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.

Office Space Planning Chaos

In a world of chaos, the successful business controls chaos as much as they can by building systematic ways to conduct their business based on experience of what works well and what doesn’t.  From shipping to sales, systems are built to handle the flow of operational activity.

Included in that operational activity is the layout of your office space as well.  Interior designers are trained and have experience in space planning that will fit your business systems.

Here are just a few things Interior designers take into account:

1.  The flow of business activities that happen between departments by doing adjacency studies

2.  The need of shared business tools such as filing, technology, etc.

3.  Square foot analysis for current staff growth or divestiture

4.  Growth or divestiture plans

5.  Work Space requirements for the work being performed for each person

6.  Creating an atmosphere that is pleasurable to be in

A professional interior designer will help minimize the chaos in your office space.

Planning for the Interior Design of your Office Space

The planning stage in interior design is also know as the programming phase. After the vision for your space is determined, the next thing to determine is the project scope, or goals for this project.

Here are 5 things to consider when thinking about the goals for your project.

1.  Moving to a new space, expanding existing space, or a remodel of existing space

2.  Incorporating existing furniture and fixtures, buying all new furniture, or a combination of both

3.  Determine the style based on the vision

4.  Consider “green” elements that want to be achieved

5.  Planning for growth or divestiture

While this is a short list of considerations, these tend to expand as they are talked through.

And of course the million dollar question is, “How much will this cost?”

I did not budget enough time to write about cost right now so that will have to wait until a future post!

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.

Office Design & Your Brand

Whether you like it or not, the appearance of your office has an effect on the brand image of your company.

If you want to present a particular brand image to your customers and employees, then you must live that brand.

Your employees must buy in to your brand image, after all they are the ones dealing with your customers and creating value for your company.   If you expect your employees to live out your company brand, then everything you do as a company should be tied into that brand image.  You can’t have people buy into your brand if there is nothing to buy into.

We were recently at a company that understood this brand image concept. They have  a game room, a candy store/lunch room and they cater food in for their employees everyday. They provide the little comforts for their people so they can thrive.

This company has been trying to get the interior design of their new offices completed.  They attempted to go at it on their own, but realized that they were not in the interior designer business, and did not have the resources to get the finished look they wanted.  So he hired us to assist in completing his vision of providing an interior office space that lived up to his brand.

This company was not just portraying a brand image. 

They are living it, and will stop at nothing to complete this vision.

This type of attitude is what makes great companies.

People inspiring people.

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.

Is your meeting space a trip?

Have a safe trip, see u next fall..

If you have a conference room that has cords running across the floor to the table from the wall, then this is for you.

Not only do the cords laying across your floor look bad, but they are a hazard to your employees and guests.  If you have clients coming to your meeting space nothing says we are a sloppy company like a disheveled meeting space.

Here are some common, expensive ways to fix this.  And one smart, cost effective way.

First, you need to interview contractors to drill a hole in the concrete floor underneath your conference table or location where you need electrical & data.  If you are lucky enough to be on the 2nd floor or above and you can talk the tenant below you and the building management to let you run electrical and data through the ceiling to your hole, that would be the next step.  If this stroke of luck is not in your cards, then you will need to either “floor trench in the concrete from that hole in the center to the wall to get connected, or you will need to run an electrical & data film under the carpet.  Either way you, these are costly solutions.  Sure you could also run wire mold, but then  you might as well duct tape the wires to the floor.  You could also install a power pole from the table to the ceiling but c’mon really?  The other way, and yes I am laughing, is to install a raised floor, or also known as a computer floor.    Yes they still make those.   (The also still make raised platform shoes as well.)

Raised Floor

Raised Platform Shoes

Ok, here is the smart, cost effective way.

Install a power track, that goes under the carpet, it is raised gradually and is less than an inch high.  Depending on your existing carpet, you can cut it and stick this power track underneath.  You run this from the wall to the center of  your conference table, and then we can have a professional installer drill a hole in your conference table, add a power/data module in that freshly cut hole.  An electrician will hook up the electrical and  then run the data and you have a meeting space that will make you proud.

Easy enough?  www.thinkspaces.com can help you with the whole project.  You can also use this for workstations, or any other application where you need to get electrical or data to the a location in the center of a room.

Playing it Safe Is Risky

We were recently asked to come to a school in the suburbs to help them with a space issue.  We meet the department head.

The student services area at this high school has not been updated for the the computerized world. They basically missed the 90′s and now into the last year of this decade they are in desperate need to update the space so that it can handle technology and traffic flow.  What has been done in the past is a band-aid approach,  supplementing a metal desk with a computer cart, taping wires to the floor with duct tape, and a collection of mismatched office furniture throughout the space.  This school houses about 2500-3000 students, and is in a affluent neighborhood.  In this office space, the secretaries are not located near the staff they support, and there are a lot of  students coming and going which cause major traffic flow problems.   They have had “furniture dealers” come out in the past and give them quotes using  basic floor plans to sell more furniture but nothing has been done yet.

Seeing how this school has not updated this area at least the last 20 years or so, it is imperative that they get the design of this space right when they do this, because it will probably be another 20 years or so before they get this chance again.

After our evaluation, we gave a modest proposal of the cost to redesign the space to the department head who requested this.  This proposal explains that we will provide a space plan that will take into consideration the adjacency of the office staff,  the traffic flow from students, common task areas needs,  along with other related items.  We would also provide a concept board that will include flooring, ceiling, paint & wall covering selections so that they will have an overall vision for the new atmosphere of the space.  Other considerations that would be taken into account is lighting, electrical & data needs, artwork & accessories, evaluation of noise issues, new furniture options, plus a plan to incorporate current furniture into the plan if necessary until budgets open up to by new furniture.

We gave this proposal to the department head, who then had to give it to her boss who is in charge of facilities for the school.  The person in charge of facilities who would not let us have a conversation with him, he told the department head he never had to pay for a space plan before and that is not how they do things there.  That pretty much explains it right there. That is exactly why the space looks and functions so poorly.

What he was really saying is that the way they have been doing things is broken. Their space is the evidence.  A band-aid approach of getting new furniture will NOT be a long-term solution.

While this may seem to be the safe approach for this facilities manager it actually adds more risk.  As Seth Godin points out in his blog “When people become cogs” Safe is Risky.

What has to be understood here is that your space and your staff are assets, just as cash is an asset.  But you can improve your assets by investing cash.  Training your staff to perform their jobs better is a good investment.  Investing in your space can have the same return.  Investing in your space will have dramatic affects on the performance of your staff.   Instead of spending countless hours  every week walking from one side of the space to the other to interact with the  staff they support, their time can be used more efficiently by doing the work they were actually hired to perform.  By eliminating the  traffic flow problem you will increase productivity for all involved.  Creating an atmosphere that has ambiance and functionality should be the goal.  Ambiance and functionality will improve productivity and morale.

Is it safe for this decision maker to do what has always been done?

Is it safer to take a risk and spend the time and money to get the space done right so that the staff that uses it can function to their fullest potential?

Is this administrators legacy going to be “I save the school a few dollars at the sacrifice of staff and students?”

Safe is Risky!