I’m Looking For…Privacy Seating

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Privacy seating combines lounge seating with privacy screens to create a more intimate area for conversation or work. This type of seating is an excellent solution for many office settings where there is a need for a lounge area that is separated so that sound doesn’t spill over into adjacent work spaces. The screens on the […]

Modernizing Your Office: Easy Ways to Rescue Your Workspace From a Time Warp

Image from Lisa’s Nostalgia Cafe (www.lisacafe.tripod.com)

There are several reasons so many offices fall victim to the dated time warp look. The most common reason being that office furniture is just one of those things that typically only occurs on the radar when there is an upcoming office move, employees are added, or something breaks. Once the office has been set up, most offices fall into this maintenance-only mode. It is all too easy for time to slip away while in maintenance-only mode and that is when you walk into your office one day and realize your office looks pretty much the same as it did 10-20 years ago.

Once a business has realized their office is stuck in a time warp, they often get overwhelmed trying to figure out how to get un-stuck. The cost and/or logistics of remodeling the entire office are enough of a turn-off that they’ll turn a blind-eye on their dated look. It is for these businesses paralyzed by the idea of an entire office overhaul that I will share this little secret: modernizing your office doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to start over from scratch. There are simple things you can do here and there as time and budget permit that will propel your office into the current decade. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make enough of, or even a big, difference. What are these little things you ask? Let’s take a look:

• Update your artwork. Matting can fade over time, making it look dirty or old. Some framed photographs can look outdated because of the fuzzy picture quality from old technology. Sometimes the frame and the color of the matting on your artwork can date the piece. If you think the art is worth saving, simply have it re-framed and re-matted to make the artwork look current again.

Image from Mayberry Fine Art (www.mayberryfineart.com)

• Eliminate the old school letterboards. If you have a letterboard in your lobby that says something simple like “Welcome to ABC’s Corporate Office”, replace it with a professional wall mounted logo instead to let visitors know they have arrived at your office. If you still want to say “Welcome”, have it lettered or etched on to the entrance door or on a window next to the door. If you use letterboards as a way-finding tool, replace them with framed stands that allow you to insert printed signs from a computer. If you use a letterboard as a building directory, consider replacing it with and electronic building directory.

Letterboard image from Quartet (www.quartet.com)
Electronic Building Signage image from Coulthard Identity Group (www.coulthard-identity.com)

• Watch out for those four-star chair bases. Office chairs are now required to have a five-star base for stability. If you still have chairs with a four-star base in your office, get rid of them. Not only are they contributing to your time warp look, they are also considered a safety issue.

4-Star Base image from Vintage Looks (www.vintagelooks.com)
5-Star Base image from SitOnIt Seating (www.sitonit.net)

• Remove dated wallpaper and borders. Not all wallpapers are dated but if it has a mauve and teal pattern, chances are it should come down. If you like the visual texture wallpaper provides or you like it for ease of cleanability, then replace it with a more modern wallpaper. If you don’t need the wallpaper, remove it and paint the wall a fresh color. Wallpaper borders in the workplace look dated more often than not so chances are you should take them down.

Wallpaper border image from RAYM (www.toesbutl.info)
Wallpaper image from Seamless Paint & Wallpaper (www.forwardbranding.com)

• Do some deep cleaning. Dirt, dust, and grime can add years to the look of your office.  Think about all the hard to reach places or objects that just don’t get cleaned on a regular basis. Clean or replace dirty and discolored ceiling tiles (note: discolored ceiling tiles indicate there is likely a leakage problem which you will want to have checked out). Dust off the ceiling vents and any exposed duct work. Steam clean fabric on your chairs and workstation panels. Clean out any dust or bugs that have landed in your light fixtures. While cleaning the light fixtures, replace any bulbs that have burned out. Strip and re-wax the floors. Even just having the windows washed inside and out can help revive the office.

Image from Hygia Cleaning Services (www.hygiacleaning.co.uk)

• Replace your fluorescent task lights with LED task lights. The light fixtures themselves can provide a modern look because they are more streamlined than chunkier fluorescent fixtures. Besides the updated look, LED lights can save money on your energy bill, save labor and money on replacing bulbs due to their longer life, and employees will appreciate their ability to control the amount of light in their space which isn’t possible with fluorescent task lights.

Images from ESI (www.esiergo.com)

• Offer flexible workspaces. The demand for a variety of work environments within the office is increasing as technology allows us to work from places other than our desk and as multiple generations with differing ideas on the ideal work environment try to coexist in the workplace. This may be tricky to do if your office is already at capacity but let’s not get overwhelmed just yet. Think about starting small by re-purposing or re-envisioning just one of the existing areas in your office. In a large breakroom, perhaps you can remove some tables and chairs and replace them with lounge seating for people to meet and work–much like a coffee shop setting. If you have multiple conference rooms, consider converting at least one into a less formal and idea-sparking collaborative environment by replacing the traditional conference table and chairs with mobile tablet arm chairs.

