Neutral colors dominate office interior design

by Michele Skalicky

SBJ Contributing Writer

sbj@sbj.net

Everybody's tastes are different, and that's no exception when it comes to business owners choosing how to furnish and decorate their businesses. But, while each company is unique in the way it presents itself through furniture style, colors and accessories, there are certain aspects of interior design that seem to be more popular than others these days.

One thing is warm, neutral colors. Gone are the days of stark white or off-white offices, said Terri West, owner of Interior Planning Consultants. "People are a little more receptive to having bright colors on their walls, in fabrics, that type of thing," she said.

Neutral colors seem more comfortable, said Tami Burnett, ASID, interior designer with Grooms Office Systems. That's important at a time when staff members are being asked to do more work.

"They're spending more time (at the office), and I think that is a translation of trying to make the spaces as comfortable as possible for those people with an understanding that we can create a nice environment," she said. "You're going to be here a lot. You're going to be working hard, but we can create a nice space for you, too, to work within."

Neutral colors are chosen for their longevity, as well. They don't tend to go out of style as quickly as other types of color schemes. When Ancel Buff chose colors for an engineering center addition to Sho-Me Power Electric Cooperative in Marshfield, the manager of purchasing and materials for Sho-Me went with neutrals. The furniture is brushed nickel with ivory tops. The chairs are charcoal gray with a slight pattern and black legs. "We tried to stay with very basic colors and then pick up the accent colors through carpet, paints things that are easily changeable," he said.

The types of woods businesses choose for furniture are changing, too. The top choices used to be mahogany, walnut and oak, said Terry Thomas, co-owner of Thomas Brothers Office Furniture. But Thomas said the trend over the last few years has switched to cherry and maple.

However, that trend has started to change recently with the introduction of espresso walnut a dark, chocolate walnut, with silver-finish handles, Thomas said. "It's been really big." And, where chrome and powder-coated finishes in black and other colors used to be the top choices, he said, business owners are now choosing metallic finishes.

Technology

Technology continues to drive the trends in corporate interior design.

"We do an awful lot of power and data capabilities within conference suites," Burnett said. "For instance, the tables will have modules that contain power and data and telecommunication capabilities, which is something that really has come into vogue just in the past couple of years."

Conference rooms are now being fitted with projection screens and tables that house power and data within so people can take their laptops into a meeting and reference documents and take notes without running cords all over the room, Burnett said.

The compatibility with today's technology is one reason Sho-Me Power chose the Haworth line of office furniture for its new addition, Buff said.

"You can get the receptacles and plug-ins underneath it, whereas with traditional office furniture, you've got to move the whole room (to make it work)," he said.

Another reason Sho-Me Power chose that line is because it offered a contemporary style "that we felt would fit in well with an engineering center, and it was not traditional furniture. It's very moveable. It's light enough to be added to and subtracted from. It doesn't require a great deal of attachment to walls," Buff said.

Sho-Me Power purchased the new furniture from Thomas Brothers Office Furniture.

Thomas said businesses that remodel or build new facilities are interested in the mobility factor when it comes to office furnishings.

"Since there's a lot of firms downsizing, a lot of the corporate furniture like the big conference room and things like that are going away.

"They're being changed into more of a multipurpose room with modular tables that can be broken apart and used in teaming-type aspects," he said.

Freestanding furniture has gone from a desk to almost a table with wheels that can be mobilized and taken to a center area where everybody teams together, according to Thomas.

"They can get more out of their office," he said.

What attracted Sho-Me Power to the Haworth line was the fact that the electric cooperative's needs change.

When office furniture requires moving because an employee is added or leaves, there's no need to hire someone to do the job since employees can move the furniture themselves, Buff said.

"It also offers paper management systems that hang on the walls," Buff said. "It gets stuff up off the desk where, with the traditional desk, everything's just all over the desk."

While Sho-Me Power went with more contemporary furnishings for its new addition, many business owners in southwest Missouri tend to lean toward the traditional when it comes to choosing new office furnishings, West said. "They're still a little afraid to branch out."

But, according to West, that is changing. People are traveling to other cities to see what they have to offer in corporate interior design, she said, and people are coming to Springfield from other metropolitan areas where things might be done differently.

"I think you're seeing more contemporary, especially in restaurants," West said. "I think it's a little more diverse than it used to be."

And, while mobility is important for some businesses, it may not be for others, she said.

She tells her clients that if they're not going to be reconfiguring their work areas that much in the future, it's not worth spending that much money on the modular products.

Another thing that's changing in interior design of businesses is the height of the panels in work stations.

"(Business owners) are wanting different heights so people can have more light within their space," West said.

Thomas agrees. "Your panels are always going to be integral in corporate business because it defines space," he said. "What's happening in work stations is that the height of the panels is coming down not to be so tall. They're different sizes used for privacy rather than (acoustics)."

Another trend in interior design in the business world is the fact that business owners want to improve or change their looks.

They're focusing more on interior design now that the economic outlook is improving, Burnett said.

"Owners weren't spending that type of money in the last 1 1/2 years. They weren't putting money back into their facilities. They were kind of holding back," she said. "And now I think the atmosphere seems to be that there's a comfort level there and that things are on the upswing, so now it's OK to spend that money improving your existing facility."