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Thursday, December 8th, 2016
CYNTHIA ROWLEY FOR HOOKER FURNITURE NOTE-TO-SELF WRITING DESK
Offices are homes away from your real home. These are the places where market shares and business opportunities are fought for. These can only be achieved where productivity is high and where the business is on a roll.
But what happens if the office is moved to your home? How then can you make your home office as productive as your traditional office?
Splash Some Colors
Ideal home office spaces should mirror the kind of work that you do. Banking, legal services and other such work would be most productive inside a neutral office. Creative offices, on the other hand, like those used by graphic designers and photographers should have a more vibrant office. Whether you’re engaged in more serious desk work or are on the go at times, it pays to implement your preference in terms of home office design.
Branding Matters
Think of ways that you could incorporate the company’s branding to the office design; find out how you could most effectively use the business logo and name. Decide also if you’re willing to hang a sign outside of your home. The placement of the business logo as well as the paint color that you use are both trivial since these have psychological impacts on potential productivity and client calls.
Buy Sturdy Office Furniture
Don’t automatically think that an office-supply shop is the best place to purchase office furniture. Discount stores would surely not be able to provide your home office needs. So, where should you go and what type of furniture should you invest in?
Buying new furniture may be pricier at first but if you choose well, these pieces will last a long time. It beats cheap, mass-produced pieces by so many miles. And don’t think that no one will notice the difference between the investment piece and the mass-produced piece.
Say Goodbye to Garbage
Businesses acquire piles upon piles of boxes, papers and other important documents. Take time to sort these out and decide which ones are still important to your business. Set aside a few minutes every day to clean up your home office space. You don’t have to dive into the piles for hours at a time. Instead, schedule a few minutes to go through the office debris. Pretty soon, you’ll see that you’ve already organized what used to be a cluttered area.
Hooker Furniture Home Office Vintage West Executive Desk Chair
Consider the Design
When you’re on a business trip, even when you’re on vacation, you often stay in hotels, right? These places showcase the best lighting and interior design. Most small businessmen ignore these necessities.
Design doesn’t have to be a new coat of paint or a plush rug. Sometimes, it is as easy as setting up the things that inspire you to be more productive. This could be a photograph or two or it could be a display of your personal collection.
Having a spare room isn’t tantamount to having a successful and productive home office. Your workspace can be placed right by the window where you can have a great view while you work. A little sunshine and the feel of summer breeze on your cheeks while you type away some words on your laptop could make a huge difference on your productivity.
Double Duty
Working on a traditional desk isn’t a surefire way of making you more productive. You could, therefore, use other furniture pieces in place of a desk, say, an armoire that doubles as a storage unit that stashes silverware, glassware and chinaware. It is also a lovely desk when you’re busy working.
The Fundamental Palette
‘Wanna be extremely productive? Then be ready to go bold and bright. Use the most invigorating colors. Be sure to add extra shelves so that files and office supplies are kept out of sight.
Tags: home office, home office design, home office furniture, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, office space layout
Posted in Interior Design 101, Office Design | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 15th, 2016
This FFDM Hyde Park piece has a small yet significant silver element that makes this drawer a beauty to behold.
It can be tricky decorating tiny spaces – even interior designers know this – but with maximized storage and correct usage of square footage come effective ambience presentation. So, are you ready to not make the same mistakes that many apartment owners ahead of you have made?
Never Underestimate Natural Light
Any small space must make good use of natural light. Maximize natural lighting in your home by properly placing mirrors on walls that are opposite windows. Doing so will help spread and reflect light in your home.
Choose woven blinds or sheer curtains if you want to filter the amount of sunlight that comes in. Limited light means you dramatize the paint hues as well as the furnishings that you have chosen. Overall, you get to brighten the mood indoors without spending a single dollar.
Let There Be Visual Movement
You can visually connect spaces in your home by using a unified color palette, this is if you have a home with many adjacent rooms. This creates a visual and overall story that will make the rooms appear seamlessly fused rather than having small, disconnected areas.
