Refined Furniture Rental
Written by Karen Long
A stroll through Refined Furniture Rental is a tour through a building of distinctive environments, each a world unto themselves. There's the Boho corner, complete with white macramé chandeliers, or a room lined in trendy leather couches with pops of citrus color, or a luxe conversation grouping in black velvet with gold accents.
ICT's latest furniture rental company, owned by Ashley Moore and her fiancé Garrett Labus, brings upscale and clean-lined stying options to brides and event planners in Wichita and across the state.
"We're wanting to do really unique modern pieces that people don't see on a daily basis," says Moore.
Event Planning Dream Team
The Refined Furniture Rental space at First and Mathewson, which opened two months ago, is also the home of The Collective, formerly known as Events and Design by Ashley, which offers event planning, design and decor rental. The name change signals a growing business, with more emphasis on Moore's two "phenomenal" event planners.
On the furniture rental side, Moore describes Labus' role: "He's the investor…and when he doesn't want to work, he says he's the silent investor."
"But I'm also just the trash man, furniture builder, mover — I found out that I'm learning all sorts of new stuff," quips Labus, who also runs his own business, Labus Drywall, a family establishment in town for the last 45 years.
Moore will continue to be "the talent, the MVP, the face," of both businesses, as Labus describes it — but over the years she's also built up a dream team of staff and vendors with whom she partners to bring her clients' visions to life.
"It's all about building relationships," she says. "I feel like that's one of my strengths — building relationships with people and loving people."
Although the two companies share a connected space, Refined Furniture Rental and The Collective remain separate ventures, and the furniture rental side is open to anyone who wants a distinctive event — although clients of The Collective will enjoy a discounted rental.
"We joined the Chamber four to five years ago and it's really propelled our corporate side," Moore says.
Her calendar is filling up with events such as annual meetings, major summits, and client appreciation parties for prominent businesses — a tailgating party for a Chiefs game could also be in the works. Moore's gearing up for the holiday party season and anticipates decorating a virtual forest of Christmas trees, after designing 11 of them last year for corporate lobbies.
Unique Weddings
Refined Furniture Rental will give Moore and other event planners fresh options for creating the perfect atmosphere.
"How do we show off the personalities of the couple who are getting married?" she says. "And how do we create something that other people want to pin on Pinterest. That's always been my goal. Our events are unique and styled, and always different, which is what I pride myself on."
Now that Moore is about to become a bride herself, she's leaning on her network of relationships even more to help plan her November dream wedding at the Hudson. She's keeping in mind her biggest piece of advice to other brides.
"I try to encourage them to keep it simple. You're there to create a celebration and to focus on your marriage, focus on what's important and have the pieces, like the intimate areas where people can actually connect and have a good conversation."
201 N. Mathewson
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