Washrooms - Interior Design's Final Frontier

For schools, gyms and offices the washrooms and toilets need to be well designed, functional and above all robust. In larger offices the washrooms may be in use 24 hours a day - and in schools, offices and gyms, these rooms are subject to constant daily use year in, year out. Hygiene is crucial in any commercial or public washroom and finding the right materials, supplier and designer to construct the room is important. Whether it is for a new build or a re-fit, washrooms can be overlooked - but they should be well thought out - as first impressions count.

Functional concerns

In the past washrooms tended to be bleak places, poorly constructed and often just about the last part of many buildings that you would want to visit. Schools in particular face challenges when designing or re-fitting washrooms. The need for toilets, washbasins and cubicles to be robust and as vandal proof as possible is essential. Today washrooms are generally constructed in a more robust way. Perhaps because of the functional nature of a washroom, public and commercial buildings have not always taken design particularly seriously. In our homes we treat the bathroom as we would any other room, when it comes to decor and design. Hotels, bars and restaurants take a similar view - and there is no reason why schools and offices shouldn't join them. Indeed many office buildings do now sport highly designed and attractive washrooms.

Vandalism deterrents

Privacy is important in any washroom and many modern schools are now being designed and built with this in mind. Cubicle doors and partitions can be built as full length to add privacy. Design is also beginning to feature in the plans for even school washrooms. Well designed and attractive rooms can actually deter vandalism. Some older school toilets and washrooms are so ugly, that vandals could be forgiven for rising to the challenge to make them visually worse - and in some cases it can be a real challenge. Attractive, well maintained rooms are actually less likely to be vandalised.

Specialist suppliers

In addition to design, functionality should play a significant part in your choices. Environmental concerns are often part of the design, which include water efficiency fixtures and fittings. Hygiene also needs to be considered in the early stages of the design, ensuring that washrooms can be cleaned effectively to a high standard is crucial in any building, though perhaps most important in schools and nurseries. Whatever the building, it is worth investing in quality and hard wearing washrooms. Specialist designers and builders are ideal for the job, with experience of creating individual solutions for all types of premises. Schools and nurseries will normally have slightly different requirements to commercial buildings, so a supplier who has experience of these types of building should be employed.

Washrooms for schools and commercial premises are an important functional room; however, this does not mean that design should not feature as part of their construction. Robust materials in attractive settings can have numerous benefits - and can even deter vandalism. Talk to Amwell Systems ( http://www.amwell-systems.com/ ) the UK experts in Washrooms and Toilets.

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The HOW of Networking and Interior Design Success

The number one complaint I hear from designers is the lack of quality clients. Most designers I talk to have tried everything to find them from, fancy websites, postcard mailings, and of course networking. I can tell you personally that every fantastic client I have ever met, was through some form of networking. You've probably tried networking yourself, and depending on your successes, I have a few new ideas and tips for how to make networking even more productive.

1. Who are you networking with? Don't forget, networking can mean many things from a friend of a friend, a fellow business owner, or an organized networking group.

2. What are you offering them in exchange? The best way to ensure quality, top notch referrals is from someone who respects and values you already. That means you need to give as much as you receive whether it's reciprocating with a lead for them, or a complimentary consultation.

3. Where one finds great clients takes a knowledge of who you're looking for, and a little strategy. Think about it; design clients are people who not only care about where they live, they're willing to ask for help (and pay for), from a quality professional.

It came to me when I learned where Helen, (my coaching client I was boasting about earlier) had found one of her new dream clients. She was networking on Linked-in with a professional organizer. Brilliant! People who are willing to pay a professional to help them organize their home, will probably need help making their home beautiful. So start brainstorming! Who else can you think of who offers services with the same criteria?

4. When should you be networking? (When shouldn't you be networking, is a better question.) One of the most profitable relationships I've ever made was from a store owner I met at a friend's birthday party. You really never know where your next great customer will come from. You never know where your next great customer will come from, so pay attention, or a great opportunity might pass you by.

5. How you network is a critical piece of this profitable puzzle. I know how much success I've had in my own design business through networking, so I know that it works. I've listened to other designers who think they're mining for great clients, and what I actually witness them doing is scaring away prospects by coming off as pushy or overbearing.

