Home Office Furniture Blog

Animi Causa Fee - Sofa made from 120 soft balls

2009-03-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

Looking for a comfortable position? The Animi Causa Feel moves with you as you search for the perfect seat. It's made from 120 soft balls which are able to be arranged in an infinite number of ways. This ingenious design does away with rigid wood and metal, allowing your furniture to move with you, making it almost an organic life form.

View the Animi Causa website

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Sofa Beds

2009-03-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

Shopping for a sofa bed can be a tricky game and with so many to choose from, where do you start? The futon was a popular choice in the past but due to their instability and problems of loosing shape over time, sofa beds are now a popular choice as they look and feel more like standard sofas whilst offering comfort and convenience.

As the name suggests, a sofa bed, or sleeper-sofa, typically is a couch which has underneath its seating cushions a metal frame and thin mattress that can be unfolded or opened up to make a bed. So a sofa bed is a piece of furniture that can be used both as a sofa, and as a bed. When the bed is required, simply pull the bed out from under the sofa and like magic, a bed is ready for sleeping. Many people buy a sofa bed to use for visitors coming to stay.

Unlike a standard futon couch which is made up of three separate components such as a mattress, cover and wood frame, the sofa bed is a single unit with an innerspring mattress built in.

Many sofa beds offer the added convenience of storage space where blankets, sheets, and pillows can be kept. Unique color schemes, contemporary styles and extreme functionality make sofa beds an excellent choice for homes that require an extra bed, perhaps for visiting guests.
When shopping for a sofa bed, there are a number of things to look out for or to consider. Firstly, it is highly recommended to consider the size of the sofa bed that will best suit you requirements. In other words, what is the purpose of the sofa bed? Is if it is a couple or an individual? This will determine the size of sofa bed you will buy i.e. king, queen, double or single. Room shape and size is also another important factor to take into consideration so measure your room and have the measurements to hand when shopping for a sofa bed to make sure it fits the room.

Comfort is going to be a very important selling point. You want the sofa to be both comfortable to sit and sleep on. Make sure to ask the furniture store to demonstrate the bed whilst you are there and test it out for comfort sitting and sleeping positions. Many cheap sofa beds have thin mattresses offering little support whilst sleeping causing back pain and discomfort so aim to get the thickest mattress you can to make sure your guest will be comfortable whilst sleeping on it. You will of course need pillows and sheets to fit the bed so bear this in mind.

Another important feature of the sofa bed is convenience so make sure you can pull the bed out smoothly. There is no point in buying a cheap sofa bed that you find a struggle to use.

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The Unrecognizable Home of the Future

2009-03-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

How the home of the future differs to where we live today is a thought that has been considered more and more over the last few years. Advancements in technology, as well as the means to power our houses by generating our own green energy, have meant that the architecture and design of future housing will also need to be adapted. Paradoxically, despite the increasing social awareness of being more energy conscious and self-sufficient, the home of the future is also destined to be a hive of technological dependency and alive with electricity. So will the future home be a hut of efficient simplicity, or a home insurance nightmare?

Of course, energy saving will no doubt be of utmost importance as the climate continues to change, and resources continue to run out. Companies existing today, such as Earthship, highlight that the key to an efficient home of the future is making sure that the design makes the most of the energy from the sun and the ground. At just four feet underground, the insulating temperature of the earth is significant enough to heat a home most of the year round. If extra heat is needed, sunlight is allowed in through large south facing roof-light windows in order to top-up. This could mean that the design of the home of the future will be mostly underground.

With the risk of growing populations driving up water costs, water conservation will also be of significant importance in the future. In a BBC interview in 2005, Christopher Sanderson of The Future Technology posits the idea that instead of using water to clean our homes (and selves) we will instead use sound waves. The technology is relatively simple: by concentrating low-frequency, high-energy sound waves on areas that are dirty can actually dislodge dust and grime by fluidizing it. Such equipment is already in use for contact lens cleaners, and is being tested in dishwashers and washing machines.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has frequently boasted what it thinks the home of the future will be like; and more specifically, how dependent on computer technology it might be. Advancements in GPS usage, similar to what has recently been incorporated in Google Maps, might be able to tell us where our postman is on the round to give us an estimate of when he will arrive. Of course, they also suggest that our homes will consist of a sort of technological brain, with mirrors that can inform us of whether clothes that match with a specific garment are in the wash, as well as pin boards that absorb the information that is attached to them, such as phone numbers and addresses.

