Why These May be the Best Office Furniture Trends Ever

Best Office Furniture Trends Stylex Trim Table

Professional offices are experiencing lasting changes after Covid shutdowns scattered employees who stayed connected through online meetings and other forms of technology. The office functioned outside the walls of the corporate headquarters. Hybrid work arrangements have become normal for many with the corporate office taking on a new role as a hub.  With all these significant work style changes, let’s examine the best office furniture trends, now not just for the main office but also for the home.

Companies in Southern California are adjusting well. In Culver City, Creator IQ allows employees to balance remote work with the main office being a supportive location where there are special times to come in and focus. Offices need to re-think spaces and create a desired destination spot instead of just being a place where people are told to work.

Is there an upside? Yes.

Companies are discovering the best office furniture trends ever. These provide comfort, allow for collaboration, and provide flexibility with hybrid work schedules.

Read on to get ideas to refresh your office, furnish for greater productivity, and give your team an inviting reason to be in the office.

Best Office Furniture Trends: Dynamic Office Spaces

A popular office furniture trend is allowing for inter-office movement.

Photo: Friant System 2 Workstations

Your team may begin at their workstations but decide to move to a more informal area with lounge seating or even the breakroom where they can work on their laptops or take personal calls. Formal conference rooms are giving way to informal group spaces.

Offices can certainly have defined space, but with open layouts and hybrid work arrangements, they’ve become dynamic. Support the changes using the best office furniture.

Best Office Furniture Trends: Collaborative Furniture

Photo: DeskMakers TeamWorx Open Plan Benching

Open office layouts were meant to spur collaboration, but the effort was met with mixed reviews. People need privacy, too.

Photo: OFS Staks Workstations

Cubicles that were seen as dull and gray were redesigned for small group sharing and privacy. One of the best office furniture trends is the ability to have collaboration while at the same time not disturbing others who are working.

Photo: OFS Aptos Open Plan Benching

Bench seating solutions can bring people together for a few hours—while encouraging movement to other areas as needed. Encourage an ebb and flow of work communication.

Resimercial: The Personable Yet Professional Office

Make the office a home away from home. This has been one of the best office furniture trends taking place for the past few years, even before the Covid shutdown occurred.

Resimercial simply combines the look and feel of residential spaces with the durability and professionalism of commercial spaces.

Why is this popular?

Our culture has become more informal and relational while offices are less hierarchical than ever. Employees feel comfortable in a work environment where they can sip coffee while sitting on furniture that have the touches of home, including the fabrics.

Interiors to Brand Your Company

Resimercial isn’t the only design option, though. It’s possible to brand your interior in a way that reflects your company’s overall brand image and design. The promise made to customers on the outside can be made to employees on the inside.

2010 Office has an Inspirations page where you can easily see some of the best office furniture trends in use.

Photo: ODS Lift Height Adjustable Workstations

A minimalist approach is taken with the Scandinavian office while open offices can have a modern industrial look and feel.

Offices in Southern California and nationally make use of local flavors. In Pittsburgh, Google’s office design made a splash when it set up shop more than a decade ago in the 100-year-old Nabisco building. Designers kept some of the original brick, installed industrial-looking catwalks, and had a large picture of the Smithfield Street bridge.

Touchdown: Creating Office Spaces for a Breather

With people coming and going, offices need touchdown spaces. This is another trend where individuals can step aside from noise and distractions to focus or take a break.

Photo: Rouillard Blok Lounge Seating

Small groups of employees who want a meeting away from the formal conference room can use modular lounge furniture to accommodate just a few people, or if need be, make room for a larger group. Make use of moveable whiteboards for charting.

Remote workers stopping in for meetings can use touchdown spaces to work or collaborate while waiting for the official meeting to begin.

Integrated Technology

There’s no escaping our connected worlds and the rapid flow of information. Offices with hybrid schedules and remote workers are making greater use of video conferencing than ever before.

