Multifamily Interior Design & Amenity FF&E.
Amenity floors, model units, and common areas that lease buildings — specified, imported, and installed on the developer's schedule. Showrooms in Metro Detroit. Projects nationwide. Since 1985.
What is model unit furnishing?
The plain answer first, then what changes when the room has to rent apartments rather than be lived in.
Multifamily interior design furnishes the spaces that rent apartments: the lobby, amenity floor, clubroom, rooftop, and the model units prospects tour. It means designing to a leasing story, specifying contract-grade pieces that survive every resident, keeping the spec consistent across phases, and installing before the lease-up clock starts.
A model unit is a sales tool, not an apartment. It is merchandised to make a floor plan legible in ninety seconds — scaled furniture that proves the bedroom takes a king, sightlines that pull a prospect to the window, and a level of finish the renter can picture themselves in. The amenity floor does the same job for the building. Multifamily sits inside commercial interior design as its own discipline because the furniture is a leasing asset first and a durability problem second.
Italcasa works both halves. We program the amenity floor and merchandise the models, then supply them direct from the Italian and European houses — imported, warehoused, and installed by the team that drew the plan, building by building, ahead of each certificate of occupancy.
Multifamily Interior Design Runs on Doors and Dates.
A building is counted in doors, judged on its amenity floor, and handed over on a date the certificate of occupancy sets. Six constraints shape every multifamily specification we write.
- Doors
The unit of work is the door.
Everything is sized against the door count: how much amenity square footage the building owes its residents, how many models the leasing team needs, how the budget is framed. We build the package per door and multiply it, so an upgrade in the clubroom is measured against the whole building before anyone signs off.
- Amenity Floor
The amenity floor is the differentiator.
In a competitive lease-up, two buildings on the same street with the same finishes compete on the lobby, the clubroom, the co-work lounge, and the rooftop. Those rooms are what the leasing photography sells and what a prospect compares on a Saturday tour — they get specified like hospitality, not like a common area.
- Model Units
A model unit is merchandised to close a lease.
It has to make a floor plan legible fast: furniture scaled to prove the bedroom takes a king, circulation that reads as generous, and sightlines that pull a prospect to the window and the view. We merchandise models to the floor plans that are hardest to lease, not the ones that photograph easiest.
- Phasing
The spec has to survive three phases.
Buildings two and three are ordered a year after building one, by which point a line has been discontinued or a fabric dropped. We hold the specification, log substitutions in writing, and reserve the pieces that matter so the second clubroom matches the first instead of nearly matching it.
- Fair Housing & ADA
Common areas are regulated space.
Lobbies, clubrooms, fitness lounges, and leasing offices fall under Fair Housing design and construction requirements and ADA accessible-route rules. Clearances, seating heights, reachable counters, and path widths are checked in the layout, not discovered at the walk-through by the inspector.
- Lease-Up Clock
Certificate of occupancy sets the date.
The building starts carrying debt whether or not the amenity floor is furnished, and imported pieces have production and ocean lead times no amount of urgency shortens. We schedule backward from CO and the leasing office opening, flag long-lead items at specification, and stage in our warehouse so install waits on the building, not the boat.
- Codes & Standards
What we specify against.
Every common-area and amenity item is checked against these before the order is placed.
- Fair Housing Act design and construction requirements in all common and public-use areas
- ADA and ANSI A117.1 clearances, accessible routes, leasing-office counters, and pool-deck circulation
- CAL 117 flammability on all upholstered seating; CAL 133 where the occupancy classification requires it
- Commercial abrasion (double rubs), cleanability, and bleach-tolerance ratings on amenity textiles
- Outdoor pieces rated for UV, wind uplift, and pool-chemical exposure on rooftops and decks
- Local building, fire, and egress review at CO — plus loading dock, elevator, and hoist windows
Amenity Programming, Specification, and Procurement Under One Roof.
Most amenity packages lose their schedule in the gap between the renderings the lender approved and whoever ends up buying from them. We do both, so the clubroom in the leasing brochure is the clubroom that lands on the truck.
Amenity floor design
Lobby, clubroom, co-work, fitness lounge, and package room programmed against the leasing story and the competitive set, then drawn and specified as one coordinated floor.