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Interesting coffee facts

2009-01-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Drinking coffee is a pastime of millions of people all over the world. Coffee machines make it possible to meet the demand of all these people. Without coffee machines, it would not be possible for millions of people around the world to enjoy a good cup of coffee. The first coffee machine was invented in 1818 by Mr. Laurens. The machine was continually modified over the years. New versions of the coffee machine continued to emerge until 1960. This is when the first paper filters for coffee machines were put into place. This simple change created an unbelievable increase in coffee machine sales. People had always wanted the product, but didn’t like the time it took to clean up and prepare with the cloth filters. The paper filter saves people time and hassle which makes the coffee machine more appealing.

Coffee machines have changed in design as well over the years. The early ones were just created to do the job; no one really cared what they looked like. Today’s coffee makers come in all colors and sizes to accessorize nicely in any kitchen or living room. There are also many different brands of coffee machines, as each has their own unique looks and design to attract consumers.

Mr. Coffee has been the leading coffee machine in the United States for centuries. This is because the company continually changes or adds new products to meet the needs of the consumer. Bunn coffee makers lead the industry in commercial coffee maker sales.

But if you are looking for an office coffee machine, you should check out Klix machines, the kings (and queens) of coffee vending. They offer a variety of vending machines, with 35+ drinks to select from including coffee & tea. Simply the widest range of any drinks vending solution.

Find more interesting articles on coffee at ezinearticles.com

Best Office Pranks

2008-12-11T01:56:00.000-08:00

Office fun and prank pictures from around the world. A lot of fun can be had with some creative thinking and some post it notes, Jelly, Cheetos or foil!

Video of Mari's Aluminium Desk

Easy Office Prank Ideas

At the end of the day, everyday, empty someone's stapler leaving only 2 or 3 staples. They will have to refill it everyday, and go crazy.
Advertise a colleague's job as available. Leave their number with extension for contact. Be sure it is well paying and with low qualifications.
Each day move a co-workers desk an inch.
Drop a lemon slice or maraschino cherry into someone's water bottle.
Spray glitter
Move everything off someone's desk and into the office fridge.
Play "Eye of the Tiger" everytime your boss walks in.
Replace photos of friends and family with that of say Scott Baio, Eugene Levy, Drew Carey, William Shatner, or The New Kids on the Block. Also set their screen saver to a slideshow of these photos.
Drop a rubber duckie into the watercooler when you are changing the bottle.
Remove the ink from every one of their pens.
Open a container of lice powder, and leave it in the bathroom. Say nothing to anyone. Panic will slowly rise.
Put a brown paper bag in the office fridge labeled "squirrel"
Before an important meeting, replace everything on a co-workers desk with the Hello-Kitty version (pens with feather tops, pink pads, ...)
Tape a really long memo or calendar to the inside door of the elevator.
Install the clapper on something (anything)

Red Bull Office Pictures

2008-12-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

There are some seriously cool workplaces around the world and Red Bull Office in London is one of our favourites. Why is this office cool? Well, it’s easier to be productive, creative and happy at work in a colourful, organic, playful environment than in a grey, linear, boring one. It is the interior of offices that make the difference, not what it looks like from the outside. Many companies have office that are sleek, modern, architectural masterpieces from the outside - and cubicle wastelands on the inside. These companies need to remember that most employees tend to work inside the building. With that in mind, here are pictures from the Red Bull Office in London.

Time Traveling Furniture

2008-12-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Looking around the house, I realise that my furniture is far more than functional. It actually tells a story, the story of my life to date.

Unlike other things I've purchased, each chair, table or bookcase marks a specific time or event. Why? Well, perhaps because buying furniture tells the story of growing up. It's something that we don't even need to consider buying until we leave home.

I remember when 'moving house' meant fitting everything into my Mum's car. Last time I moved I needed a Luton van. With every move, the vehicle required has got bigger - one day I'll have one of those huge trucks and enough cash to actually pay people to do my packing.

The milestone comes, I guess, when we stop renting furnished accommodation. Nowadays, I shudder at the thought of sleeping in a bed that has been dreamt on by who knows how many strangers. Names of previous occupants might still flutter through the letterbox on junk mail, but at least I've not 'shared' a bed with them.

Like most people, my first unfurnished flat was filled with an eclectic range of hand-me-downs from relatives and car boot purchases. And, like most people, my first 'big' new purchase was a bed. There's something that makes you feel so grown up when you buy your first bed. Looking around the house now, I can see evidence of each new job or pay rise over the years. There are still things that were there in my first flat, but since none of my donated furniture was an heirloom antique, I know it's inevitable that at some point, I'll need, or want to replace those things too.