Set aside specific spaces like the OFS Obeya Architectural Structures that are tastefully designed and house necessary technology.

Natural Light and Ergonomic Accessories

Another trend isn’t furniture but it promotes well-being. Maximizing the amount of natural light in a space is proven to be an effective way to boost morale and aid in promoting a healthy sleep cycle for employees.

Use ergonomic lighting accessories to focus the right amount of light at workstations and reduce problems associated with eye strain.

Home Office Furniture Trends

Equipping the home office is another of the best office furnishing trends and has become more important than ever. Some remote workers are full-time while others split time between the corporate office and home office.

Work-from-home furnishings include items that corporate headquarters will have. Sit-to-stand desks and ergonomic chairs can be as useful in a remote office as they are in the home office.

Make sure printers are accessible but not in the way and that the space stays uncluttered with the proper amount of storage.

Stay Up to Date on Best Office Furniture Trends and Office Furnishings

Rely on the team at 2010 Office Furniture to keep you up to date with the best office furniture trends and to plan your office space so you use it well. 2010 Office staff have more than 50 years of combined experience and have served clients who are counted among Southern California’s most recognizable corporations, centers of higher education, and small businesses.

Contact them with your specific project needs and questions.

Read Also: NeoCon 2022 Trends: The Future of Office Furniture
Main Photo: Stylex Trim Table
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: DeskMakers, Friant, ODS, OFS, Rouillard & Stylex

Choosing the Best Office Dividers and Filing Systems

Best Office Dividers and Filing Systems Allermuir Mollie Chair

People are social creatures, and a well-planned office with strategically placed office dividers will bring employees together, yet allow them the personal space they need in order to focus.

But don’t fear the gray cubicle.

Plenty of cubicles are designed with workstation dividers with storage for filing, and free-standing partitions, bring color and serve to unify work areas rather than actually separate employees into an impersonal environment.

Photo: Friant Novo Modern Workstation

Office dividers and filing systems should be part of a complete office floor plan.

Photo: Rouillard Agora Credenza

Why Use Office Dividers

Dividers that are modular or are easily movable bring balance for employees, giving them a space to focus on tasks while allowing collaboration. Permanent walls create separation and often act as a barrier to an organic flow of ideas and problem-solving conversations.

Employee well-being is another reason to use partitions. Privacy screens that attach to open bench seating plans and work pods, along with larger partitions, can reduce the spread of germs from concerns surrounding viruses like Covid, the flu, and the common cold.

In open office floor plans, sound reverberating unimpeded is an irritant. Employees often retreat through the use of earbuds or headphones, but they block out possible opportunities for communication.

Specialty panels like the Snowsound Baffle Ceiling Panels or the Nevins Ariel Acoustic Hanging Panels act as sound barriers while letting light flow from one part of an office to another.

The many different types of dividers available help make the office a welcome place.


Photo: Nevins Ariel Sound Panel

& Photo: Snowsound Baffle Sound Panel

Options for Office Dividers

Modular workstations come with dividers in an array of colors and fabrics. Choose styles that reflect the brand and the temperament of the office. Bold colors like red can speak to leadership qualities while softer blues provide quiet inspiration.

Plan out the use of dividers from the entryway to the individual departments.

Need a meeting space?

Architectural walls define places for group conferences or smaller meetings. Aesthetically pleasing areas can be established to hold online meetings with employees who are remote or working a hybrid arrangement by switching between the home office and corporate office.

Photo: Trendway Clear Wall

There are other types of office dividers for use with floor plans.

Try to guess what they are.

How about indoor plants?

Hanging baskets of plants, tables with arrangements, potted plants, and greenery dividers using succulents define workspaces from common gathering spots like break areas or lounges.

Fabrics can work, as well. Decorative pillows stuffed in bookcases can fit within many office designs like resimercial styles, the modern industrial office, or a minimal office like the Scandinavian layout.

