Monthly Archives: July 2026

In furniture, hospitality, and commercial design, the words interior designer, specifier, and procurement company are sometimes used as if they mean the same thing. They are connected, and they often work together, but they do not have the same role.

Understanding the difference matters because each one approaches a project from a different angle. The designer shapes the vision. The specifier defines what should be used. The procurement company helps make sure it gets purchased, tracked, and delivered correctly.

For hospitality teams, developers, restaurant groups, multifamily operators, offices, senior living communities, student housing projects, and other commercial buyers, knowing these roles can make a project move more smoothly.

For years, buyers could treat indoor and outdoor furniture as connected but separate conversations. Indoor meant living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, accents, lighting, and décor. Outdoor meant patios, pool decks, garden sets, and seasonal retail. Today, that line is much less clear.

Hotels want outdoor lounges that feel like extensions of their lobbies. Restaurants want patios that look as designed as their dining rooms. Multifamily properties want pool decks and courtyards that help sell the lifestyle of the building.

So, did AmericasMart make the right decision by separating indoor-focused Atlanta Market activity from a dedicated Casual Market Atlanta for outdoor and casual furnishings?

LAS VEGAS — Summer Las Vegas Market 2026 is one of the most important buying opportunities of the year for furniture retailers, interior designers, gift buyers, hospitality buyers, stagers, and commercial specifiers. But flights, hotels, meals, transportation, and time away from the business can add up quickly.

Buyers do not need a luxury Vegas trip to have a productive market. With the right plan, a retailer or designer can keep costs under control while still discovering products, meeting vendors, comparing categories, and building a stronger buying strategy.

Summer 2026 Las Vegas Market takes place July 26–30, 2026, at World Market Center Las Vegas.

A café can have the perfect espresso, a bakery can have the best croissant on the block, and a restaurant can serve a menu people genuinely enjoy. But if the chair is uncomfortable, the table feels unstable, or the dining area looks cheaper than the food tastes, the customer’s memory of the experience changes.

In hospitality, furniture is not background. It is part of the product.

Customers come in for coffee, lunch, cocktails, pastries, or a casual meeting, but they experience the space through the furniture. They pull out the chair, sit down, rest a drink on the table, lean back during conversation, and decide whether to stay, order more, open a laptop, or leave as soon as they are done.

For cafés, restaurants, bakeries, bars, hotel lounges, and

LAS VEGAS — Zuo Modern Contemporary will welcome professional home stagers attending RESACON Vegas 2026 for a special Sunday showroom experience during Summer Las Vegas Market, bringing together education, sourcing, design inspiration and a celebration of the staging community.

The visit is scheduled for Sunday, July 26, 2026, as part of the RESACON Las Vegas Market Tour. RESACON, produced by the Real Estate Staging Association, brings home staging professionals together for business education, networking and industry recognition. The Sunday market tour gives attendees an opportunity to take those conversations into the showroom, where they can explore products and vendor resources built for real staging needs.

Zuo will host guests at its Las Vegas showroom inside W