For some time I kept the catalogue of a well-known Scandinavian furniture shop in the bathroom. I'd spend hours planning fantasy shopping trips to deck out the house. Then came the day that I realised how many people's houses looked almost identikit, because they'd done that very same thing. Or, rather they'd actually gone out and purchased everything rather than thinking about it in the bathroom. These days, living too far away from one of those big Scandinavian shops makes buying furniture there nearly impossible. It's actually done me the world of good as I've found far bigger treasures online or in local shops.

Some things that we buy - shoes, clothes, even books and music - might reflect a moment in our lives. They're like a photo album of specific days: a CD bought on a sunny day, or shoes purchased to cheer yourself up. But furniture's more like a long running video; it's on show, it's there everyday.

When we part with a significant amount of cash for something, we've got to be pretty certain that we'll still love that 'something' a few years down the line.

So, as well as telling the story of my life to date, buying furniture is also like playing a guessing game about whom I'll be in the years to come. It's fair to say, that the new sofa I need will also become a time-travel machine.

By Sarah Maple

Furniture Shopping Online

2008-12-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

Where we live it's in a town but not on a road. Difficult to explain to delivery companies or online retailers when ordering furniture online, but self-explanatory if you could see where we live.

It's what is known as a medieval quarter. Sounds all twee and old fashioned but in essence it's a collection of small terraced cottages on a hill, with fruit trees and small green spaces, and a series of pathways connecting them.

The cottages probably aren't that old, maybe two hundred years at the most, but they're probably built on the sites of older dwellings, and still not new enough for anybody then to have considered the needs of big clunky vans delivering furniture that has been ordered via the web.

We live as Sherpas, us folk round here. Driving as near we can to the terraces, then off loading our goods and lugging them up the pathways. I explained on the telephone after going online and finding some new furniture.

The great thing about lots of furniture retail web sites is that you can look at the products but then just telephone them to order, so as to explain any delivery notes.

I know from previous experience that delivery drivers have driven around in circles round the entire part of town that contains these terraced pathways, their SatNavs showing the delivery address but mysteriously guiding them round and round.

My next concern was to how we were actually going to get the three piece suit inside the cottage. I knew we could maneuver the sofa along the pathway, including a tricky tight corner.

I'd taken measurements of the corner; it was actually a three way junction, with two paths wide and one narrow. The narrow one led to our terrace, but by executing a three point turn including a high lift over a hedge to cut the corner, and then back up the narrow path, the sofa would be safely delivered.

Yet our front door was too narrow for the sofa to go through without it getting scraped at best, stuck at worst. Accessed through the front garden the living room window was wide enough, I guessed.

When the delivery van arrived, the sofa was carefully placed in the garden, and therefore followed a contained yet heated argument within our household on how the sofa would fit in through the living room window. I argued that it would have to be tilted at an angle, others disagreed. To avoid damaging the thing we needed to agree on how it would be carried through - it would also avoid damaging us, if we decided to continue our disagreement through the lifting procedure.

After all the trouble I'd taken to ordering our sofa and chair furniture online, getting the sofa along the last 3 yards of its journey seemed an incredible task. It's not about choosing furniture online that's the problem; it's deciding how to move it into your house.

By Sarah Maple

Business Directory

Coolest Offices

2008-11-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

We all know that in order to be productive at work, your workspace needs to be comfortable, relaxing, and even a little bit fun – but these offices take it to the next level. Does your office have a 3 storey high twisty slide, a full home theatre setup equipped with a PS3, a swimming pool, a fully equipped recreation room, or a full gourmet kitchen for when you get hungry?

If not, then check-out some of these ultra-cool offices that do have all of these sweet features. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind living in some of these offices. Maybe you can use it to persuade your boss to make some changes around your boring, cubicle-laced office? You never know. At least then you’d have no problem logging-in some extra overtime hours at work!

Mass Studios, Seoul
Mass Studios: There’s no doubt that integrating the outdoors with the inside of an office can have a sort of calming effect on the employees that work there, but some offices go above and beyond the ‘green’ theme.

Mass Studios in Seoul, Korea is one of the only buildings on earth that needs to be landscaped both outside and inside the space.

ING Headquarters, Amsterdam
ING Headquarters - This extremely innovative office building in the Netherlands is not only cool on the inside but also the building itself is extraordinarily unique in its design.

The 5,600 square meter building is built upon 16 steel legs, and it stands 10 storeys high. The inside of this building contains a total of six inner gardens, 250 seat auditorium, a restaurant, library and ‘flexible’ workspaces that allow employees to change the scenery whenever they fell that they need a change.

Pallotta TeamWorks Headquarters, Los Angeles
Pallotta TeamWorks Headquarters: This may be one of the weirdest offices ever created. The individual offices are located inside of shipping containers that are stacked on top of one another.

