Rhonda Barnes has been an interior designer with NC State for 28 years, designing office and lounge layouts for faculty, staff and students. Rhonda has seen a lot of changes in design over the years, moving away from traditional layouts to the current request to have a more resimercial design, which is short for a residential/commercial look and feel, incorporating the comforts of home into the working environment.
Rhonda says that gone are the days of file cabinets and small structured work spaces. Today, faculty prefer large desks that can be adjusted to work either sitting or standing, depending on the mood. Students request large counter spaces to congregate and lounge furniture to relax on while studying.
Rhonda shared that during the COVID pandemic, it has been challenging to receive furniture orders with standard lead times less than six to eight weeks. She also explained that due to the oil shortages, there is less fabric in stock for furniture orders and most furniture manufactured overseas are on backorder or unavailable.
Despite these setbacks, the furniture dealers Rhonda works with have been great to work with and they do their best to verify lead times before placing orders. If the furniture she is interested in is not available, the dealers offer support by researching alternative furniture options that meet the design requirements, as well as, arrive on time.
Rhonda says, “NC State University is like a small town; it’s always changing and growing and I’m honored to have a small part in helping it evolve into one of North Carolina’s top ranking universities.”