Your creativity in how you divide office space can be like an unsung hero in making the workplace comfortable.

Filing Systems

Another way to break away from traditionally dull furnishings is to re-imagine the use of filing cabinets and drawers as office dividers. Now, this isn’t to knock those heavy-industry style metal filing cabinets.

They’ve served companies well and continue to do so, but there are more attractive counterparts that look less intimidating and don’t need WD-40 to grease the tracks.

Different filing cabinet options are:

  • Vertical
  • Lateral
  • Fire Resistant

And remember that modular is in because it’s practical and flexible.

Consider OFS Hitch Shelf and Storage, a modular unit, “using a simple system of blocks that clip together for a shelf with endless configuration possibilities.”

Low profile cabinets like the DeskMakers Catalina Cubbies can be used for work or storing personal items. This flexible filing and storage can be stacked to provide a sense of room separation without feeling like you’re blocking someone out.

Want to make a statement?

Go bold with Bella Shelf Storage, a fun, circular design. Want to know something unique? You don’t need any tools to assemble this since “The inner panels of Bolla coil in, and natural compressive force holds the system together.


Photo: Scale 1:1 Bolla Shelf Storage

Why plan your filing and office storage systems? Because they help keep the office clutter-free while having potential to enhance the overall ambiance.

Get Answers

If you need help choosing the right office dividers and filing system, or have questions on how to get maximum productivity from your team — connect with us! The staff at 2010 Office Furniture is more than happy to share our knowledge based on a combined half-century of advising and providing furnishings for clients that rank among Southern California’s most distinguished corporations, nonprofits, and small businesses.

Contact us and share your needs.

Read Also: Ways to Help Create Social Distancing in the Office
Main Photo: Allermuir Mollie Chair
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Allermuir, Friant, Nevins, Rouillard, Scale 1:1, Snowsound & Trendway

6 Reasons to Use a Resimercial Design for Your Office

6 Reasons to Use a Resimercial Design for Your Office

There are many benefits to resimercial office design like boosting employee creativity and retaining your talent. If you’re looking to refresh an existing office or plan a new office layout, consider blending the look of a residence within a commercial space.


Photo: OFS Rowen Lounge Sofa

Resimercial Design is a Lasting Trend

Designing a commercial office with elements of a residence is a lasting trend. It certainly isn’t a fad. Think of the aptly named Residence Inn by Marriot as a good example. There are many spread around Southern California in cities like Rancho Cucamonga, Arcadia, Long Beach and throughout the Los Angeles area.

The name speaks volumes.


Photo: HON Westhill Lounge Sofas

Customers aren’t just guests for a night or two. They’re residents. The lobbies have the relaxed feel of a living space within a corporate environment. The rooms are smartly partitioned with decorative glass and have enough wood décor so that they don’t seem sterile. Each one has a personal appeal and looks as much like a living room as it does a hotel room.

And that’s a good way to think of office resimercial design—an office that uses the best elements of a home brought into a commercial office space.

Since so many employees are working remotely, you can also reverse the situation. It’s possible to have a home office with ergonomic chairs and commercial grade desks that are durable. A home office can reflect the brand of the corporate office.

The boundaries separating professional and personal lives are more integrated than they’ve ever been. And that’s a trend that will last. Resimercial has been called the defining office design trend for the 21st century. Nearly 90% of all companies expect to continue having remote workers in the aftermath of Covid-19. Of course, the widespread use of digital communication reduces the need to be physically present in the corporate office.

Useful for Employee Retention

An attractive office resimercial design that has plenty of natural light flowing through it is a pleasant place to work. It can boost overall morale and act as a way to retain your most talented workers. The days of gray cubicles are gone.

You can plan an office space to maximize workflow, but you can also make the space comfortable to boost productivity.

Using modular workstations and quality desking solutions shows that you’re committed to your employees’ well-being. This helps employees become more engaged in their work and motivates them to share in the company vision.