Other areas of the office are located underneath tents that are anchored by the shipping containers / offices. This unique office is a one-of-a-kind creation that is truly a fine piece of design and architecture.

Red Bull Office, London
What do you get when you mix an unlimited supply of Red Bull and a 3 storey office filled with a group of fun-loving employees? You get one of the coolest offices on the planet.

Talk about looking forward to coming to work each day, this place has got it all – recreation areas, cafe, comfortable lounge area, bar, floating staircases, slippery slides and much more.

TBWA/Chiat/Day Office
TBWA is an ad agency with a very cool office in New York City. This innovative office features a huge wide-open floor plan, full-court basketball court, big-screen TV and even has trees growing inside of the building to give it a more ‘outdoorsy’, or fresh, feeling to the office.

FCB Worldwide, California
This office is more like a work of art than anything else. This place is laced with sheep skin furniture, and the huge conference room features 150 custom surf boards suspended from the ceiling with steel cables – you won’t see that very often!

Disney Store Headquarters, Pasadena
The magic of Disney can definitely be found at the Disney Store headquarters inside of a huge 85,000 square foot building that was redesigned back in 2007.

The coolest part of this office is the conference room surrounded by large, colourful foam blocks, which when taken apart creates seating for up to 200 people during the larger company meetings.

DVF Studio, New York City
This innovative building is headquarters of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, and it serves both as an office building and a 5,000 square foot showroom.

One of the coolest parts of this building is the stairway which is a cross between a staircase and a chandelier, or ’stairdelier’, that collects natural light from outside and helps distribute it throughout the building.

Nike, London
The 1,500 square meter Nike building in London has won numerous awards for having the most innovative office interior in the world.

The 3 floors of office space consists of many different meeting areas from small, intimate settings, to larger rooms with clean lines and even a large cafe for when the employees need a little pick-me-up during the work day.

Macromedia Headquarters, San Francisco
This software giant’s home office is located inside of a registered Historic Landmark built back in 1905. The design of this office is centered on bringing the employees together to create and build upon ideas.
In order to do this, huge open areas were created, as well as an auditorium, home theatre room, and a cafe area – it must be tough to go to work each day at Macromedia!

Google’s Engineering Headquarters, Zurich
This may just be the ultimate office space. There’s a plethora of ‘relaxation’ rooms with a library, cafe, restaurant and much more.

There’s even a huge twisty slide that can get you down to the bottom floor quicker than ever – and if a slide isn’t your thing, you can slide down the fireman poles.

Lego’s Development Department, Billund
Lego’s Development Department: This office is designed around the idea of relaxation, stimulation, bright colours – all of which helps to enhance the ability of the workers to think more clearly, and to develop new ideas.

This is evident as soon as you walk in the doors of the office and step into the full-service cafe area. This place has a total of 13 meeting rooms, each with its own theme that is supposed to help the employees conjure-up ideas for the next big Lego innovation.

Googleplex, Mountain View
The Google headquarters is more like a 500,000 square foot city than an office. This eco-friendly building features huge, wide open spaces, windows and natural lighting everywhere, and a huge courtyard for employees to relax in when they get stressed out from playing around at the recreational facilities or pigging-out at the food court.

It’s a tough life but someone has to do it!

Pixar Studios, Emeryville
The headquarters of the animation company Pixar is situated on a huge campus in California, which is far from your typical office.

The offices here feature loads of creativity and various types of mood lighting, which helps the employees to get their creative juices flowing. It must be working given their recent successes.

Three RingsDesign Inc., San Francisco
This 3,000 square foot office features what the employees call a ‘Victorian/Steam Punk’ design theme that is totally customised to fit the needs (and wants) of the employees at this startup video game company.

The desks in this office are handmade works of art that each employee designed themselves. Aside from the office itself just looking cool, it also has a pool table, a video game room (of course), a full bar with built-in kegorator for those long nights at the office and even a secret door to the Captain’s Lounge if you need to relax or take a nap.

Ilse Media, Netherlands
This office is truly one-of-a-kind – to say the least. Stepping into this place is like stepping into an old 8-bit video game, because there are pixels everywhere.

The table, a lunch truck, coat rack, and even the food on the table cloths are all pixelised.

Google Offices in Zurich

2008-11-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

There are cool offices if you search long enough. The Google offices in Zurich are something else! I would not want to go home! They have massage chairs, slides, pool tables and other games, private cabins and much more. Check it out this video and the office pictures below.

