Standard Room Furnishings | Mattresses and Bedding | Modular Furniture | Custom-Built Lofts | Furniture Storage | Phones | Refrigerator | Electrical Appliances | Cable TV | Personal Items

Standard Room Furnishings
Each residence hall room comes with one, two, or three beds (depending on the size of the room), a desk and a chair for each resident, a closet and/or dresser, a computer data port, a telephone, a wastebasket, a recycling tote, draperies, hardwired smoke detector, and an overhead lighting fixture. It's up to you and your roommate/s to give your room a personality and make it your own. Read on for tips on outfitting and living in your new residence hall student room.

All Northwood III single upper-class apartments are "semi-furnished" with a stove, refrigerator, garbage disposal, shower curtain, window treatments, Building Block furniture (including a bed, desk, desktop organizer, dresser, and bookcase, in the bedroom(s)), dinette table and chairs, and floor lamps (economy 1 bedrooms do not include floor lamp). Unfortunately, we can not remove any furnishings from these units and students are not allowed to supply their own personal beds.

Mattresses & Bedding

• University Housing-provided mattresses are fire- and flame-resistant; residents may not substitute another mattress.
• When you are purchasing linens and bedding to bring to campus, you should look for extra-long styles, not the standard twin size.
• Sales staff at department or linen stores will be able to help you determine what linens and bedding to purchase for the 36'' x 80'' mattress. You can also choose to order linens and bedding from the linen program sponsored by the Residence Halls Association with a private vendor.

Modular Furniture and Modular Loft Options
As part of its ongoing facilities upgrade, University Housing has been gradually replacing the furniture in student rooms and apartments with modular furniture of two types, Building Block Furniture and Lifespace 2. All of the undergraduate apartments in Northwood III and most of the residence hall rooms are now outfitted with this newer, more versatile furniture. It allows residents to maximize space and customize their rooms with a variety of configurations - including a loft option in most cases. (If your room does not have modular furniture, you will be notified if you may install a custom-built loft.)

Contents of Modular Furniture : Desk with attached organizer, chest of drawers, bookcase, bed and mattress, ladder
Tools required: None

Dimensions of Modular Furniture
Bed: 40.5"W x 84"L x 30"H
Desk: 24"D x 36.5"W x 30.25"H
Desktop Organizer: 12"D x 34.75"W x 30"H
Dresser: 24"D x 36.5"W x 30.25"H
Bookcase 12"D x 34.75"W x 30"H

Configuration Options
You may be happy with the configuration of the modular furniture you find in your room at Move-In, but if you want to change it we can show you how to do it safely and easily. You won't need any tools nor is any special assistance or training needed. You can find information on various designs by following the links below, watching the video (available at your hall's Community Center), checking out the posters hanging in residence halls near the RA's room, and by reading the information brochure attached to your furniture.

This furniture may be configured into one of these basic designs:*

Building Block Furniture

• the loft
• the trundle
• the bunk
• the single bed

Lifespace 2 Furniture

• the loft
• the bunk
• the single bed

Please note that since the loft configuration is available with modular furniture in most cases, no custom-built, leased or individually owned lofts may be installed in rooms outfitted with this furniture. The room assignment you receive online indicates whether a custom-built loft is permitted in your room.

 No modular furniture may be stored or used outside its original room.

 *Certain rooms in Baits and Oxford have some built-in furniture and a partial set of modular furniture (Building Block Furniture). Since the modular furniture is not a complete set, it cannot be configured in all of the ways described above. Here are the possible configurations for these rooms:

• Baits - Conger 1^st and 4^th floors, Parker,
  Oxford - East Seeley and Noble
  bunk beds, trundle beds, single beds or with one of the two beds lofted
  
• Baits - Lee
  bunk beds, trundle beds, single beds (no loft option)

As is the case for all rooms with modular furniture, custom-built lofts are not permitted in the above rooms, and none of the modular furniture may be stored or used outside its original room.

Changing the Configuration
Complete instructions are available in the video available from the Community Center and instructions elsewhere in your hall, but here are some important reminders:

•  Steel pins are provided and must be used in all stacked configurations to position the pieces and lock them together. The pins are very important, since the stacked furniture isn't truly safe unless the pins are placed correctly. See your Community Center for replacement steel pins.

•  Two or more people are needed to lift and stack pieces, using proper lifting techniques. The University of Michigan is not liable for injuries you may receive as a result of configuring your modular furniture system.

Custom-Built Lofts

Custom-built lofts are not allowed in residence hall rooms outfitted with modular furniture or in Northwood III apartments, which all have modular furniture. Due to physical or architectural restrictions, lofts are also not allowed in Cambridge House, Martha Cook Building, Henderson House, or the Lawyers Club. Lofts are not allowed in overflow housing.