Photo: HON Solve Task Chair, Astir Lounge Chair & Mav Lounge Chair

Resimercial Design Appeals to All Ages

Each generation brings a unique world view to bear, yet a design that blends the best of a professional office setting with the warmth of a personal residence is accepted by all ages. Implementing ergonomic resimercial design standards to support the people working is a timeless principle.

Who doesn’t want the best possible environment?

Boosts Creativity

Fighting foggy brain syndrome gets old. Knees and elbows under pressure from sitting in the same position begin to hurt. A stale environment slowly drains energy, but a work setting that’s laid out well provides a morale boost when the day gets long.

Here’s what a resimercial office has:

  • Soothing color choices
  • Furnishings that are sturdy, yet comfortable
  • Fabrics that have a homey or personal appeal
  • An office layout that allows for employees to work at their desks or lounge areas

When you’re stuck on a problem, you feel free to take a walk or huddle with co-workers in a comfortable common area to find a solution.


Photo: National Delgado Seating


Photo: HON Preside Conference Table

Encourages Movement and Well-Being

Sitting in one position for several hours at a time hurts. A home office is inviting because you don’t have to be stuck in one position for hours. No one is looking over your shoulder so you can feel free to get up for a brisk walk or quick exercise to get the blood flowing.

Companies should encourage workers in corporate offices to do the same. Movement gets the blood circulating and that promotes oxygen flow to the brain.

An office resimercial design that uses ergonomic chairs, height-adjustable desks, and other equipment that workers can adjust to their specifications is another way that companies make an investment in office wellness. Customizable equipment in settings that are well lit reduce strain on the eyes, neck and lower back.

Your team is able to think more clearly, become less fatigued and in the process can remain productive.

Resimercial Offices are More Comfortable than Remote Offices

An office that’s designed to support the people working there and a space that’s aesthetically pleasing can be more desirable than a home office or a co-working space. Employees may get tired of home offices and want to work in the corporate setting at least a few days each week.

Companies today know that employees can have options for where they do their work.

What’s important is that employees believe in the mission and value statements so that they feel a part of the company’s overall success. That builds loyalty, employee engagement, and becomes a subtle, yet important, competitive advantage.

Plan and design a resimercial office space that works for your company’s brand. Consult with the team at 2010 Office Furniture. They bring more than 50 years of combined experience to each project and have worked with Southern California’s most distinguished companies.

Read Also: Planning Office Layouts for Today’s Workplace Needs
Main Photo: Stylex Seating
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: HON, OFS, National & Stylex Seating

Designing a Healthy Office

Designing a Healthy Office

Designing a healthy office is important in fostering an environment where morale is high and people are productive. Employees are motivated to work as a team and focused on their tasks, instead of how to handle their aches and pains.

But what is a healthy office setting and how do you achieve a place where people are comfortable and productive?

Let’s start with the basics, like how you sit and do your work.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics in designing a healthy office refer to the equipment designed to help people accomplish their tasks in a way that creates minimal stress on the body. Today’s height-adjustable desks and ergonomic chairs allow users to sit with proper posture so their eyes are focused on the screen at the right level while at the same time the joints in their bodies endure as little stress as possible.


Photo: OFS Impulse G2 Private Office

The strain on the wrists, elbows, knees and lower back is greatly reduced.

Ergonomic chairs come in an array of colors and shapes. But you should always look for quality lumbar support that adjusts easily to body weight and movement.

Since office workers sit for hours per day, a quality chair promotes physical health. But so does getting up at regular intervals.

Ergonomics applies to other areas, too, like talking on a cell phone.

Promote the use of speaker phone or the use of headphones to avoid cradling the phone on the neck and shoulders for prolonged periods. Tilting the head too much toward a computer screen or to one side of a shoulder gradually causes misalignment.