Zurich Google Offices Video

Zurich Google Offices Pictures

No conventional office desks, office chairs, storage and desks. Everything in these offices is done stylishly using superb interior design and allowing creative spaces to work.

I would love to work at these offices. I think those who can afford to adopt these ideas should do so - creating a happy and creative thinking workforce is money well spent in my eyes.

Cool Desk for Apple Macs

2008-11-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

There are two types of computer users. There's the hyper-efficient HP/Dell/Gateway types, busily clacking away, moving their spreadsheets around, etc. And then, there's the Mac users.

We all know them: Loves cool gadgets. A Mac Classic II (or even a Macintosh SE) in college, and no looking back. Loyal as a Cubs fan. Now has an iPod shuffle, a nano and a mini. Probably not adept at HTML, but can edit a video on Final Cut Pro like a pro.

There's a great new product for Mac lovers everywhere, although it's not a gadget. The MILK desk is closer to a shrine to the Apple pantheon, than it is to a table. The little picture above this article cannot do it justice: The grace, functionality, design, and touch of whimsy of the MILK desk fully reflect what it is about Mac products that fangeeks have been promoting for years. It is, in the truest sense of the words, Mac compatible.

Details of the MILK computer desk for Apple Macs:

The MILK desk is made of medium density fiberboard, which is at least six times stronger than regular particleboard.
A high gloss white lacquer will look familiar to Mac users; it's the same shiny white color found on iMacs and other non- technicolor Apple Macs.
The base is easily adjustable for height.
To electronically raise or lower the height of the MLK desk, simply press the button underneath it.
The tabletop measures 55 1/8" by 25 2/8", with slightly rounded corners.
The only visible wiring is the power wire, off the base of the table.
Wires, power cords, firewires and any other cables are stored in a cable drawer. This drawer is flush with the backside of the computer desk.
Four built-in boxes on the left side of the table minimize desktop clutter, and come with seven different box colour choices. The boxes are flush with the computer table when not in use.
The best example of the whimsy involved in this computer desk design is in the suggestion of making one of the boxes a fish tank - complete with photo of a goldfish swimming around in the tabletop box (using the transparent box option).

From its simplicity and beautiful utilitarian design, these office desks are obviously Scandinavian.

The MILK desk fits seamlessly with the look and philosophy guiding Apple and Mac products. The designer, Soren Kjaer, has effectively blurred the line between art and function.

The MILK desk is as expensive as a work of art, and as a computer desk it's just about perfect. Make that, a computer desk for the typical, obsessed Mac user. Even a Microsoft user would have to be impressed.

Resolute Desk - Most Famous Desk!

2008-11-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

The Presidents Desk or the Resolute Desk must be the most famous office desk in the world.

The desk sits in The Oval Office of the White House and has been used by every president since Hayes - except Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford although some presidents used it in their private study in the Residence.

The desk has twice been modified. Franklin Roosevelt had the whole office desk raised on a 2 inch base to accommodate his wheelchair. He also requested that the kneehole be fitted with a modesty panel carved with the presidential seal (he preferred people not see his leg braces and often placed a waste basket in front of his desks), but he did not live to see it installed.

However, President Truman liked the eagle motif and had it installed when he came into office in 1945.

The desk was made famous in part by a photograph of John Kennedy at work while his son, John Jr., peeked out the front through the kneehole panel (pictured below)

Find out more about the Resolute Desk

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Office Furniture - Don't use the kitchen table!

2008-11-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

For those people who are lucky enough to be able to work from home, you will agree that there are a number of benefits to be enjoyed by both the employee and the employer.

Employee Point of View
From the employee point of view there is the ability to enjoy a far greater work/life balance as your work can fit in with your domestic arrangements far easier. Also, by taking away the endless hours that you could spend commuting to and from your work place combined with the flexibility of working at home helps with the reduction of stress levels.

Employer Point of View
Your employer also benefits from home working as he can save costs by reducing the amount of office space needed, therefore reducing his overheads. He also benefits from the fact that his staff are happier and are more likely to provide greater loyalty to the business thus providing a positive image for the company.

However, these benefits may come at a cost if you are not using the correct equipment to meet the requirements of the job. For instance, you wouldn’t expect to arrive at your company head office and be expected to carry out your daily office work from a kitchen table, so why are you doing it at home.

For those of you that are working for an employer, you have a right to ask for the correct equipment to carry out the job, and your employer will be happy to provide this as it will go some way to them fulfilling their obligations as an employer under the Health and Safety at work act which not only covers the work place but also home workers.