Rooftop & pool deck furniture
Outdoor lounge, dining, and shade specified for wind, UV, and pool chemicals — rotomolded and powder-coated lines that still photograph as design after a full season outside.
Model unit packages
Complete merchandised models, scaled to the floor plans that need help leasing, delivered and styled as a package rather than assembled from whatever arrived.
Corridor & common-area FF&E
Corridor lighting, consoles, mail and package rooms, elevator lobbies, and the leasing office — the spaces every resident passes daily and every tour walks through.
Phased procurement across buildings
One specification held across phases, with substitutions logged and long-lead pieces reserved so building three reads as the same property as building one.
Install coordinated to CO & leasing
Import, freight, warehousing, and white-glove installation sequenced per building against certificate of occupancy and the day the leasing office opens its doors.
Amenity and model-unit budgets are framed per door — so a lounge upgrade is measured against the whole building before it's approved.
Built Backward From Lease-Up.
A multifamily package has one date that pays for itself: the day the leasing office opens and prospects walk the models. Every stage below is scheduled backward from it, building by building, with import lead times taken off the front rather than the end.
- 01Kickoff
Amenity Programming
The leasing story first: who the building is for, what the competitive set already offers, and which amenities actually earn their square footage. This is where the room schedule and the model-unit count get set.
- 02Design
Specification & Renders
Amenity floor and model units drawn, rendered, and specified line by line — pieces, textiles, quantities, and finish samples in hand — in a package the developer can put in front of the lender and the leasing team.
- 03Procurement
Phased Ordering
Factory orders placed per building against the CO schedule, long-lead imports pulled forward, and the specification locked with substitutions logged in writing so later phases match the first.
- 04Staging
Import & Warehousing
Ocean and domestic freight, customs, and receiving handled by us, with each building's package staged complete and inspected in our warehouse rather than trickling to site in fragments.
- 05Lease-up
Install Ahead of Lease-Up
Delivery booked into dock, hoist, and elevator windows, amenity floors and models set and styled, punch list closed, and photography-ready before the leasing office opens.
Amenity Space Furniture, From the Houses That Build It.
We hold direct relationships with the top Italian and European houses, and we specify from them by where the piece sits in the building — a lobby sofa photographed for the leasing site is a different problem from a pool-deck chaise that gets hosed down.
Lobby & amenity lounge
The rooms the leasing photography sells.
- Sunpan
Amenity lounge volume with a designer look — the workhorse for filling a clubroom and lobby at scale without the seating reading as contract-catalog.
- Camerich
Modular lounge seating that holds its shape under constant use, sized for open amenity floors where the furniture does the space planning.
- Ditre Italia
Statement lobby upholstery in performance textiles — the arrival piece that sets the building's price point in the first three seconds.
- Marset
Lobby and corridor lighting with warm, glare-free output for the spaces residents move through at every hour.
Clubroom, co-work & model units
Where residents sit down and prospects decide.
- Calligaris
Clubroom and co-work tables and dining seating built for daily turnover, with a finish range wide enough to keep phases consistent.
- Connubia
Stackable and space-efficient seating for co-work, game rooms, and flexible event spaces that get reconfigured weekly.
- Natuzzi Italia
Italian upholstery for model units and lobby seating groups — the pieces that make a merchandised model read as a home rather than a showroom.
Rooftop, pool deck & amenity lighting
Outdoor exposure, hosed clean.
- Vondom
Rotomolded polyethylene lounge and dining that survives UV, wind, and pool chemicals, and hoses clean between seasons.
- Talenti
Rooftop lounge furniture with the softness of an interior and outdoor-rated frames and textiles underneath it.
- Harbour
Contract outdoor seating and dining for pool decks and terraces where the deck is the amenity the building is marketed on.
- Lodes
Decorative and exterior-rated fixtures for amenity terraces, clubrooms, and the transitions between them.
One Spec, Any Market You Build In.
Developers buy nationally, and a multifamily package runs off a drawing set and a unit mix — which makes it well suited to remote work. We furnish buildings across the country from Metro Detroit; the spec is written once and repeats, building by building, wherever the next phase breaks ground.