Designing a Healthy Office with Movement

Movement is key in design a healthy office. Humans are built to be active and if we remain sedentary for hours on end, then our bodies and minds are going to pay a price. After a couple of hours working at a desk, encourage your team to get up and move for about 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

This can be taking a brisk walk down a hallway, getting a drink of water, or taking a laptop and continuing to work at a lounge area.

Height-adjustable desks can be useful to promote movement as well since they make it easy to go from sitting to standing.


Photo: Humanscale eFloat Standing Desk

However, the main reason to get up and move around the office isn’t to burn calories but help the blood circulate. Don’t overlook this aspect of having a healthy workforce.

When blood is flowing well through the body, it also means that it’s circulating in the head, and that reduces foggy brain syndrome. And a clear head increases productivity.

An article in Harvard Health, “More movement, better memory,” notes that the center of learning and memory in our brain is the hippocampus. It’s located in the medial temporal lobe, a region that benefits from exercise.

Participants in the study were an average of 65 years old and enrolled in an aerobics class for 20 weeks. There was no change in the body mass index, but researchers “found that those who exercised showed a greater ability to rearrange and reconfigure nerve connections in their brain. This allowed them to better learn and retain information, and then logically apply that information in a new situation.”

Movement is healthy.

Indoor Air Quality

If you’re concerned about the smoggy air outside, then you’ll want to clean your indoor air. According to estimates published on Allwork.space, we spend about 90% of our time indoors where offices with poor ventilation will have air that is two to five times more toxic than outside.

  • Regularly clean the vents used for your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system
  • Open windows occasionally to boost indoor air flow
  • Rebalance or adjust HVAC systems to increase total airflow to occupied spaces when possible

You can also bring nature inside and use indoor plants. They do their part in cleaning pollutants and freshening the air, and definitely help in designing a healthy office.


Photo: OFS Yelly and Kasura Seating

Light and Color

Designing a healthy office means creating an environment that’s good for both our physical health and mental well-being. There’s even a discipline known as chromotherapy, based on findings that color and colored lights can help treat both our physical and mental health.

Colors have their own traits:

  • Blue signifies the intellect
  • Red impacts courage and strength
  • Yellow is an emotional color that represents creativity
  • Green is for harmony, representing nature and balance
  • Orange creates a sense of comfort because it blends the physicality of red and the emotional trait of yellow

In addition to colors, natural light is a proven mood booster.

Assess how you use colors in your work environment. Where can you maximize the flow of natural light? Are there barriers in the way of windows?

Using cubicles and clear modular walls in place of solid walls or other barriers can brighten the office space.


Photo: OFS Skara and Saven Rocker Seating

Now get some inspiration for how your office can look—make it more modern and bright, or tone it down and give it an industrial look. You can even make it appear homey and warm with a resimercial approach.


Photo: Source International Lore Lounge

Morale

The goal of planning office space and creating an upbeat look is to boost morale and guide your team in working at their best levels. This is good for the company’s bottom line, but it also leads to professional satisfaction for team members and keeps them engaged with your brand.

We’re Here to Help you in Designing a Healthy Office

The team at 2010 Office Furniture has more than 50 years of experience equipping Southern California’s leading corporations, centers of higher education, and small-to-medium sized businesses.

Contact us and share your space planning and office furnishing needs. We’ll be glad to share solutions.

Read Also: Energize Your Office with Movement
Main Photo: Humanscale Ergonomics
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Humanscale, Source International & OFS

Resimercial Office Designs and Trends

Resimercial Office Designs and Trends

When looking at resimercial office designs, it’s important to go back and remember where it all started from.

Remember when all work was performed in the corporate office?

Then came use of the home office.

Third spaces then evolved as popular alternatives between home and work that helped avoid the grind of commuting in Los Angeles.

As coffee shops went from being grunge and turned fashionable, they became acceptable places where professionals could work on their laptops or have one-on-one client meetings. Co-working spaces attracted freelancers and employees who didn’t want to make the drive from their homes in places like the foothills to their employers near LAX or Long Beach.