Home Working Tips
It’s my house – why can’t I use the kitchen table I hear you ask. Well, here are some tips for successful home working:

Try to segregate your work area, so that your work equipment is not a risk to other members of your household and that they are not a risk to your work equipment. A separate area will also help you “shut off” from your home life so that you can deal with your work in a professional manner. Like wise you will be able to close the door and “finish work” just like leaving the office.
Once in your office, you must ensure that health and safety rules are complied with. This includes carrying out a risk assessment of the working area and also ensuring that you have completed a workstation assessment.These risk assessments will normally be carried out by your employer either by a visit to your home or by using a guided risk assessment questionnaire that you will complete. The Health and Safety Executive has produced a guidance leaflet about Home working tips for both employers and employees which is available as a download from their website
Choosing the right office furniture is an important part of establishing your own work space at home. Your work performance and your health can be affected by what you choose to sit in all day, and whether your work station is set up to enable you to minimise the problems associated with long hours at the computer.

So, where do you start?
Amongst other things, you will need to consider your seating and office desk arrangement. Office desks and office chairs When it comes to choosing the office furniture, use a reputable supplier who will provide furniture that can be fully adjusted to suit the user such as seat height and angle adjustability as well as desk dimensions including depth and width.

A reputable supplier will also assist you with looking at how your workstation is set up. Home office work is now almost entirely dependent on computer use and people spend more and more time in front of a computer adopting a static pose. By using fit for purpose furniture which is correctly laid out you will minimise the risks associated with lengthy computer use.

So don’t just sit at the kitchen table, allocate some space and create yourself your own home office.

Tips for a successful home office

2008-10-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

The home office provides a designated space for organizing bills, documents and even a workspace for a telecommuting parent, home-based business owner, or work at home mom or dad.

In choosing a location for your home office, take into consideration your personal needs and requirements. For example, certain people need peace and quiet and prefer a space away from the kitchen and living rooms, while a work at home parent might need to be able to supervise children while working at his or her desk. Another example might be a garage apartment or out building with a separate entrance that may work best for a business owner who may have business meetings at the home.

Setting up a home office and choosing furniture requires careful consideration. With home offices flourishing around the country, several companies have started manufacturing lightweight, space efficient furniture that is ideal for a home office. As you will be spending a lot of time on the office, you should never compromise on comfort. Time lost in getting substandard equipment repaired or replaced will be effort lost that could have been put into a much more productive activity.

Furnishing your office can be the easiest or hardest part, deciding on what you feel you need in your office. You should have a desk, office chair, shelves and a filing cabinet at the very least. Home office furniture is different from traditional office furniture as it is designed to look softer and more casual, and made to blend in with other home furnishings. Above all, the furniture should suit the tastes of other family members, as it will be a part of your house.

A home office can have a touch of class. It should reflect your style and character and yet serve its functions well. Even with a small budget and a lot of creativity you can set up a home office that looks inviting, is professional, and reduces stress.

Office Desks
When selecting a desk for the home office you must consider the dynamics of your home interiors. Is it contemporary, classic, strong or soft? What kind of overall image does the room portray? Home office desks and other paraphernalia must be chosen such that they blend well with your home décor.

Before you set out to buy a desk, write down the size of the desk you are looking for. Then go online and surf the furniture sites for types as well as designs. Once you have short listed what you like, find out details like price, guarantees, shipping and installation costs, as well as available sizes and colours.

Desirable characteristics of a home office desk are: sufficient storage space, a flat surface to work on, space below for comfortable seating - the legs must fit with space to spare and you must have something to place your feet on; a flexible tray for a computer key board as well as space for the CPU and monitor. If the desk is designed such that you can opt for an extension then the fax machine, telephone, as well as multifunction computer printer can be placed on it.

Aim on a desk that is easy to maintain, is functional and simple in design. This element is important in case in future you find a need to expand and add more desks or office equipment.
If in doubt seek the help of a professional interior designer.

Office Chairs
Perhaps you are building a new home office or you are redoing the one you have. Or, maybe you are looking for an office chair to replace that broken down model sitting in your office.

Regardless, the office chairs of today offer more then just comfort. Choosing an office chair can be as much fun as getting a raise! Well, maybe it’s not that good, but it’s still a great moment!

You’re sitting in your old office chair and it’s uncomfortable. It may be worn and barely movable. Or, it may be too tight fitting. You can find just the office chair you need and want by looking at the office supply stores or department stores in your local city. But, to have the most selection in office chairs, you should consider checking out the internet. With all the options available to you, it can be a breeze choosing the right office chair for you among the websites that offer them. Doing a simple web search can relieve several options as well.

