Posts Tagged interior design

Things To Remember While Constructing A Modern Office

Jan 16th, 2010 Posted in Business | no comment »

Office designs have come a long way since the times when they were well known just as good looking luxurious designs that served no utilitarian purpose. Today it is almost universally accepted that good office design reflects the work philosophy of the company and raises the productivity levels of employees, besides ensuring employee retention.

Openness, flexibility and sustainability are the three key principles that you need to keep in mind when building a modern office. The office system furniture and the office interior design must be picked judiciously in order to successfully attain these important objectives, and a few considerations in this regard ought to be made.

First of all, the tasks that will be done inside the office on a regular basis has to be well known and understood. This consideration and the total floor area of the office will help you decide on what design will fit the office. Planning the layout must also include an estimate of how many people will be operating in the office currently and in the years to come.

You should include cafeterias and meeting rooms as well in your layout within the available space besides essential items like office desks and some pieces of office system furniture. Recreational areas, which can contain things like pool tables or chessboards, are also very important as the staff can use them to relax after long periods of work. Moreover, the office should be planned in a manner that ensures optimum space usage without being too cluttered.

An ideal office interior design should be minimalist and make use of soft colour schemes, without any loud and gaudy elements that cause distraction to work. The interiors should also have adequate light, so that there is not a single dark corner in the office.

Contemporary office system furniture with its smart looks and flexibility to meet employees’ requirements raises the spirits of the workforce and gives customers a better feel about the firm. However, while selecting office chairs and office desks, always give due importance to ergonomics so that the employees can remain healthy.

You can also project an eco-friendly image of your company by going for ‘green’ office furniture. You will take a positive stance against ecological degradation if you choose this kind of furniture, which is typically composed of natural fabrics and recycled items. To further build on this theme, you can go for energy efficient lights and other equipments that reduce energy usage.

It is always a good idea to hire an experienced office interior designer so that your office manifests all the positive features of beauty, usefulness and safety that are vital for of a perfect office.

Discover more about the best Interior Designer providing an entire spectrum of Interior Design services.

Fundamentals Of Retail Design

Dec 31st, 2009 Posted in Business | no comment »

The basic purpose of a retail store is to develop an atmosphere that helps the retailer in promoting and selling products and allows the customers pick and purchase the items with ease. That is the reason why retail design, which is the design of retail outlets and spaces, includes not only the standard features of architecture and interior design, but also components of ergonomics, marketing, and graphic design.

While designing a retail space, it is crucial that the specific requirements of that particular retail space are taken into account. For instance, an art gallery would require an entirely different design and arrangement from that of a supermarket. Designing requires paying attention to numerous aspects, for example, the number and type of products which will be on display, the extent of participation by the shop employees in selling procedure and several other such aspects. Many a times it is also necessary for customers to be allowed to test the products, while some other retail spaces may only need displaying the products. The retail design adopted would hence vary accordingly.

Apart from the utilitarian features of retail design, the attractiveness of the retail space to the customer is also highly important. It is important that customers feel welcome in the store once they walk in, and are prompted to buy before leaving. The design of the retail environment has a large role to play in this and it must include in-store advertising to reinforce the brand so that the likelihood of a purchase increases.

Moreover, the retail space must have a lasting impression on the mind of the consumers, and must encourage them to come back and make further purchases. Therefore, a specialist retail designer will always give adequate attention to the environment of the shop that would ensure that the buyers have a nice and pleasant time in the shop.

To make sure that the retail design is effective, the designer should be acquainted with fundamentals on optimal utilisation of space, marketing and psychology of the customers. Both the customer and the retail designer must have some know how of these areas, so that the client can tell the precise requirements to the designer and the designer can efficaciously fulfil the needs of the client.

Lastly, it is not simply the interior of the store that must be carefully designed. The exteriors of the shop are equally important and should be attractive so that the buyers are tempted to come in and look at the goods.

Learn more about the best Interior Design firm providing an entire spectrum of Retail Design services.

The Wonderful Beauty Of Karastan Rugs

Dec 23rd, 2009 Posted in Home | no comment »

The year was 1928. The first loom was produced by Marshall Field, the American textile manufacturer and retailer that was capable of producing a woven rug. Karastan first introduced its machine-made carpets known as “Mystery Rugs”, the counterpart to the hand-made rugs. The machine technology was so advanced that Karastan put one rug up to a considerable challenge.

In the World’s Fair in 1933-1934, Karastan created a larger version of the Kirman pattern. During the display of the new rug, they let people walk across the rug, showing how easily the new Karastan could be cleaned. The rug came out perfect, amazing all who witnessed it.

These days there are many different styles of rugs as well as carpet made by Karastan. You also have many textures to decide from when purchasing a rug. You can go either with loop or cut piles, or both combined, berber, and even shag. You also have the luxury to choose the size which best fits your needs depending on the room size. There are several different choices these days depending on which brands you are looking for. Metropolitan, Carriage House, Sierra Mar, Antique Legends, Samovar, Ashara, English Manor, and Cabo del Sol are the top collection brands you’ll see around.

Karastan has continued to conduct research and innovate. Three new varieties of Karastan were born. SisalWool was created in 1992 to tap into the love of sisal. The problem with sisal was that the look appealed to consumers. At the same time, sisal was not pleasing to the touch and it stained easily. Karastan made a carpet with sisal’s texture and aesthetics, but incorporated the stain resistance, soft feel, and durability of wool. Pure New Zealand wool was woven through the back for long lasting performance and appearance maintenance. The Sisal Wool styles include Agave, Belize, Corvera and Zanzibar.

Following up in 1997, there was an extra step to the finishing of the rug named TeaWash. This would make the finish of the wool look antique patina instead of glossy. Also trying new shades of greens, gold’s and indigo, which created what is called the “abrash” look. This will give the Karastan the appearance of being older.

While in 2006 the Shapura was introduced. With this design you will notice that it may have a more traditional look, but also grabs up some great color to go into some of the interiors around now. They do this by taking the yarns and add in peaches, or light olive green even. This collection of rugs are very detailed, and give a bit of a worn look, this comes from some luster wash. Also named the “Peshawar”, this has a hand tie production.

Karastan are great rug choices especially since they are made on machines and have the appearance of a hand-made rug. They will always be the leaders of quality rugs since many new designs were introduced to us. You couldn’t go wrong by purchasing a Karastan carpet or rug.

This Home Decorating article is written by Abigail Foster from HouseofAreaRugs.com – your authorized floor rug store for flokati area rugs.