Video walkthrough and plan review
You send the architectural set, the unit mix, and the amenity program, or we walk the site on camera. We work from the same drawings your GC and leasing team have.
Digital specification package
Amenity renders, model-unit merchandising plans, and the per-door specification and quantity schedule delivered digitally — formatted to go straight into the lender and investor package.
Samples shipped for sign-off
Finish, wood, and textile samples couriered to you and to the leasing team, with a seating piece sent out for trial where the amenity decision warrants sitting in it before forty are ordered.
Phased freight and install in any state
We manage factory orders, freight, and clearance, then coordinate local white-glove crews per building into your dock and hoist windows and walk the punch list with your PM before lease-up.
Multifamily Interior Design in Metro Detroit — and Wherever You Build Next.
Bring the amenity plan and the unit mix into either showroom and sit in the lounge seating before you order forty of it. Sofas, dining and co-work seating, and outdoor lines are on the floor, so an amenity package can be narrowed in one afternoon instead of three rounds of shipped samples.
Multifamily FF&E questions.
The questions developers and property managers actually open with. If yours isn't here, ask us directly — we answer specifics, not generalities.
What is model unit furnishing?
Model unit furnishing is the merchandising of the apartments prospects tour. The furniture is chosen to sell a floor plan rather than to be lived in: scaled to prove the bedroom takes a king and the living room takes a real sofa, arranged so circulation reads as generous, and finished to the level the target renter aspires to. We specify and install complete model packages — furniture, lighting, rugs, art, and styling — and we choose the plans that need the most help leasing, not the ones that photograph easiest.
What does amenity space design include?
Programming the amenity floor against the leasing story and the competitive set, then designing and specifying each room: lobby and arrival, clubroom, co-work lounge, fitness lounge, package and mail rooms, the leasing office, and the rooftop or pool deck. It covers layout, furniture, lighting, textiles, and the accessible-route and clearance review those spaces need — followed by the buying: procurement, import, freight, warehousing, and installation, by the team that drew the plan.
How do you keep furniture consistent across phases?
By holding the specification as a controlled document rather than a shopping list. Every piece, finish, and textile is recorded at spec, quantities for later phases are forecast at the time of the first order, and pieces we know are at risk of discontinuation are reserved or bought forward. When a line does change — and across a three-year build it will — we bring the substitution to you in writing with samples, before it ships, instead of after the clubroom has been installed.
What drives the furniture budget on a multifamily project?
Four things: how many doors the amenity package is spread across, how much amenity square footage the building carries and how competitive the lease-up market is, how many model units the leasing team needs and at what level of finish, and how much outdoor space is in the program — rooftops and pool decks carry rated furniture that costs more than its indoor equivalent. Budgets are framed per door, which is what makes an amenity upgrade a decision the whole building can be measured against rather than a room-by-room argument.
What brands do you specify for amenity spaces?
The houses we specify most often for multifamily are Sunpan and Camerich for amenity lounge volume, Ditre Italia and Natuzzi Italia for statement lobby and model-unit upholstery, Calligaris and Connubia for clubroom and co-work tables and seating, Vondom, Talenti, and Harbour for rooftops and pool decks, and Lodes and Marset for amenity and corridor lighting. Which belong in your building depends on the amenity program, the exposure, and where the property sits in its market — the selection follows the specification, not a preferred-vendor list.
Do you work with developers outside Michigan?
Yes. Our showrooms are in Metro Detroit and we run multifamily projects nationwide. Remote projects run on plan reviews and video walkthroughs, a digital amenity and model-unit specification package formatted for your lender and leasing team, physical finish and textile samples couriered for sign-off, then import, phased freight, and local white-glove installation coordinated per building into your dock and hoist windows by our team.
Let’s Design
Tell Us the Door Count and the Lease-Up Date.
Send the amenity plan, the unit mix, and your target lease-up. We come back with an amenity program tied to the leasing story, a model-unit direction, and a per-door specification you can put in the lender package.
- Amenity and model-unit budgets framed per door
- Direct Italian and European sourcing with manufacturer warranty
- Freight, warehousing, and per-building install coordinated to CO
Detroit · Royal Oak · Troy · Birmingham · Ferndale · Ann Arbor — and multifamily projects in any state.