Create your own boardroom at home

Nowadays, many people run business right from the comfort of their own home. Working from home means that to create a suitable home office environment, you need all of the office furniture essentials including: office desks, computer hardware and software, office chairs, office storage, and many other important items.

Despite all of the benefits that running your business from home have to offer, most of these business owners won’t get to or even consider having the luxury of special office areas like a reception area, boardroom, or even an official breakout room which is separate from your home life. These functional rooms will often get combined with ‘home’ rooms like the living room, dining room, and kitchen. This means that you’ll not get to experience the benefits that a boardroom table in particular has to offer.

Understandably, not everyone has the space for a boardroom which can be an important part of daily business. So, we have picked out a few of our boardroom tables that are small enough for a dedicated area of an existing room, or that will fit easily into the office room of the house.

This is the Pegasus 2 from our range of boardroom tables.

As you can see, it has a very convenient size together with an attractive oval shape that will blend nicely into most home office interiors. The surface of the Pegasus boardroom tables are made from 25mm MFC or real wood veneer to give that contemporary, smooth finish. This would also make a suitable office desk for anyone looking for one of these and a boardroom table, but who is on a budget.

If you don’t have much space in your office and you’re looking for an elegant addition to your dining or living room the slim, angled, highly-polished legs make Pegasus boardroom tables a great choice; however, not everyone has a contemporary home interior and this is why we’ve also highlighted our Oxford range. These are very simple designs, but ones that have been produced to a very high standard.

This Oxford 3 is an understated, square, timber table that would suit both modern and traditional home office interiors. Choose from oak, maple, walnut, ash, cherry, or beech for the Oxford 3’s solid legs and frame.

For a more minimalistic, ultra-modern finish, we have also selected our Arkitek 6 table.

Arkitek boardroom tables have beautiful glass tops which can either be frosted, white, clear, black, or blue. The table surface is greatly complimented by the polished frame available in either silver or chrome.

Arkitek tables are an excellent way to accentuate and polish up a tired, old home office interior.

Click here to view the rest of our boardroom tables.

Stay with boardroom tables: the disadvantages of virtual meetings

Virtual meetings are a popular choice for many companies now and who can blame them? Meeting in a virtual setting has many qualities that are difficult to ignore: convenience, no travelling, more time to work, reduced carbon footprint, comfort, and no requirement for office furniture like boardroom tables and conference chairs.

Virtual meetings, probably better known as video conferencing, are usually done in the format of online platforms like Skype. Whilst Skype is a great example, there are a number of other video conferencing tools out there that aren’t limited to a meeting between two people. The fact that meetings are frequently held between big groups of people has already highlighted a number of problems with virtual video communication. The following points will undoubtedly start to make those dull meetings around boardroom tables suddenly very appealing.

• A virtual conference can result in a lot of ineffective communication. A meeting like this between several people who aren’t actually sat next to each other means that they may be more likely to interrupt one another by accident, or ask questions at the same time. Either of these can sometimes be very awkward and are enough to put them off contributing to conferences again.

• Additionally, some employees may struggle with the unnatural feeling of virtual conferencing; especially if they’ve never done it before. Those who find it an uncomfortable means of communication and don’t like that they are being ‘filmed’ could result in a lack of engagement from them.

• Online meet-ups require an excellent internet connection and mean that you’ll also need to purchase reliable hardware, software, and sometimes you’ll have to spend time registering with company websites. These result in more outgoings, reduced storage space, time delays, and meetings which are continually halted by poor equipment and bad internet connection speeds.

• When you aren’t forced to sit around boardroom tables there can be loads of distractions to tempt you away from focusing on the meeting: checking emails, checking your mobile phone, and social media. Concentration is certainly reduced.

• Video conferencing for virtual meetings unfortunately eliminates vital personal contact which is an important factor in building strong business relationships. Furthermore, the impact of important visual and audio cues like body language, voice tone, and verbal noises are reduced. Particularly, body language is an essential method of human communication which gives off many unspoken indicators.

So whilst face-to-face meetings around boardroom tables have their multitude of disadvantages, they also have many benefits and stay clear of the problems we have just discussed. Here at Panther Interiors, we have a variety of office furniture pieces designed especially for meeting rooms including conference chairs, boardroom storage facilities, tables, and credenzas and presentation units.