The "How" of networking is simply a form of sales, and we know how much designers love to sell... It may not be your strongest skill, but it's critical to your success. I recommend you start doing a little research and work on honing the art of sales. You'll be amazed how simple and fun it can be. Just by knowing a few simple phrases, adjusting your body language (while learning to read others), and understanding client psychology, can fill your design business faster than anything else you'll try.

Whether you are just starting out in the design world, or have years of experience, Chelsea Coryell can help you discover the confidence and tools for success in building the design business of your dreams. Drawing from over 20 years of experience as a professional designer and a, "failing business" consultant, she can help you today by visiting http://www.designforaliving.com/ where you can download a free video series now.

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LED Under Cabinet Lighting Is the Prime Choice of Interior Decorators

The growth of technology and necessity of better light sources gave us LED lights. The sources have evolved from the traditional incandescent or fluorescent lights to LED. Compared to incandescent lights, LED lights have the lighting consume 60% less energy and provide similar brightness. The architects and interiors designers are now having much better options with LED under cabinet lighting. They can now experiment a lot of new looks because the LED under cabinet flexible strip can be operated on ultra narrow platforms. The LED strip lights can be installed anywhere without much of a trouble and produces warm or pure white light. They are extremely low profile and highly flexible to be bent in any degree. The LED under cabinet lighting can be installed in many ways with the help of fixtures and give a much better glowing effect in the surroundings.

The LED kitchen cabinet lights are widely used to enhance the look of the kitchen cabinets. It is luxury form of LED lighting because they give a whole new outlook to the kitchen cabinets. The contractors and architects today use variations in the lighting to give attractive look. It is available in vivid colors; hence they can be used to suit the mood better according to the environment and color theme of the surroundings. They also give the facility to be modulated; hence the brightness can be controlled. This complements the area which is illuminated and hence has gone a step ahead as compared to xenon or incandescent lighting. The interior decorators always use new & better options to decorate the home, office or hotels. Be it a book shelf, garden patio, kitchen cabinets or ceilings, LED has become their prime choice because of brilliant color combination, less heat generation and low consumption. The LED flexible strip lighting can be accommodated anywhere without much of an effort.

The LED kitchen cabinet lights has become the first choice for kitchen cabinets and also to highlight other sophisticated furniture. The dug in LED under cabinet lights are placed directly into the cabinet or shelf making them non noticeable. The LEDs are primarily installed in living room area for maintaining more artistic interiors. These recessed LED under cabinet lights can be installed via dug in process hence the area should be chosen extremely wisely during installation.

LED lights are also available in flexible strip and aluminium tube format that can be used in kitchen interiors for highlighting purposes. These LED aluminium tube lights operate on a remarkably less power and give 2,700-7,000K of warm to cool bright light. The LED tube lighting offers a variety of colors and can have their brightness modulated with dimmer as required. LED under cabinet lighting can be used in extremely narrow spaces and still give the required luminance. The under cabinet lights come as a bar or disk and can be chosen according to the requirement and the space available. The decorators also utilize the accent lighting to enhance the look and highlight the counter tops with LED lights. The LED under cabinet lighting is also used as jewelry display lights because of their flicker free nature and no maintenance.

Tired of traditional incandescent or fluorescent lamps that do not bring you eco-friendly lights, and consume so much energy in your home as well? LED-Mate has ideal energy conservation eco solutions. Kim Zheng is the company's senior author of lighting articles, an experienced expert of super bright SMD based LED lighting fixtures for under cabinet, under shelf, under counter, and interior design lighting applications. He reveals latest technology aiming to improve the quality of your home or business illuminations by installing environmentally friendly high brightness led cabinet lighting or other Led based fixtures. Find out more about under cabinet lighting from other articles and releases written by Kim Zheng, where he offers valuable advises and tips for eco-friendly, energy efficient LED lighting products.

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Four Factors That Office Interior Designers Must Consider When Designing an Office

As a work place, the office is unique in the manner in which those working there interact. While factory floors have operators working singularly or in teams to complete physical tasks, and studios are the type of venue for more creative work by artistic employees that often work silently alone, the general commercial office has a lot more going on. For office interior designers, this means an array of spacial and organisational problems that need to be negotiated.

While manufacturing spaces are almost cavernous, ruled by the typically large machinery that is being used and practical issues relating to moving products, and studios are far quieter, manned by a small number of individuals, the modern office can have dozens of staff all working in close proximity. Therefore, office planning requires a very different approach than the other work areas.