Most residence hall rooms have been outfitted with modular furniture, but some have not. In some of the rooms without modular furniture, residents may still personalize and maximize the space by installing a custom-built loft. If you are in a room that allows such a loft, you must have the consent of all the roommates to install one.

Do not make any plans, purchases or commitments to install a loft until you get your specific housing assignment in August for Fall Term. (Lofts may not be constructed in Winter Term or Spring/Summer Term.) Your assignment will indicate whether custom lofts are permitted in your room.

Residents who live in a room that allows a loft and who have obtained the consent of their roommates may choose to build the loft themselves, or contract with outside commercial agents to build it. These outside vendors must register or be registered with University Housing.

All custom-built lofts must follow the guidelines outlined in the ResHall InfoSeries, Building Custom Lofts in the Residence Halls.

Custom-built lofts may not be installed during Winter Term. Any lofts installed during Fall Term may remain, but must be removed from student rooms by the Saturday before the last day of Winter Term classes or after Winter Term final exams end. Residents who leave lofts or loft materials in the halls after the end of their contract will be assessed a fee of $100, plus labor costs for removal of the loft. See ResHall InfoSeries, Building Custom Lofts in the Residence Halls, for more information.

Questions regarding the loft construction guidelines should be directed to your Community Center Manager, Hall Director or Building Facilities Manager. You can obtain additional information about registered loft companies during Summer Orientation and at the Fall Move-In Vendor Fair.

Storage
Personal Property
Storage space in the residence hall is extremely limited. There is no storage space for residents’ personal property at any time, including over the spring and summer. Students may be able to arrange for storage on their own and at their own risk and expense through John’s Pack and Ship, a local commercial vendor, or through another vendor of their own choice.

University Property
The only storage provided for residents in the residence halls is for University-provided bed frames (including all attached hardware and brackets) from rooms where a resident is installing a custom-built loft. (See Custom-Built Lofts for where such lofts are permitted.) This limited storage space for bed frames is available only in Bursley and on a first-come-first-served basis. Check with your Building Facilities Managers to see if storage is available.

No other furnishings, including any components of modular furniture, may be stored in the hall by a resident.

Students may place University-provided furniture or furnishings, except for modular furniture, in storage off-site, but the furniture or furnishings must be returned to the room in original condition before the student moves out. Students who fail to return stored University-provided furniture and furnishings to their room before leaving will be billed for moving or replacement of the items.

Telephones
Please read the UM ITCom information on student telephone services.

Refrigerators
Residents may rent a refrigerator from the University Housing Business Services' Refrigerator Rental Program or bring their own for their student rooms. Refrigerator and Microwave Units are provided in Oxford Housing student rooms at no charge to the residents.

Based both on space and electrical consumption considerations, residents may only have one refrigerator per room and it must have no more than a 5.5-cubic foot capacity and/or amperage draw of no more than 1.5.

Electrical Items
Electrical equipment and appliances must be UL-certified (UL stands for Underwriters Laboratory). Look for the UL mark.

• Extension Cords—only 16-gauge or lower permitted
• Power Strips—with integrated (built-in) circuit breakers only permitted

There has been a significant growth in the electrical load in residence hall rooms over the last several years. As the electrical systems of most of our residence halls were not constructed to handle the load, we strongly recommend that you use a 15-amp power strip (with integrated circuit breaker) if the number of electrical items in your room exceeds the number of outlets. These multiple-connection strips are not only safer than lower-cost rubber adapters, but also reduce the likelihood that one room could trip a circuit breaker for an entire corridor.

In addition to electrical load consideration, unsafe or excessive electrical devices can pose a fire hazard. Please review the guidelines for electrical devices in the Community Living At Michigan document. University Housing reserves the right to require the removal of any fire hazard, regardless of its inclusion or exclusion from these guidelines, in a student room or elsewhere in the residence hall.

* Only one refrigerator is permitted per room in all residence halls. See below about refrigerator rental from University Housing.

Most rooms in Oxford are equipped with microwave/mini-fridge combos; suites in E. Seeley and Goddard Houses in Oxford do not have a microwave, but do have a stove and a refrigerator.

Cable TV
Cable Television is automatically provided to all residence hall rooms and Northwood III Apartments, with an option to cancel the service. Complete information and troubleshooting is available online at the Cable Television site.

What to Bring to Campus
The "What to Bring to Campus" list is a general overview of the items that one might expect to use in a typical residence hall facility. A list of prohibited items can be found in the Community Living at Michigan document.

If you forget something or you want to pick up some supplies, you may be able to find what you need at one of the convenience stores located in our retail dining locations. In addition, you can view driving directions, maps, and bus route information to many local shopping centers in the Ann Arbor area from both Central Campus and North Campus.