor that absorbs new hires without a re-buy every quarter.
Designing a Reception Area That Does Real Work
Most lobbies are a desk, two chairs, and a coffee table nobody uses. Here is how to plan a reception that handles guests, deliveries, and the first impression without overspending.
Solving the Office Storage Problem Without Adding Square Footage
Hot-desking and the paperless office were supposed to end the storage problem. They moved it. Here is how to give people a place for their things without renting more space.
The Phone Booth and Privacy Pod Buyer's Guide for 2026
Every open plan now has a pod in the corner. Here is how to size them, spec them, and decide when a pod beats building the room.
Rolling Out Height-Adjustable Desks Across a Floor
Sit-stand stopped being a perk and became the baseline. Here is how to spec it for a whole floor without overpaying or buying desks nobody raises.
Designing a Breakroom People Actually Use
Most breakrooms sit empty because they were planned as one big room with a fridge. The fix is zones, durable furniture, and a spend that matches how people really use the space.
Office Furniture for Law Firms in New England
Law offices have different rules: private offices still matter, casegoods carry the brand, and the lease clock is unforgiving. Here is how to spec a firm without overpaying.
How to Read an Office Furniture Proposal
Two quotes for the same office can differ by 30 percent and both be honest. Here is how to read the line items, decode the discount, and compare bids on equal footing.
The Ergonomic Task Chair Buyer's Guide for 2026
The chair is the one piece of furniture every person touches eight hours a day. Here is how to choose it without paying for adjustments nobody uses.
Fixing the Open Office Noise Problem
Open plans solved collaboration and broke concentration. The fix is not more walls. It is the right mix of absorb, block, and mask, and most of it is furniture you already buy.
Office Furniture for New England Life Sciences Teams
Cambridge and the 128 corridor run on lab-adjacent office space that has to flex fast. Here is how to furnish it for the headcount you will have, not the one you have now.
What a New England Office Fit-Out Costs Per Seat in 2026
Before you have a single bid, you need a number to plan around. Here are the real per-seat furniture costs for a New England office this year, by tier.
What Office Furniture Installation Day Actually Looks Like
Install day is where a furniture project succeeds or unravels. Here is exactly what happens, and how to make sure the only surprise is how boring it was.
The Office Manager's Guide to a Turnkey Furniture Project
One contact, one schedule, one invoice. How a turnkey furniture project actually runs when the office manager hands the whole thing to a single dealer.
Independent Dealer or Aligned Dealer? What COI Actually Is
Independent means we are not locked to a single manufacturer. Aligned means our compensation tracks your outcome, not a brand quota. Both apply, and the difference matters on every bid.
The Bid Spread Between an Open-Line and Single-Brand Dealer
We pulled five recent New England projects where the client had bids from both. The average spread runs 32 percent. Here is where it comes from, line by line.
Actual Office Furniture Lead Times in 2026
What manufacturers quote and what they actually deliver. Real lead time data from 124 shipments we tracked across New England last year.
The 10-Year Cost of Office Furniture, By the Numbers
Sticker price is the worst predictor of what a furniture program actually costs. Here is the 10-year math on commercial vs lower-tier specification.
Why Carrying 100+ Brands Is Different from Carrying 1
A single-brand catalog has 12,000 SKUs. An open-line dealer has access to roughly 600,000. The math on what that actually means for your project.
The Real Cost of Buying Furniture From 8 Different Vendors
Direct-to-manufacturer feels cheaper until you count the coordination time. A 50-person office buying directly typically pays 6 to 12 percent more once the soft costs are in.
What a Free Space Plan Actually Saves You
A 3D space plan delivered before order placement catches roughly 80 percent of the fit-up corrections that would otherwise show up on install day. Here is the cost of skipping it.
What You Actually Recover From Reselling Used Office Furniture
Most companies throw away furniture that retains 15 to 40 percent of its original value. Here is the data on what RESEAT clients have recovered in the past year.
The Office Furniture RFP Checklist Procurement Should Use in 2026
Most office furniture RFPs miss three line items that account for 40 percent of project risk. Here is the 12-point checklist we recommend to procurement teams across New England.
How New England Companies Are Designing for Hybrid in 2026
Three years into hybrid, the office is doing a different job. What Boston, Manchester, and Portsmouth teams are actually building.
The Real Cost of a Boston Office Move (And How to Cut It)
A 50-person Boston office move runs $80K to $250K depending on how you scope it. Here is the line-item breakdown.
Why More New England Tenants Are Specifying Demountable Walls
Drywall offices belong on your leasehold improvement schedule. Demountable glass walls belong on your balance sheet. Here is the math.
What an Open-Line Dealer Does That a Single-Brand Showroom Can't
Major-line dealers carry one manufacturer. Open-line dealers carry the project. The difference shows up in your bid.
Artopex vs. Steelcase: A New England Buyer's Guide for 2026
Same commercial spec, different price tag and lead time. Where Artopex outperforms, where Steelcase still wins, and how to decide.
K-12 Furniture Standards and Compliance: What Districts Actually Have to Meet
Flammability, lead content, tip-over, and ADA clearances all apply to school furniture. Here is what a district should ask a vendor to prove before a PO goes out.
Office Furniture Cost Per Square Foot: What the Number Includes
Per square foot is the unit landlords and brokers use. It is a poor unit for furniture. Here is how to convert between the two without underbudgeting.
What Commercial Space Planning Actually Involves
Space planning is not drawing furniture on a floor plan. Here is the sequence, the inputs it needs from you, and what a finished plan should include.
What a Commercial Interior Designer Does, and When You Need One
Designer, architect, space planner, and dealer overlap more than the titles suggest. Here is who does what, and which projects genuinely need each.
Higher Education Furniture: Residence Halls, Libraries, and Learning Spaces
Campus furniture faces heavier use, tighter summer windows, and state procurement rules. Here is what changes compared with corporate work.
Furnishing Municipal and Government Offices in New England
Town halls, public safety buildings, and administrative offices buy under rules corporate offices do not have. Here is how the process differs.
Furniture Warranty and Service: What Happens After the Install
Warranty terms sound similar until something breaks. Here is what the differences mean in practice and what to confirm before you order.
Furnishing Coworking and Flex Space
Flex space furniture gets moved, reconfigured, and used by people who did not buy it. Here is what that changes about specification.
Setting Furniture Standards Across Multiple Sites
Running ten offices without a standard produces ten different chairs and no buying power. Here is how a standards program is built and what it saves.
Office Furniture for Manufacturing and Industrial Sites
Plant offices, quality labs, and shift-run control rooms need furniture the corporate catalogue does not cover. Here is what changes.
Written for the People Buying the Furniture
Most furniture writing is product marketing. This is not that.
Facilities managers
Practical guides on lead times, move logistics, and what to put in writing on a furniture contract.
Operations leaders
Design decisions that affect productivity, retention, and real estate cost. The numbers behind the choices.
HR & People Ops
How office design plays into culture, recruiting, and retention. The office as a tool, not a perk.