Reception Area Design-Carpet Tiles

It is a smart move to incorporate carpet tiles into your reception area design.  Carpet tiles often called “modular carpet tiles” in the design industry have become widely recommended by thousands of professionals for many reasons.

The main advantage of using the carpet tile option over your typical “broadloom” carpet roll is that as they wear out over years of heavy use, you can easily replace them, without having to redo the whole reception area space.

As you can imagine, the carpet where you get all the traffic will wear out much faster than in areas without traffic. As these get worn out and dirty, you can easily remove those existing tiles and place down new ones.

Carpet tiles come in various sizes and styles. They are offered in circular, square and rectangular overall shapes with thousands for patterns available. Sizes can vary from 12″x 12″ to 36″x 36″- depending on which sizes would best fit your reception space. When these tiles are laid out for installation they can be laid to various patterns customized to your space (without the custom costs).  This really gives your space an unique designer touch!

One important thing to remember to if you are going to be using modular carpet tiles is to order extra tiles when you plan your reception area flooring.  The typical suggested overage is about 5-10%. This allows you to have an easier convenience when the carpet tiles are in need of replacement years to come.

Medical Reception Area Design

The medical office space reception area gets a lot of traffic, and the reception area design is crucial to the  flow and efficiency of patients, as well as their psyche.

As a patient walks in the reception area, they have to check in with the reception desk, and then take a seat and wait to be called to go back to the patient room.   Then that patient has to check out when they are done.   When this is all done in the reception area, it can get chaotic if it does not flow properly, and if there is any slight delay and patients start to back up, the chaos can become apparent.  Throw in current Hippa privacy laws and you can more issues then I even want to cover here in this rant!

An often over looked aspect of the reception area design is the way it presents itself.  If it is sterile and boring, it will irritate patients as they wait for their appointment.  Especially if their appointment time has come and gone and they are not yet taken to see the doctor.  Creating a pleasing atmosphere will help temper patients attitudes as they wait for their turn to see the doctor.

An interior designer is not only able to help you systematically control this chaos, but will also make your space look great in achieving that goal.  Sure you could buy chairs and pick out some paint & carpet colors for your space and “doctor” it up yourself.  But did you go to  school and get a degree in interior design?  A professional knows the value of hiring a professional.

A great medical practice that truly cares about comfort of their patients would spend a little extra money to get it done right.  They would hire a specialist, that is an interior designer to design the reception area.  Just as a patience sees a specialist because of their experience and expertise to help with an ailment or disease, an interior designer is your specialist to design your medical office practice space.

The choice is yours.  Good or Great.

Designer or do it yourself!!!

Interior Designer For Your Office Space

Hiring a professional interior designer to plan your office space is a great way to assure that your space lives up to it’s potential.  An interior designer is trained to make sure that your space is functional, and looks great.  Spaces that look great takes planning.

An interior designer is trained to make sure that your office space layout is functional for your business operational needs, that your colors scheme works and looks awesome, & to ensure proper implementation of your project occurs.
When planning your space, not only do you want to make sure that you meet your space requirements, but it is also important at that time to plan what the final outcome of the space should look & feel like.    After the planning and design is complete, the fun begins with the Create phase. It is in the create stage that your space gets created and you have a finished product.

The create stage of any project is where the rubber meets the road.  If you have planned properly and taken the time to make the investment in the design of your new space, the create stage should be a smooth process.  But it is in this stage that you want to make sure that your interior designer is also the project manager.  The designer who helped you plan and design your space, will assure that you get the finished space just as planned.   The project becomes the designers baby, it’s her pride and joy.  It is a reflection of her hard work.  A great interior designer will make sure that the project is done right, is on budget and on time.

Interior designers are not in this business on accident.  They love what they do, and take great joy in seeing their design implemented.  An interior deisgner has an internal love for design.  They see things differently than the average person.

Interior Designers vs Decorators

Interior design professionals are not in this business on accident.  They love what they do, and take great joy in seeing their design implemented.  An interior designer has an internal love for design, and they have invested in their love for design.

Let’s talk about what separates an interior designer from a “decorator”.

A sure way to offend an interior designer is to call her a decorator.  It is like calling a psychologist a counselor.  Or a CPA a bookkeeper.  Like counselors & bookkeepers, decorators can be anyone who hangs out a shingle.