Contact Panther Interiors for further information about our selection of furniture designs and styles.

Boardrooms in hotels

Boardrooms don’t just have to be limited to offices; they are also a common feature of many hotels too. In last week’s blog post, as a London office furniture company surrounded by hundreds of hotels, Panther Interiors explored the importance of reception desks for hotel reception areas.

Our range of office furniture also caters for the hospitality industry in many other ways too. In particular, our vast selection of boardroom furniture including boardroom tables can very quickly transform an unused room into a boardroom/conference room and can become a profitable addition to your list of hotel services.

A conference room with a high-quality boardroom table can be used for so many business activities. Often business meetings between a company and their clients won’t always be able to take place in the comfort of either of their own offices and instead, they will have to meet halfway in a hotel somewhere. Creating a boardroom in your hotel will make it more attractive these companies who are looking for somewhere to host important business activities like conferences, employee training days, client meetings, business proposals, and presentations.

It is important that your hotel boardroom looks just right as it has to be in-keeping with the overall interior design and branding of your hotel. The boardroom must also reflect how upmarket, mid-range, or affordable your hotel is whilst still looking professional no matter how cheap in price the rooms might be. All of these hotel characteristics will dictate the kinds of companies who want to use your boardroom facilities.

Let’s start with our Hyform boardroom tables. We believe that these would complement the conference rooms of top hotels that cater for those with a high budget. Made by British craftsmen, these bespoke boardroom tables are of a very high calibre with their real, rich wood veneers.

To accompany your Hyform boardroom tables we have other boardroom furniture pieces to match like this Audience credenza and presentation unit (above). These are extremely useful for conference rooms as they provide storage and valuable presentation options like boards, projector screens and even room for a television.

There can be long meetings and events in these rooms which can sometimes last for a whole working day or more. It is essential that a company doesn’t leave your hotel remarking about how uncomfortable they were and complaining of back ache. Avoid this by purchasing conference chairs with optimum comfort and practicality. For example, our ergonomic Rang conference chairs have soft padding together with similar padded arm rests. The metal stand which supports the chair means that it easily slides out from the table on carpeted surfaces. Click here to view more of our conference chairs.

Panther Interiors can provide you with further advice about boardroom design and help you to choose all of the right furniture for your hotel. Take a look at our previous blog post if you would like to find out more about our reception desks.

Reception desks for hotels

In our previous blog, we briefly mentioned how the reception area of a hotel can become the deciding factor for whether or not you choose to stay; something that you have most likely done yourself. Unfortunately for hotel owners this can mean the difference between a booking and no booking.

So why is the reception area so important to potential customers? Well, besides from the images of the hotel rooms on websites and in their marketing material, a reception area is arguably the only other visual gateway into the hotel and what its rooms might be like. Let’s face it, it would be strange to see photos of a hotel with amazing rooms and yet, an awful reception. This room is marketing in itself and hotel owners should not miss the opportunity it creates to shout about how nice, affordable, or exclusive their hotel brand is.

We believe that a good place to start when designing or refurbishing your reception area is the reception desk. This is for several reasons:

• Ultimately reception desks define this part of hotels. As a point of vital communication with customers already in the hotel and those who are considering staying, it must also be practical as well as visually appealing. From the reception desk you conduct business, administration, take phone calls and a multitude of other important tasks. The right desk could begin improving the efficiency of your business.

• With hotel lobbies, first impressions always count. The desk is a hotels chance to demonstrate a smart appearance from its staff, politeness, and outstanding customer service. Make sure that you find the right one to ensure optimum employee performance as well as being a stunning addition to the interior design.

Our Premia reception desks are an exceptional range of high-quality furniture pieces that would sit well in the lobby of many upmarket hotels. Unlike many reception desks, Premia’s veneered designs are able to boast craftsmanship; not just modern machinery and computer aided design. What stand out the most are their strong curves which demand a master craftsmen when it comes to veneer.

Our Premia 1 desk (above) really is the epitome of Premia design with its striking mix of dark and light walnut veneer finish and chevron pattern. This design would be the perfect centrepiece for a large top of the range hotel and set against a gleaming floor and exotic woods would undoubtedly say exactly what you want about your brand.