But, wait, what do you want to find in your office chair? They come with more then just comfort. They offer a stylish look that is all their own. They offer back and leg support. You can find office chairs that can provide you with a great back rub while you are working. Office chair can also help to reduce the risk of back injury, wrist injury, and more by providing equipment to keep you safe.

Go for the furniture that enhances your ability to get your work done in an organized, comfortable manner, and also consider not sacrificing beauty in the process. If you find a beautiful home office desk but it won’t provide you a comfortable and functional workspace, don’t go for it. Similarly, if you find the perfect office desk in terms of organization and comfort, but it’s ugly, keep looking! You will find furniture that fulfils both the requirements.

Many customers misjudge the space available at home and they end up buying furniture that is too big to fit in their house. They over-estimate the space available at home for their new home office furniture.

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Car Mini Desk

2008-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

This Mini car desk is a very cool desk. Nice and sturdy, eye catching with plenty of space.

Mini office desks are hand-built and tailor made to your own liking. Things which you can change include the top, car colour, tires, rims and also the license plate.

The desk also comes with stereo speakers as well as fully working headlamps, hazard lights and spotlights. The Mini Desk price starts at £2500...but such a cool office desk surely doesn’t come cheap.

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Stokke Graviry Chair

2008-10-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Further proving you don't have to be in orbit to be weightless, the Gravity Chair from Norwegian baby products maker Stokke can sit upright as an office chair, function as a rocker, and lean way back for that serious contemplation your boss told you to stop doing. See it in its variety of unusual permutations, after the jump.

The chair is available in a variety of fabrics and finishes, but all that versatility in inclination from steep to flat will cost you a steep £1,144, if you're so inclined!
Buy Stokke Chair

Sleep at Your Desk Excuses

2008-10-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

You are caught sleeping at your office desk by your manager...you need to make up an excuse and quick. Here are the top 5 excuses that will get you off the hook!

"They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen."

"This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time
management course you sent me to."

"Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here just in time."

"Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?"

And the NUMBER ONE best thing to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk...

Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus' name, Amen."

92MPH World land speed record for Furniture

2008-10-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Besting his own worlds fastest office record in both comfort and speed, this souped-up sofa from furniture-modder Edd China laid claim to the top spot in the Fastest Furniture category in the Guinness Book of World Records over the weekend, reaching a top speed of 92 miles per hour.

Sofa-driver Marek Turowski (who won his place in the driver's seat in an eBay auction) described the record-setting run as "terrifying," adding that "you feel every bump... worse, you feel like you might take off."

What's more, the sofa is supposedly street-legal, and will apparently soon be motoring around the streets of West London to help attract potential sofa-buyers to Sofa.com (which, sadly, only seems to sell stationary sofas). Of course, no one breaks sofa speed records without taking a camera along, the results of which you can see by hitting up the video below!

Star Wars Desk

2008-10-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

Check out this cool Star Wars Han Solo desk. Tom Spina Designs created this custom Star Wars inspired desk for the studio office of Mark Hall, from the Grammy award-winning group Casting Crowns.

Underneath the 1/2″ thick glass table top, a carved Han Solo emerges from below. The main box for the desk is custom metal, as are the computer cut side boxes which both light up with an orange glow. The carving was done in carbonite. Tom Spina designs has also done some other crazy sculptures and theater props, which are worth a look.

Luxury Office Desks

2008-10-29T05:36:00.001-07:00

How much would you pay for a luxury offfice desk? £500, £1,000, £5,000 or even £10,000. Anything above that would be crazy, right? Wrong! What if I were to tell you that there was a company who makes modern day office tables and sells them for 6 figures. That’s right, 6 figures, for an office table, that’s not even an Edwardian piece, never mind Victorian. But the thing is, the most powerful people in the World sit at these tables.

They are from a designer called Parnian and all their office desks are hand crafted and sell for around the £75,000 to £100,000. Here’s a selection of their contemporary office tables.

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5 Amazing Office Furniture Items

2008-10-29T05:30:00.000-07:00

Office furniture designers are coming up with some crazy designs for office furniture! Here are 5 pieces of office furniture that are beg the question...why!

The 87mph Office Space
Bow down to the World Record holding mobile office, for some reason built by Edd China.

It’s been known to reach 87mph, is street-legal and features a working phone, computer and 3 spare seats to the rear of the desk in case of any emergency meetings whilst on the move. The whole thing was built using a Rover 100 1.4l engine and cost £45'000. And yes, that’s a working water cooler.

The B-747 Cowling Reception Desk
It’s astounding that someone would ever even consider creating a reception desk by using a highly polished Jumbo Jet cowling but thankfully it’s been successfully done by the geniuses at Motoart.

