Paging HGTV! Students at Tennessee Tech University are using campus residence halls as the canvas for a home redesign project of their own, and the results are sure to make even the most discerning “Fixer Upper” fans proud.

Faculty in Tech’s School of Human Ecology, including Hannah Upole, associate professor of merchandising and design, and Aeric Gunnels, lecturer of architecture and interior design, tasked two of their classes with restyling three residence hall rooms in New Hall North and Pinkerton Hall.

The assignment was a six-week group project leading up to Tech’s annual Preview Day open house. Students were responsible for drawing up design plans, ordering furniture and accessories, staging the rooms and sticking to budgets and deadlines. The revamped spaces will now be used as model rooms for campus tours, marketing photos and more.

“We really felt like this might help to make prospective students feel more comfortable and see Tech as a place they could call home,” explained Upole. “Students can better picture themselves at Tech through some of the staging, the styling and the creativity. It’s also a phenomenal project for our students. Most of them are seniors, so this is a great hands-on, portfolio-building experience.”

“Anytime we have a real-world project for our classes to work on, they’re all for it,” added Gunnels. “The students were extremely excited.”

Canaan Jones, a senior design studies major with a concentration in fashion merchandising, said the assignment was “unlike any project I’d ever tackled before” and helped show prospective students that “dorm life can be not only feasible, but attractive and comfortable as well."

“It was so much fun to get together with my group and imagine the kind of people who would be living in these rooms,” Jones added. “We tried our best to ensure that the people who would be touring these rooms would feel represented in them.”

“We want this space to feel like home away from home,” echoed Kate Simpson, a senior design studies major with a concentration in architecture and interior design who also worked on the project. “We hope the styled rooms inspire prospective students as they create their own personal spaces.”

While Jones, Simpson and their classmates were ultimately responsible for the final outcome, both students say their instructors provided valuable support along the way.

“Dr. Upole and Mr. Gunnels are truly the best,” said Simpson. “They always encouraged us and were there to answer any questions we had … The skills we have learned from them not only helped us complete this project, but also have prepared us for what the future holds.”

With the project now complete, Upole and Gunnels say the School of Human Ecology will continue to seek out experiential learning opportunities for students that give them a leg up in their early careers. 

“It is just something that is immeasurable,” said Upole. “They’re going to have pictures of what they created, and they're going to be able to walk into an interview and say, ‘Here's a room that I staged. Here is my design style.’”

Gunnels added that the project demonstrates “the spirit of Tech.”

“This is more than just an education, this is an experience,” he concluded. “Tech always takes it that extra mile, and this project is a perfect example of that.”

Learn more about Tech’s School of Human Ecology at https://www.tntech.edu/cahe/hec/.