Above is the Premia 7. Although it is noticeably not as opulent as the previous, it still has qualities that would sit it comfortable in a small upmarket hotel entrance. This design is all about great customer service and accessibility with its 270 degrees circular design and low front. Its warm walnut veneer finish adds a welcoming touch and can even be enhanced by a matching coffee table.

We also stock many types of office furniture which would also fit in perfectly with hotels. Particularly, if your hotel is hoping to have a boardroom, then a good place to begin is with our selection of boardroom tables. Many of our previous blog posts focus on boardroom tables so take a look.

Reception desks for the creative industries

Reception areas have to look just right for a company. Much like the way a hotel reception can be enough to become the deciding factor as to whether or not you want to stay there, a reception area in any business premises could have the same effect on visitors.

The key component that transforms a room into a reception area is the reception desk and these alone can convey a lot about your business. It is essential to choose an appropriate design for your company as it will most likely be the first thing that people see. The reception desk is just as important as boardroom tables are for boardrooms; it is the centrepiece of what that room is all about.

As well as boardroom tables, office chairs, desks, and coffee tables, we also stock many reception desks from a variety of different ranges. They are all different styles so there will be at least one which will say exactly what you want about your business.

In today’s blog we’re going to focus on our more colourful reception desks. These striking colours would suit the reception areas of all kinds of creative design, marketing, and advertising related agencies as the modern shapes and bright colours connote professional creativity, and innovation.

These (above) are our Valde desks. Some of these can be configured into different shapes and their fronts are available in several different colours: orange, green, red, and white. The fabulous high gloss fronts of these Valdes and the LED lighting intensifies these fun colours and are sure to make clients warm to your company.

Below, are some of our Informa reception desks. Their translucent methacrylate fronts and blue glass tops will very quickly modernise any space and show that your company is full of fresh and exciting ideas that shouldn’t be missed out on.

The impressive steel panels of the Sphera range (below) not only create striking contours, but they also come in a range of colours, as do their glass counters. Choose from either blue, pastel blue, green, silver, anthracite, or red and watch the room become a reception area capable of rivalling the top worldwide creative agencies.

The curved shape seen in all of these examples is a great way to make you more available as a company in the reception area by being accessible to several customers at once. After all, it is a place of welcome, communication, and ultimately, first impressions.

In next week’s blogs we’ll be continuing our exploration of our reception desks and the kinds of environments where they would suit best. In the meantime, contact us for more information about our Informa, Valde, and Sphera products.

Panther Interiors also stock boardroom tables, office chairs and desks, storage, and many other types of office furniture.

Minimalism in the office

It is more than likely that you will have heard or used the term minimalistic before but, in case you haven’t we will explain now.

Minimalism interior design can be described as a clean, basic layout in which lots of smaller items or highly decorative accessories do not reside; minimal clutter. Although this may sound too basic, modern interior design will often have a dramatic impact on people when they step into the space.

Minimalism and interior design is a combination believed by some people to mean dull, cold, hard, and unwelcoming. Others will describe interiors with a minimalist design as trendy, modern, and inviting. Arguably the effect of a minimalist room and what it makes people feel, depends on a number of factors: the use of colour, the size and shape of the furniture, and layout. Each of these decisions will either achieve a modern but welcoming room, or a cold and uninspiring room. The same applies for minimalist office spaces too; not just home interiors.

There are many advantages of incorporating minimalism into offices.

• The most important point and probably the most obvious is that in a minimalist’s world, there is no clutter, despite all of the free space. If you are having an office refurbishment to achieve this look then you will have no choice but to remove unnecessary office items.
• Less clutter means less visual distractions. Without little distractions, for example posters, you could get more work done and might meet those important deadlines a lot sooner.
• With the urge for unnecessary items reduced, you could save a lot of money as you will not feel like you need decorative items. Instead, just focus on the practical items that you actually need.
• Your office will become significantly larger and you could even consider the expansion you hoped for this year an employ new staff.
• You may be able to make further reductions in your outgoings with less hours totted up on that monthly cleaning invoice. Your office space could become more hygienic and less expensive to clean as there won’t be as many items that require careful dusting and cleaning.

We stock a wide selection of minimalist office furniture designs ranging from reception desks, office desks, reception chairs, office chairs, and more. As you can see with these particular images, the office interiors are both modern and welcoming.