The coffee shops came with a relaxed informality. Co-working spaces had perks added like coffee, snacks and even professional development seminars for the monthly fee of renting space.

Of course, the table and chair arrangements were nice as well.


Photo: OFS Rowen, Bistro, and Elani Seating

Boundaries between work and home continued to grow blurred with the popularity of urban villages. Retail stores and professional offices on the first floor with living quarters on the upper floors meant you could take the elevator down to the office or step outside and walk a few blocks to work.

You’ll see this trend anywhere you go in Southern California. The urban village concept drew young professional families to neighborhoods along Hollywood Boulevard.

Live-work spaces and third spaces are common in Irvine, Pasadena, and in Ontario or Rancho Cucamonga.

The trend has had enough of an impact to result in a new term: Resimercial.

What is Resimercial Design?

Resimercial design brings personal elements of home into the commercial office space. Think of it as an approach that respects the personalities of employees and their various moods and mindsets.

A mixture of familiar and business-like elements creates an atmosphere that’s less sterile and more welcoming to our senses.


Photo: OFS Rowen Lounge

The Upbeat Contemporary Office is a nice example of resimercial. Splashes of comfortable colors with soft fabrics have a personal appeal.

Resimercial doesn’t mean sloppy or random. Instead, the use of workstations and lounge areas with circles and triangles give structure with an inviting look.

Resimercial’s Growing Popularity

Policies and practices like implementing family leave for spouses after the birth of a baby was another way that private lives and occupations intertwined. Telecommuting had already been a widely used term and practice since the mid-90s, but when Covid-19 hit it became a forced reality.

The majority of companies let their employees work from home, and now, many will continue to work remotely. According to the National Association for Business Economics, only 11 percent of companies in the U.S. expect to have all their employees returning to the corporate office.

Tech giants Twitter and Facebook are currently letting all their employees work remotely while Google will likely go to a hybrid model of office-home later in 2021.


Photo: SitOnIt Reya Table

How Resimercial Benefits Employees

Evidence exists that resimercial design has a positive impact on wellbeing, collaboration, creativity and overall productivity in the workplace. Work Design Magazine describes how this arrangement means more “than merely placing residential objects in a commercial setting.”

Products and materials are used that are especially designed for the unique purpose of bridging the familiarity of home with the professionalism of workspaces. Doing so allows for more comfort for employees to work how they want instead of staying cooped up in sterile cubicles.


Photo: Stylex Still Screens

Resimercial and the Impact on Office Layouts

The look and feel of resimercial doesn’t have to affect the physical placement of departments in an office. However, the fabrics, colors and style of furnishings can reinforce a company’s brand while defining specific areas of an office.

Re-imagine the finance department. Instead of a traditional desk, there could be a comfortable use of open benchingthat has partitions with an attractive color. Lamps and tables with a wood grain finish can add personality.

A manager’s meeting space can be transformed from the inflexible looking cubicle into a more casual feel using modular furniture.

The furnishings can be budget friendly. The payoff can come from an atmosphere that boosts creativity and productivity.


Photo: SitOnIt Novo Chair, OFS Rowen and Wyre Lounge, OFS Staks Benching

If your office needs a refreshing, or you need to plan new space, then the team at 2010 Office Furniture has nearly 50 years of experience to share. They’ve worked with Southern California’s most distinguished corporations, universities, and growing small businesses.

Contact 2010 Office Furniture with your project needs.

Read Also: Developing a Supportive Office Work Environment
Main Photo: Arcadia Contract Delen Meeting Table
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers:  Arcadia Contract, OFS, SitOnIt & Stylex

Design Your Office Space for Residential Comfort and Professional Results

Design Your Office Space for Residential Comfort and Professional Results

An office is a place to tackle your work, and the office environment impacts how well you’ll do your job. This is important to note when you design your office space. The trend in resimercial design is a way of making employees feel comfortable, boosting their creativity and creating an environment to increase productivity.