While there is a wide range of styles to choose from, the actual commercial design chosen must serve several basic needs which can be divided into four main categories, namely the office network, communication practices, the regulations that must be complied with, and future office needs that may require attention.

Office Network

The office network is basically the required network of individual work areas, executive offices, meeting rooms, reception area, boardroom and non work related areas like break room, kitchen and toilet facilities. Of particular importance is how this network of office facilities relate to each other, especially which departments should be closest to each other.

The provision of executive offices, boardroom and meeting rooms means that the overall available space for general office staff is reduced dramatically, but these facilities must be provided. While the toilets and reception area can be reduced to the minimum space necessary, some imaginative designs are needed to ensure the remaining space accommodates the general staff needs.

Communication

This relates to how the flow of work in the office is channelled between different departments, and between workers themselves. The idea is to avoid a crisscross motion of work, to ensure traffic in the office does not crash into each other. The movement of reports and use of meeting areas by specific workers come into the equation too so as to ensure the most relevant organisation is applied. In essence, the individual workers that need to be located close to each other are, and are placed closest to the relevant executive office. Also, sections that are likely to cause noise, and therefore a distraction for office staff, are also accounted for with specific photocopying and printing rooms established to place office equipment out of sight and keep noise levels as low as possible.

Regulations

Every type of working area is affected by building and safety regulations, which must be complied with. These regulations need to be taken into account at the initial planning stage too, with aspects such as the position and number of fire extinguishers, position of exits and an ensured clear passage towards them all figuring in design calculations. Style of office sprinkler systems may also need to considered, and by extension the style of lighting system.

Another regulation that need to be complied with is that of easy access for those with physical disabilities, which generally means wider isles between desks, and greater back to back spaces between workers, so as to accommodate wheelchair users.

Possible Future Needs

Finally, with the knowledge that an office can change quite dramatically over a short period of time, particularly if business has to hire new personnel, allowances are often made for the future needs of the business. For example, more generous desk spacing and aisle widths are applied than is necessary, thereby keeping extra space in reserve.

In order to ensure future needs are accommodated, office interior designers will usually carry out yearly space analysis, usually at the time that the client is preparing their budget, allowing them the opportunity to make factor in any necessary costs. All of these areas of consideration are necessary if the commercial design to be used is to be efficient.

After all, establishing efficiency, and in doing so creating a workable, organised and overall enjoyable working environment, is the principal offpoint of ice planning. For the designer, the task is a detailed and rather complicated one, but brings its own satisfaction when completed successfully.

Sarah Shore writes articles for Interaction, a respected provider of high quality, unique and bespoke commercial design services to large and small organisations in the UK. Interaction's highly qualified and professional office interior designers have a portfolio of well known clients, and specialise in office design including the implementation of new furniture, colour schemes, art, lighting and much more whilst complying to the latest health and safety standards.

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Tips on Retail Interior Design

When it comes to the interior design of your home, office, or business, most people tend to think that creating a beautiful space is a costly process. The words 'thousands of pounds' flits through people's minds as they think of decorating a room or building, but you may find that redecorating or giving your space a facelift can actually cost a good deal less than you may think.

There are many ways that you can use retail materials and items to help you create an interior design that is elegant, and all at a fairly low-cost. There are many items in retail display showcases that you can purchase that will help you create a simple, tasteful interior. Going into your average retail store and checking out retail display showcases can be a great way to get ideas of objects to use to help you decorate.

Before you start looking at objects to use to decorate, here are a few things that you can do to help you use colours, lighting, pattern, and other simple techniques to create a beautiful retail interior design:

When creating the interior design of your space, try to find colours that match the function of the space. If you are in an office, why would you paint your walls bright pink? No lawyer's office should have yellow walls, and no nursery should have black walls. Use colours that match the function of the place, and use colour psychology to help you determine which the best colours to use in your space are.

Once you have determined the best colours to use, you need to see how the lighting of your room affects your colour scheme. If you have a good deal of natural light, you may find that dark colours simply won't work for a room. You can still use earthy colours with natural light, but you may find that light, airy colours are perfect for combining with natural sunlight to create a pleasant atmosphere.

Make sure that your furniture matches the style of your room, and you can easily find furniture to complement the colours of your room. There are many items of furniture in the retail display case at your local furniture stores, and these items are usually fairly low-cost but still have plenty of aesthetic appeal. Use these low-cost furniture options to help you create an interior design that is pleasing and low-budget.