These are office desks from Vital.

This is a very sleek, modern reception desk design from Evolution.

They say that ‘a tidy room is a tidy mind’ so consider an office refurbishment this year and make your working spaces minimalistic.

Contact Panther Interiors for more information about our office space planning services and office refurbishment services.

Do your employees have the office blues yet?

Colour psychology should be incorporated wherever possible in business as it can have a dramatic impact on people’s moods. Particularly in office environments the colours you choose for your office interior design could mean the difference between a good or bad day at work.

While you’re at work, take a moment to glance around your office. Do your employees seem angry all the time? Are they constantly on the verge of an argument with their colleagues? Are they sat on a red chair or facing a red desk divider? This could be the cause of their mood and behaviour.

In this blog post, we will be concentrating on the colour blue and why you should embrace this colour within the workplace.

Blue is a great colour for office environments as it is commonly believed to be calming, relaxing, and connote tranquillity. All of these potential moods which can derive from the colour blue can be a way towards reducing work related stress levels, frustration, and anxiety.

London office furniture company, Panther Interiors can help you with office refurbishment and transform your office into a stress-free zone with a number of our blue office furniture pieces. These blue office chairs will get the calming process going during your employee’s lunch breaks.

These chairs will give your employees no choice but to relax during their lunch breaks and are some of our favourite breakout chairs for this reason. Their sleek, modern designs will modernise any breakout area and are bound to get employees to start relaxing. The ergonomic shapes and smooth lines of each of these chairs would probably still make the chair look tranquil even without the colour blue.

This pod-like screen with blue seating can be used anywhere in an office and will especially sit perfectly in a breakout area. You could even place it in the corner of a large office to be used as a mini meeting room.

These are more conventional shaped screens which we have available in blue are an excellent way to add some colour to brighten up an office refurbishment. A blue office screen like one of these will help your employees to remain calm during extra stressful times at work.

If you can’t afford to purchase a load of new office furniture, you could try a very simple office refurbishment with Panther Interior’s vast selection of office fabrics and screen fabrics. We currently have around thirty shades of blue for office screen fabrics and around fifty shades of blue for office seating fabrics; all in different types of material.

Contact us for further advice on how to improve your office interior design. We can also discuss what shades of blue might suit your existing office interior.

Working from home: part 2

Our previous blog post was the first part of our two-part blog special in which we explored the disadvantages of working from a home office. Now it is time to study the many advantages that working at home has to offer in part two.

Your very own office

Working from home means you don’t need to wait for a promotion to acquire your very own office.

Our London office furniture range has a number of suitable furniture pieces that will fit into a small room at home including office desks (Arkitek desks, Vital desks, Lexus desk), and office chairs (Kruze chairs, IS chairs, Trillipse chairs).

No need to commute

Conducting business and fulfilling job roles at home means there is no need to travel to a place of work. This fact alone carries many benefits with it. No need to commute means no travel expenses and therefore a significant saving of fuel which you can use up at the weekend instead. The chance to avoid the fluctuating fuel prices has probably converted you to working at home already.

With no time allowance needed for commuting, you can dedicate the time you would normally spend in the car, on the bus, or on the train, to more minutes/hours working. By the time you would normally have just arrived at work, you will have already got through an hour of your working day. Moreover, you get to avoid the chaotic traffic during rush hour and escape the unexpected delays often posed by public transport.

Flexible working hours

Have you been meaning to catch up with that old friend for ages? Working at home adds great flexibility to your daily routine; a lot more than you would experience at a place of work. Now you can catch up with old mates in your lunch breaks and make up the time later in the evening from the comfort of your own home where all of your work essentials are already waiting for you. No longer will you still be in the office at 8pm with the cleaners trying to vacuum around you.

No formal work clothes required

Prior to the daily commute to work, there is a dilemma which you will frequently face; what to wear.

With an office at home, you won’t have to set your alarm for an hour early to allow enough time to choose a work outfit. Instead you can where whatever you wish and no doubt your bank account will also feel the benefits without all of those shopping trips to update your selection of skirts and choice of comedy ties.

Less stress

Reduced expenses, no commutes, and no office parties, and most importantly no need to compete or argue. An office at home is most certainly one way to reduce your stress levels.