According to the designers, only 2 or 3 of these Jumbo Jets become available each year so the fact that they even get their hands on any of these 100″ diameter engine coverings is impressive. Each reception desk comes with a wooden shelving system and glass work surface.

The Treadmill Workstation
Dr James Levine (seen elegantly demonstrating the workstation on the right) recently unveiled, in partnership with Steelcase, the Walkstation.

The intention is to encourage mild exercise during the working day by way of non-travelling at the suggested walking speed of 1 mile per hour. Just make sure your boss supplies the waterproof keyboard for when the coffee comes round.

The B-52 Ejector Seat Office Chair
This amazing office chair, available from Motoart, consists of a reconditioned and adapted ejector seat taken from a decommissioned B-52 Bomber.

Sadly the mechanism required to vertically propel your boss from the seat has been sensibly removed but this still must rank as one of the coolest office chairs on earth. Prices are only available on request.

The MiniDesk
The world’s most charming office desk is easily the MiniDesk, designed by Glynn Jenkins.

Prices start at £3'500 but from where we’re sitting it looks to be worth every penny. If you could somehow persuade your boss to fill the office with these custom built desks, just make sure all doorframes leading to the office are 30″ wide.

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Office Furniture for Giants

2008-10-29T05:19:00.001-07:00

Why is it that human beings are intent on building things on such a large scale?With that in mind, we decided to work out whether a giant would be able to furnish an extremely large office with bafflingly large equipment that has already been made. Just the basics. We didn’t expect to get very far but were pleasantly surprised with the results. The world of enormous office furniture…

Table and Chair
Without a place to sit, the office wouldn’t be very practical or comfortable, so that’s how the search started.
Within minutes we found the enormous table and chair you see above, created by Giancarlo Neri, an Italian sculptor. It stood on Hampstead Heath in 2005 and measures 30ft in height - ample for the average giant.

Laptop
So, the giant is seated. Next up is a computer. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a desktop PC large enough for a giant, but don’t worry, we found a gigantic, fully-functioning laptop instead.

It was exhibited at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover, 2008 and looks as if it would fit perfectly on the table. Wow.

Printer
We have it on good authority that giants just love printing. But surely there isn’t a printer large enough to compliment the laptop above?
Of course there is. It’s called the HP Scitex TJ8300, has a width of 13ft and can be found on HP’s website here. For a sense of scale, have a look at the PC to the right of the printer.

Telephone
We’re possibly running out of space on our table but we cannnot let a giant work without a huge telephone.
This one was shown (apparently fully-functioning) at last year’s VoiceCon in Orlando. We also found this one but decided it wasn’t modern enough to share table space with the high-end technology we’ve already found.

Filing Cabinet
When the thought of an enormous filing cabinet surfaced, little did we know that we’d find one that was actually too big for our giant’s office.
It reaches 65ft into the air, just over double the height of the table, and stands permanently as an exhibit in Napa, California.

Cup Of Coffee
It’s all very well having the correct furniture and technology but we’re forgetting vital refreshments.
This is officially the world’s largest cup of coffee and looks pretty much perfect for our office. The cup has a diameter of 7.6ft and to fill it just once requires 801 kilos of instant coffee and 4′000l of water.

So there you have it, we found enough enormous office furniture and equipment to get a giant through a day. Considering giants don’t even exist that’s pretty impressive.

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Cool Office Desks

2008-10-29T05:14:00.000-07:00

Looking for cool computer desks for your home office then check these desks out!

Vision One Computer Station
One of the most remarkable workstations I’ve ever seen, this Corvette Red ergonomically correct workstation has unlimited style and comfort.

You can upgrade your package to include the 12-way-powered Porsche leather bucket seat, which is shown in the picture to the left. The Flagship model shown starts at $2600 and includes support for three flat-screen displays, provides superb elbow support, an adjustable foot rest, surround sound speaker brackets, and not to mention a bad-ass look!

The Trey Chair
When you first check out the trey chair, nothing really strikes you as out of the ordinary. Looks like a comfortable, ergonomic design right? Wrong!

The trey chair is actually a marvel of modern design that breaks into two “low rider” pieces that can be used as a normal desk chair, a lounge chair with a footrest, or a simple chair with desk like features. Click on the thumbnail to the left for a better look at the trey chair.

Wing Desk
Do you work in the aviation industry? Know someone who is nuts about planes…we mean really nuts?
Then may we suggest this Wing Desk, made out of (you guessed it) the actual wing of a plane. This unique wing desk was made by Dutch designer Dolph Bode from part of a 1944 DC-3 airplane wing. (Note: Don’t forget to perform a full flight check every morning before work.)

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