Image from Herman Miller (www.hermanmiller.com)

• Don’t plop technology down in your space, integrate it. Technology has become so engrained in the way we do most anything in business that we might as well embrace it in our space. Make it look like the technology is intended to be there by creating a home for your technology. So often I see printers and scanners on folding tables or the equivalent. That technology probably isn’t temporary in your business, so don’t place it on anything that looks temporary like a folding table. Place your flat panel monitors on monitor arms. The monitor arms will give the screens a modern looking home, they will save valuable desk space, and most importantly, they will make viewing the computer screen(s) more ergonomic for your employees. Conceal cords as much as possible through the use of grommets and cable managers. In the conference room, conceal audio/visual equipment in a credenza and consider installing audio/visual ports and electrical outlets into your conference table for laptop usage. By integrating technology into your furniture, you will portray the image that your company embraces technology and how can your office get more modern than that?

Image from SIMO Corporation (www.simocorp.com)

 

10 Ways to Add Color To Your Office

Is your office lacking visual energy? All too often offices fall into the neutral grey, beige and white color palette. If your office is sleek and modern, the neutral color palette might make sense. If not, the office can easily fall into the tired, boring and forgettable categories. Color is an excellent way to infuse personality and energy into your office environment. Here are a variety of ways to add color to your workspace:

1. Reupholster your overhead flipper bin doors and tackboards in a punchy color or pattern. Don’t feel the need to stick to one fabric either. I have a daring client that picked a different fabric for each workstation’s tackboard. The key to making multiple fabric patterns work in an office space without going overboard is to stick with a single color family or palette (i.e. fabric patterns all in the blue family with similar accent colors to each other).

Image by Haworth (www.haworth.com)

2. Paint your file cabinets in a vibrant color. I don’t mean taking them out to the parking lot to spray paint them–you’ll want to have them sent to a professional metal finisher to ensure a quality paint job that stands up to daily commercial office use. If sending your file cabinets out for professional painting isn’t an option, you can look into electrostatic painting, a process where the cabinets can be painted on site. Another option would be to see if a furniture dealer would be willing to offer you trade-in credits for your existing file cabinets towards the purchase of new, colorful cabinets.

Image from Great Openings (www.greatopenings.com)

3. Add artwork–this could be in the form of paintings, wall hangings, sculptures, etc. Not sure where to start when selecting office artwork? Think about ways the artwork could reflect your business or tell a story about your mission. For example, if you are a travel agency, you could incorporate artwork that depicts vintage modes of transportation or geographic locations (i.e. framed maps or satellite images). Is philanthropy important to your company? Maybe you could include photographs of charitable events your company has participated in.

Photo by HQ digs (Satellite images from Great American Art http://www.greatamericanart.com)

4. Upholster your chairs in something other than black fabric. Black is often chosen because it is a safe, neutral color choice and it hides dirt. There is plenty of colored fabrics or patterns that will also hide dirt and add personality to the office through the use of color.

Image by Ideon (www.ideondesign.com)

5. Flooring is an often missed color opportunity. There are so many materials out there available in a wide array of patterns and colors. If in an industrial office, consider using tinted concrete. Have wood floors? Consider painting a border stripe at the floor edges near the walls. If using linoleum tiles, consider doing a mix of colors–3 can be nice. You can have the tiles installed at random based on a percentage of color you give the installers (i.e. 60% main color, 30% accent color one, 10% accent color two). If using carpet, consider using a pattern with color that is noticeable from a distance, not small flecks that disappear. Carpet tiles can infuse patches of color much like the linoleum tile installation mentioned above. Another idea, take any of the materials listed above and have a custom logo or design inlaid into your floor. The possibilities are endless, don’t be afraid to make the floors your color centerpiece.

Image by Armstrong (www.armstrong.com)

6. Paint–The key to selecting dynamic paint colors is contrast. If your furniture (i.e. workstations) are a light neutral color like grey or beige, you might want to pick an actual color for the walls to provide contrast. On the flip-side, if your furniture is already colorful, you might want to keep the wall colors neutral. Also, don’t be afraid of using more than one color throughout the office. You can highlight certain walls with a different color or you can use color as a way-finding tool. If you have a large office, you might want to “color code” certain areas to help people distinguish their location.

Image from Benjamin Moore (www.benjaminmoore.com)

7. Bring nature in–Plants themselves can provide color. To punch up the color a step further, you could use colored planters. Personally, I think contrast here is key as well. If you have colorful plants, have a neutral color planter to really let the plant steal the show. If you have a solid green plant, consider using a colored planter. Don’t want to commit labor time to maintaining the plants? Consider outsourcing the work to a garden center with a plant leasing department that will install, maintain, and replace plants as needed.

Image from Bachmans (www.bachmans.com)

8. Create a feature wall–a feature wall is a wall that is more distinctive than the walls surrounding it. Feature walls can be created through the use of paint, murals, tile, water features, colored glass panels, stone, wood, metal, or wallpaper, etc. The feature wall can be an excellent place to place your company name or logo.

Image from Dirtt (www.dirtt.net)

9. Shed some light–Colored pendent lights or wall sconces are an easy way to add color that glows. Pendent lights could be added over the reception station, over a credenza, above the table in a conference room, or in the breakroom. Wall sconces can line hallways and flank doors and bookshelves.

Image from Eleek Incorporated (www.eleekinc.com)

10. Dress up the doors–Consider using painted doors as the colored element in your office. A painted door can be less of a color commitment since it’s a smaller surface area than a wall. Painting a door is also a good way to live with a color to see if you like it enough to use on a whole wall.

Image from http://lpn-rn.com/fire-doors-2/ul-fire-rated-doors/