Have you reached a decision yet? Take a browse through our office furniture and start building your very own office.

Working from home: part 1

Working from home seems to be an increasingly popular choice for both employees and small business owners. Here at Panther Interiors we stock a vast range of office furniture that is suitable for home offices.

In this two-part blog special, we explore the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first shall we?

Posture

Whilst vigorous health and safety checks in the workplace may seem annoying at times, they are there for your benefit. Ergonomic office chairs and an office desk at the correct height can prevent health and posture problems in the long term.

Fashioning an office at home without proper ergonomic office furniture could soon create back problems, neck pain, and sore and achy joints.

Expensive

Although by working at home you can save a lot of fuel money, constructing your home office can be a very costly outgoing. It also means that there is one less room in the house, unless you decide to work from your kitchen table or sofa (definitely not good for long periods of time on a laptop or trying to write).

To build an efficient office environment, you will need to consider purchasing an office desk, adequate lighting, a comfy office chair, and office storage; then you have still got to think about all the necessities like stationery, and computer hardware and software.

Distractions

The distraction of the coffee machine at work and that really annoying work colleague is nothing when compared with the endless distractions that you could face at home. Pets, children, noisy neighbours, television, radio, unexpected visitors, and non-work related phone calls; the chances are that at least one of these will hinder your work progress on a daily basis. Annoying colleagues don’t seem so bad now, do they?

Extra financial costs

An office at home means big trouble for your utility bills. Having your computer on all day, printing, adequate lighting, and heating will soon add up when these would otherwise all be switched off during the daytime if you were based in an office building.

Lack of motivation

With a boss or manager absent, temptation and lack of motivation will undoubtedly surface sooner or later. If you are working in an environment like an office at home where there is no one to push you or compete against, your motivation and work progress may suffer, and there will always be the temptation to keep putting work off.

So they are the main disadvantages of working at home: a long list of office furniture, distractions that are difficult to ignore, unexpected outgoings, and low work productivity.

Hopefully we haven’t totally put you off working from home as there are also a number of advantages to be experienced. We will explore these in our part two blog post tomorrow.

Boardroom tables that will encourage the best in your company to surface

Boardroom tables, conference chairs, storage units, credenzas, and not forgetting the water cooler. Whilst all of these are important elements of office furniture, here at Panther Interiors we believe that the table is the most crucial feature which demands careful consideration.

Not only is a boardroom table the centrepiece of a conference room, but they are also a hub of ideas, creativity, productivity, and most importantly the start of success for a lot of companies; however they can also be a very scary place for a lot of employees who don’t feel confident to voice their opinions in front of an intimidating ‘head of the table’, and this is something that should be remembered when purchasing conference tables.

Arguably, this hate for meetings may sometimes arise as a result of long, rectangular conference tables which can create a clear distinction between office hierarchy. Although rectangular shaped ones have their multitude of benefits, some companies may be better suited to office furniture which puts everyone in equally important positions and in a more conversational seating arrangement. (Yes, unfortunately even the smallest of factors, like the shape of furniture, could dictate the performance of your employees and thus, the success of your business; the Knights of the Round Table definitely got it right!).

Opting for a round design can encourage everyone in a meeting to feel on an equal level and potentially make individuals become more confident about showcasing their thoughts and ideas. Without a manager at the head of the table, less confident individuals may not feel as nervous and the meeting will flow like a conversation with everyone’s ideas bouncing off each other.

Here at Panther Interiors we like to make sure that we guide companies towards the most suitable option for them. We have picked out some of our favourite round boardroom tables to highlight just how beneficial a sociable design can be.

This is a high-quality large, circular Hyform table made from birdseye maple veneer and burr walnut which can seat up to twelve boardroom chairs; even with this many people in a meeting, this shape won’t let anyone feel left out.

In addition to this we also stock designs that are ideal for medium-sized business meetings. Also made from Maple veneer, this is one of our smaller Hyform tables which can seat eight conference chairs.

Do your meetings only ever consist of a few people? If so, then this small round office table will be perfect.

So make an investment in the performance of every one of your meetings, no matter how large or small, and make sure that you are choosing the correct table design.

If you would like more information about any of our office furniture, don’t hesitate to contact us.