Use All Available Space
Bring out your creative side especially when to making good use of square footage. Find storage areas such as floor-to-ceiling shelves or a shelf above the window frame.
Kitchen = Clever Storage
Regular kitchen cupboards should be things of the past. While they may be visually appealing, they tend to crowd out space. Add bins under the kitchen sink, also some shelving units where they are unseen. If you have porcelain pieces to display, then that’s the time you invest in an awesome china cabinet.
To make the kitchen space airier, you might want to divide it from the dining area using a small divider.
The Office Nook
Make sure to use every extra space that you see when you have to deal with a small bedroom. You can create a small nook between two closets and turn that into a cozy home office. This is a workstation that requires low maintenance. Just add some shelves and a desk to complete the space. Display some books also.
Don’t forget that you’re still inside the bedroom so the bed should be the anchor piece in that space. Invest in one that won’t eat up the rest of the space.
Storage Space for Bathrooms
Use narrow, water-resistant shelves inside this room. Buy some canisters also which will hold cotton balls, cotton swabs, your favorite moisturizer, and other toiletries. Put the canisters under a lovely vanity table.
Find some wicker baskets which you can place on shelves for additional storage space.
Make Use of Multipurpose Space
This is unavoidable as was discussed in the fusion of an office nook and the bedroom. This same nook can also be situated inside the guest bedroom. Make the best of such situation by utilizing the surrounding walls.
A simple collection of shelves can make ample storage for all your stuff. You can then connect these pieces to the reading or home office nook that you have created.
That space beneath the stairs doesn’t have to go to waste. This can, in fact, be enhanced to become a stylish storage space. Add a shelving unit there so you can take advantage of this awkward space. You can also use this as a mini bar or a space for your book collection.
Light Paint Only Please
If you want to make any space appear bigger, make sure that you veer away from dark hues. Say no to black walls or any punch of dark color. Keep the rest of your space open and bright. Use light-colored furniture and accessories.
Tags: McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, natural light, natural lighting, office space layout, storage, storage advice, storage planning
Posted in Home Maintenance, Interior Design 101 | No Comments »
Friday, October 21st, 2016
FFDM Belvedere Collection
One of the biggest problems that remote workers say about working in a home office is being less productive. If you happen to be working in one right now, what should you do to optimize productivity and not fall in the same dilemma as many others complain about?
Managers worry so much about work productivity but now that you’re your own boss, it’s your time to worry. With you, it becomes doubly difficult to be more productive because chores beckon and the kitchen always offers the aroma of your spouse’s home-cooked meals. These are distractions that you need to fight against – and fast.
So, if you want to have more work hours added to your current work routine, here’s what you should do –
Structure Your Work Day
Productivity is a huge concern for you now so you need to look on how you structure your time for work. If you have to use certain tools that will make your work routine more productive, then do so.
Syncing your work with your tablet and smart phone would do you good. Doing so will help you make good use of your time.
Hooker Furniture Home Office Curata Mobile File
Stylize Your Home Office
A wonderful way to create a place that would make you want to go to work is to stylize it. Don’t worry too much about rules and stuff that tell you which to put and which not to put inside your cubicle. Giving your home office a little character should prod you to go to work, hence, you spend more time in the office, and you end up being more productive.
Be sure to focus on the benefits of working from home. Decorate to inspire productivity. Remember, while decorating, that you will conduct business in that cubicle. Also, you would not want to hang any distracting photos or posters right on the area where you will hold your video conferences.
Design your home office smartly. Use wall art but make sure that they are there to be seen by prospective clients and not as distraction.
Pick a Practical Desk Size
Remember that the desk has to suit the job that you are going to do in your home office. If you believe that you are going to be doing a lot of paperwork, then you definitely need a larger desk. A big desk, though, invites distractions in many forms but it can also offer additional surface area for your picture frames. Your family photos should motivate you to become more productive.
Be sure to buy a basic desk that meets the ergonomic standards. An ergonomically-designed chair will help prevent injuries, making your back feel optimal all the time.
The right desk can also offer more storage solutions for that extra stack of papers.