But how do you know a new design can work?

Let’s look at the science behind the merging of commercial and residential design.

Look around your office and what do you notice?

How much natural light flows through the space? What colors are used?

These elements have been proven to be important in different ways when you design your office space.

In the mid-1980s, a researcher, Roger Ulrich, wanted to see if there was a relationship between the environment in health facilities and patient well-being. He was exploring if beauty, including the design and mood, affected emotional well-being and physiological stress.

He separated participants in two groups with some participants staying on one floor of the hospital and the other participants staying on another floor. One group looked outside their room and saw trees while the others had windows facing a brick wall.

Patients who saw the trees and not the wall needed fewer medications and reported a greater feeling of well-being than those who had the brick wall for their view.

Various elements in your surroundings will impact mood and energy levels.

Design Your Office with Colors

Colors play a key role when you design your office space.  There’s subjective opinion about which colors affects moods, but there are also universally accepted colors. Blue is one of the most popular colors around the world. So if you have an office with a diverse cultural mix, then blue can be a unifying color.

The London Image Institute provides a useful color chart and describes the emotions that the colors evoke. Blue is the color of trust, serenity and peace, while green evokes harmony and nature. Red is associated with emotions ranging from love to anger.

Photo: Friant Dash Workstation Table

Design Your Office with Lighting

Lighting is key in both corporate and home offices.

In a garment factory, improved lighting led to a 10% increase in production and one-third fewer errors. When you design your office space, let your team have as much access as possible to natural light. Lamps and other lights at workstations should have their light focused properly so there’s no glare or feedback.

Another benefit of letting natural light flow throughout the workspace is that it actually helps people sleep better at night.


Photo: OFS Tangent Lounge

Design Your Office with Layout and Movement

At home, rooms or areas are clearly designated for specific purposes. A kitchen has an obvious purpose and so does a bedroom. Some rooms don’t have clearly defined purposes. There are dining spaces but not as many formal dining rooms as there once were. And in today’s world, living rooms and family rooms blur in their use as well.

The home office is for doing work, especially if an employee is using the space to work remotely.

Yet, we also move naturally from one room to another depending on what we need. You can take calls in the office portion, but you may feel more comfortable sitting on the sofa while reading a report.

Traditionally, in an office setting you’re expected to sit and work at a desk for several hours a day. You do your work in one place and you remain stationary except for eating lunch and taking restroom breaks.

An office setting can be planned to have home-like qualities so that the environment is inviting and motivates people to do their best.


Photo: Friant My-HiteWorkstation, Allermuir Kin Chairs and Source International Laze Chair

When you design your office space, Consider the Abstract Modern Office with a variety of bold colors. Everything from a touch of mid-century modern to the newest décor can fit with this design. This is great for playful brands and companies that want to infuse a touch of energy.

More subdued colors are possible, too, even in an office that has open benching and cubicles since modular furniture comes in a variety of colors.

Layout options are flexible. Consider having workstations for each department in one area while lounge seating is available in a central area. Or, depending on the office size, there can be a lounge area in a central space like the hub and workstations on the perimeter.


Photo: HON Empower Height Adjustable Workstations

If you’re going to re-design your office or make substantial improvements, then let employees know and ask for their feedback since they’re the ones being affected.

Architect Donald Rattner, author of “My Creative Space: How to Design Your Home to Stimulate Ideas and Spark Innovation,” says address issues of durability and safety. Use products that have the residential appeal but are made with commercial manufacturing standards.

Let 2010 Office Furniture Help

Get your questions about office space planning and layouts answered by 2010 Office Furniture. The team has more than 50 years of combined experience, serving corporations, universities, and growing enterprises throughout Southern California.

Contact them with questions about your potential projects.

Read Also: Resimercial Office Furniture
Main Photo: OFS Ani Soft Seating
Resources & Special Thanks to Respective Product Manufacturers: Allermuir, Friant, HON, OFS & Source International