Seven smarter ways to furnish your office

Has your office expanded or moved? Have you changed the way you work? Or is it simply the right time to reward yourselves with new furniture? Regardless of the reason for updating your office interiors, there are some things you need to consider in order to create an efficient and pleasant working environment where your employees will thrive.

We have some tips from our project sales team who regularly help companies to furnish their offices in a smarter way. After listening to and analysing the customers' needs, the team presents a solution; that solution can sometimes surprise the clients. Project advisors David Hassel and Therese Östby give their advice:

"We want our customers to be a little bold and look at future needs", says Therese. "In a smartly decorated office, a piece of furniture can find new life and new uses."

"Naturally, we always want to sell," says David "but above all we want to create interior design solutions that help our customers to make the best possible use of their premises."

SMART OFFFICE DESIGN IN PRACTICE

By keeping these tips in mind during the planning process, you will create a smart, pleasant and productive office.

Think ahead.

Don’t buy the same kind of furniture that you already have. Think differently. What do you need today? What might you need tomorrow? If you are planning to expand, you may need to fit additional workstations into your existing space; make sure you have the flexibility to do so.

Don’t choose huge desks.

With many employees working from laptops nowadays, there is no need for large workstations. Smaller desks leave space for other things, such as an informal seating area or meeting pod. Smaller tables also allow you to fit more workspaces into the same office space.

Make the most of your conference table.

Choose a conference table that will accommodate the most common number of meeting participants; there’s no need to have a huge table if your meetings are rarely attended by more than a handful of staff members. Consider that the conference table can also be used for more than just meetings: it could double up as a breakroom table and/or as an extra work area. Using the conference room for multiple purposes helps you get the most out of all your office space.

Choose the same chair for several rooms.

If you choose the same kind of chair for the conference room and canteen (or as a visitor chair), you will have a uniform set when you need to host large client meetings. It’s a practical solution that also looks great.

Use storage cabinets as room dividers.

Storage cabinets are perfect when you want to divide a room into smaller spaces. Sliding door cabinets are ideal for this purpose as they can be opened even when the space is limited and hide office supplies. You could even attach acoustic panels to the back to create a makeshift wall that is stylish and reduces background noise.

Make room for informal meetings.

Making smart furniture choices may allow you to fit a seating area between some of the desks. This is perfect for informal meetings as well as pleasant coffee breaks.

Choose a uniform colour scheme.

Where possible, limit yourself to one wood colour and one accent colour. A stripped-back, cohesive colour scheme throughout the office looks good today and will be practical tomorrow when you need to redecorate or move a piece of furniture from one room to another.