Safety Is Key
Remember that you will be using a lot of electronic devices in your home office so it would be best to fuse safety with the décor. A lot of home offices are cozy spaces with a lot of cords that are exposed. These are tripping hazards that you need to get rid of. You can place these cords right behind the office cabinets or have them wrapped then attached to the legs of the desk or table.
Never, ever hide cables underneath an area rug or the carpeting. This is a fire hazard especially when the cords are already damaged or frayed.
Use Correct Lighting
Inspiring productivity in your office means you have to install proper lighting. Most people who work in home offices tend to spend more time working so it would be best to have correct lighting installed from the onset.
Your lighting needs should meet your comfort as well as productivity requirements. Use natural light as much as possible.
Tags: home office, home office desk, home office productivity, home office style, lighting interiors, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, office furniture, office space layout, productivity in a home office
Posted in Home Office Design, Interior Design 101, Interior Design Themes | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
Hooker Furniture Home Office Sunset Point Utility File Cabinet can sit right in the same conference room as a long table and some chairs. It’s rustic, unique, it’s not your usual contemporary piece but it will definitely work.
For many small businesses, a conference room offers multiple uses. This can be a formal setting for those board meetings and client presentations. This could also be the same room where brainstorming sessions are held as well as strategic planning is drafted.
A conference room may also be used during social functions such as an employee’s birthday party and other celebratory events. This is also increasingly becoming the leading site for video conferences which link companies with their partners and customers, even their own employees.
Design Basics
Determining the actual size, furnishings and lighting for a conference room depends hugely on the number of people that would use it. Designing a space for 32 people requires bout 32 by 14 feet.
If you know the feeling of being cramped in a meeting room in the past, then you know how badly you wanted the meeting to end. That claustrophobic feeling should be eliminated if you ever want people to feel at ease inside the conference room.
There could be moments when it is more beneficial to break up the group into smaller packs during a meeting. Remember not to cramp too many chairs all around the table so that the attendees would be elbow to elbow. Comfort should still be a priority. Chairs, in particular, should be cushioned and upholstered with nothing but quality materials.
People who come from outside your company would eventually attend conferences. Some could be invited electronically to attend videoconferencing. Whichever of these events would push through first, always think about the image that your company would convey. A petite yet trendy company should embrace a more modern method. Make use of bolder colors; this is also true for bigger firms. For smaller conference rooms, make use of traditional tables and chairs as these are the more popular choice.
Table Options
Choices for the conference room table include the basic boardroom table. This is that oval or rectangular table. Chairs should be placed all around this piece of furniture.
Table variations include the V and U-shaped varieties. There are also companies that prefer the classroom type of conference room where the podium sit in front. This is the common setup for business conferences in hotels.
Added Features
An amenity that could be included in a conference room is a buffet table and some cabinets. These are needful in serving food and beverages. A small fridge can also be placed right by the corner so that the refreshments are readily available.
Technology Hub
If you were ever assigned to give an important presentation, then you know how important technology is. Modules that do not show up on the overhead screen or a video conference call that doesn’t work is the last thing that you need to happen during an important correspondence with a client.
It is needful, therefore, to have technology integrated into the conference room. Building credibility means being on top of technical matters as well. The great news is that there are now technology elements such as the one-touch panel control that can be used just as easily as you would a TV remote.
Conference Room Furnishings
Essential furniture for this room includes conference chairs and table. The chairs should be comfortable so that the attendees will feel relaxed. Make sure these are aesthetically and ergonomically designed. The seat must be padded and preferably installed with an adjustable support system.
The conference table, on the other hand, should have a design and shape according to your taste. Designer tables are available and are now known to withstand electronic gadgets and other office stuff. There are also conference tables that come with drawers where laptops and other office essentials can be stored.
Tags: conference room furniture, conference room setup, conference room style, designing the conference room, McCreerys, McCreerys Home Furnishings, office desk, office furniture, office space layout, tips
Posted in Interior Design 101, Interior Design Elements, Office Design | No Comments »
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