Arrange your furniture to lay out your space in a particular pattern. You can have one central focal point of the room with all of the furniture facing or gathering around it, or you can create a room that has a natural flow and various focal points. Use your furniture to create a natural environment to the room.

Be consistent when it comes to your appearance and style. Changing the colours from room to room is the best way to annoy people, and you should keep the colour scheme of your entire space consistent. You can make simple changes or variations on your theme, but you need to ensure that your retail interior design flows and blends harmoniously.

SmithBrewer offer design and build services for retail and commercial interiors, our in-house retail design team offers a wealth of experience and design skills within the interior, graphic and product design fields. We provide a retail interior design service for commercial properties such as offices, hotels, bars and restaurants. We can create a full scheme for you or can design feature areas or even individual pieces of furniture to suit an existing scheme.

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How Office Interior Design Can Affect Office Productivity

To most of us, interior design is simply something to do with making a room look nice. Large windows are there to fill the room with light, a luxurious carpet to make everything cosy, and maybe some antique furniture to raise an eyebrow and prompt a conversation. When it comes to office interior design, we expect pretty much the same motive lies behind the choices made in terms of furniture and floor plan. But this is not completely true.

While there is always a desire to create a working environment that is pleasing to the eye, there are other reasons behind such an investment too. The particular office design ought to be much more, encouraging positive things such as calmness, confidence and imagination, and such practical aspects as communication, industry and initiative. The overall benefit to a business is a higher level, and usually higher quality, of work done, planned and generated.

Many modern offices have already taken into account such factors, with older offices usually the ones to offer cramped conditions. However, opting for office refurbishment services does not necessarily mean spending a fortune. There are affordable and highly effective options for offices of all sizes and populations.

For decades it was thought that an office worker only feels good when they have finished their work by the end of the day. Such beliefs have faded, however, with the modern office worker needing more than the assurance that getting through their workload is keeping their bosses happy.

That good feeling is expected to be as close to continuous as possible. This can be accomplished in three main ways. Firstly, use of light. Secondly, use of space. And thirdly, the actual furniture they sit on or sit at every working day.

Space

Avoiding the cutter can have a hugely beneficial effect on workers, with the claustrophobic feeling that comes with sitting and moving in close proximity to others being more unnerving and distracting than anything else.

A basic idea is to keep a certain distance between office desks, but by lowering work station dividing walls, or even removing them completely, and ensuring typical pc wiring is neatly tucked below and hidden from view, an office can appear more spacious. However, a beneficial design is to have a large open space with no desks at all available, usually as a break area. This can actually act as a motivation to get things done, with the reward being a break on a comfortable sofa.

Light

Light, of course, has a positive effect on people by nature, and by maximising the light in an office the feel good factor is maximised also. Large windows allow light to flood in, but light coloured and smooth surfaces will see the light reflected more generously around the office. Glass, as a furniture feature, ensures that the light can be distributed without hindrance.

Furniture Comfort is a major factor in office happiness, which is only logical. However, providing a luxurious area in which to relax provides the ultimate in comfort, effectively removing the worker from the office without physically doing so. The result is a place where the mental approach to work can be refreshed, helping to keep concentration levels high and the flow of ideas flowing.

Since the modern office offers more subtle benefits than simply a nice place to work, it is clear that some office values will never die. The whole idea of creating a happy working space is, after all, an endorsement of the old adage that a happy worker is a productive worker. Using the office interior design to encourage productivity is, perhaps, a more modern technique, rather than the stereotypical idea of getting bonuses for completing tasks or projects and putting up with cluttered, camped and noisy working conditions.

Whether the office design is for a brand new office still to be constructed, or to be the inspiration behind an office refurbishment project, it is very much worth bearing in mind how the particular design is going to benefit the workers in the office. If it can make them happier in their place of work, then the consequence is a higher level of productivity, which in essence means that everyone, from the office boy to the office boss, can work with a smile.

Sarah Shore writes articles for Interaction, an online provider of bespoke office space design and office refurbishment. Based in the UK, Interaction provide a full service of office interior design from the planning stages right through to implementation. Some of the many well known companies and groups that Interaction has provided office design services for include Helphire, The AA group and a range of other businesses, schools and community buildings.

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