Three Office Interiors Often Forgotten

Office interiors and the way in which offices are designed and decorated can make a huge impact on the work place. Whether your office area is one in which prospective clients and customers are likely to visit for meetings or tours, or simply an area where your employees will work, it is important to make sure that the area is clean, friendly and efficient in every way possible. Often it is the little extras which can be forgotten, overlooked or ignored which make a big difference.

Choosing the physical layout and style of desks and chairs may be one thing, but often there are three areas of an office entirely overlooked, yet extremely important nonetheless. When considering the interior decoration and layout of an office, make sure that you do not overlook the importance and relevance of taking care with the floor, the walls and the ceiling. This might seem a rather obvious statement, and you may be forgiven for querying what part of an office might be left besides the walls, floor and ceiling.

However, the point is that in a wide number of cases it is one or more of these areas that has been forgotten or overlooked, or considered to be of relatively little importance. When deciding which model of photocopier to use, how many desks to order, the type of chair which will be suitable ergonomically and considering any technical considerations such as monitors it is easy to focus on the interior of the room. But office interiors don’t just concern themselves with what is above the floor, below the ceiling or within the walls, but should consider the impact of these areas too.

For example, the floor of the office can make a big difference from the points of view of safety, sound, heating and overall comfort. If your office flooring is wooden, laminate or tiled to provide a hard surface, you may consider that this is wise for a long-term investment, since hard floors of this type generally last better, last longer and are easier to keep clean. While these points are true, there are other matters to consider as well. For example, if you have purchased office chairs which have castors or wheels attached as most invariably do, then a hard floor could cause real problems to your employees.

Chairs on wheels, when combined with a hard floor such as wood or laminate can cause the chair to move with the slightest effort. As your employees sit at their desk, twisting, reaching, stretching and even just typing, they may find their chairs starting to walk in the opposite direction. Continually having to shunt the chair back into position, or stretch or lean further to compensate for this are all bad habits which can cause strain injuries over time.

If you decide that hard floors are definitely preferable, then perhaps consider office solutions which includes mats or small areas of carpeting under the chair, or even caster grips in which the castors rest.

It is also worth bearing in mind the noise factor too. Hard floors tend to cause sound to echo and reverberate throughout the office, whereas carpet and other softer materials absorb sound and help keep the office environment sounding quieter and calmer.

With a  great deal of noise bouncing around the office it can be harder to concentrate, increasing the general feeling of stress and decreasing the overall performance and productivity. It is also worth considering the impact as far as heating is concerned, because softer materials such as carpets and rugs, and even curtains, can help to keep heat within the room, whereas harder floors don't absorb or retain heat as well, acting more as reflectors, meaning heat tends to be lost more quickly.

A harder floor is almost certainly likely to cause you to have to pay more for heating, and it might be worth considering what the difference will be between an extra cost initially for softer flooring compared to ongoing extra costs for heating. However, carpets and flooring is only one element of the office which tends to be forgotten.

The ceiling is another area, and there are two factors to consider here -- both the ceiling fabric itself, and the lighting. Lighting can make a huge difference, and bright fluorescent lights can easily cause headaches, with unnatural lighting reflecting off screens and a constant sub audible buzzing which can result in headaches and irritability. Diffused, softer and more natural lighting is best, and being able to take advantage of natural daylight is the best option of all.

But as with hard floors, hard ceilings also tend to increase noise ambience and increase heating costs, so perhaps a lowered ceiling, with softer tiles would be a possible solution to consider. Remember, office interiors doesn't just mean desks and chairs, consider the office space itself, including walls, floors and ceilings, for overall employee comfort and productivity.

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