A professional interior designer has a bachelor degree in interior design, and take their profession seriously.  There are interior design school such as Harrington College in Chicago that offer degrees in design.

A decorator can be anyone who says they are a decorator.  Now I have nothing against decorators nor do I think designers look down on them, however they are not professionally trained.  Interior designers spend a minimum of four years in college, and some go on to get master degrees in design.

So if you are a professional, or have a company, you may want to make sure that you have a professional interior designer designing your space.

Or you could just hire anyone to do the job!

Reception Area Seating & Chairs

Since your reception area is the “living room” of your office space, it is important to make sure that you have seating that is  professional, stylish & comfortable.

Who sits in this “Living Room”?

It is your customers, vendors and other visitors to your company.  It is from this seating area that the visitors of your business start forming an opinion of your company and the owner.  If the visitor is sitting in a plain old chair, the impression is going to say “we are just another plain old company” at best.

However if a forward thinking owner cares what his visitors think of the company he/she will make the investment to assure that the seating is comfortable and elegant for their guests.  In a medical reception area waiting room, this should be the rule not the exception!

In a medical practice reception area, patients, let’s call them clients, are often waiting for long periods of time.  To top it off, chances are they have some sort of ailment that has sent them to your medical practice.  By making an investment in seating to assure that your clients are comfortable, you will give your clients peace of mind that they are at a doctor’s office that cares about their patients.

The best way to achieve this:

Plan the reception area for the patients, not for the doctors.

Laminate Reception Desks

If you want a nice beautiful and functional reception desk at an affordable price, then we suggest you explore a laminate reception desks as an option.  When you look at laminate reception desks, there are some things you should know.

The process that laminate manufactures use to make their product will determine the quality.    For example,  some companies laminate only the sides that are seen such as the top and sides of a reception desk, either leaving the area under the receptions desk or on top of overheads and bookcases with exposed wood core or some sort of thin sheet of contact paper.  Higher quality manufactures fully wrap each piece in laminate.  Having each piece fully wrapped in laminate adds to the quality and the structure of the furniture.  Be sure for longevity to always look for furniture that is fully wrapped with laminate.

Most laminate companies have out of the box reception desk they sell.   The company we recommend Three-H, has a manufacturing process that is set up to make furniture that is custom, at non-custom prices.  Their marketing slogan is furniture to the inch.

Since all spaces are not created equal, this gives our clients an opportunity to get a custom reception area desk,  at an affordable price.  Additionally these receptions desks are modular, and can be configured if you move to a new location, or need to redesign the reception area.

You can also add glass or a wood bull nose edge to sharpen up your piece, without breaking the budget.

Since your reception desk is the first thing that is seen when entering your space, we suggest that you take the time and make the investment to do it right the first time.

Reception Area Design

When designing a reception area, the first thing to keep in mind is a focus point. When you enter a reception area, or any room for that matter there is a focal point that your eyes are drawn towards. This focal point is the key factor in planning your reception area. This area is by far one of the most important spaces to design properly, because this is where the first impression of your organization is made.

Because of the importance of this space, it should not be left to the amateur decorator.  An interior design professional must be hired.  You want this space to speak to your clients, your staff, saying that you are serious about your business.

All too often the good intention of the owner’s wife tries to “decorate” the reception area. We typically see this in a doctor’s or lawyer’s office.  The problem is that residential decorating is applied to a commercial setting.  What happens very rapidly is that this type of design becomes quickly outdated, and the residential products used do not hold up to the traffic of a commercial space.  There is also a balance that is needed between personal taste for a space, and commercial style that needs to be considered.

I am not saying that the owner’s wife should not be involved in the process; in fact she should work with the interior design professional to get the reception area space just right.  An interior design professional has a library of products that can meet any need.  The designer will not only provide a detailed space plan layout of the reception area, but will provide color concept boards and professional drawings to make sure the vision is correct.  Plus all the product samples will be brought to you.

Commercial products are important to use in a reception area space because of the wear and tear.  Residential products are not meant to take the abuse of a commercial space. Especially a reception area where you see the most traffic of your entire space.  Commercial reception area products are more durable, and have qualities that you just can’t find in residential products.

Planning your own reception area  space is also tough because of the emotional element involved. There is a lot of pressure when designing your space, because if it does not look right, it will be very costly to redo. There is tension with your spouse, and your friends will see your reception area and the work you have done.

My advice is to leave it to the professional interior designer, and live happily ever after.