Department sectioning, hoteling workstations, task spaces? OEX interior design manager, Valerie, shows us different uses for panel systems/cubicle walls that may be overlooked when designing your office layout. Let us help you design or reconfigure your space!

You might be surprised at how little $100 will get you in a chair... Take care of yourself and put your money to good use by choosing the chair your back is begging you for. Don't believe us? Stop by and test them both out for yourself!

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by Valerie Glander

Office design trends, by nature, tend to move at a slower pace than other Interior Design trends. Office furniture is expected to have a useful life of seven to ten years, although it is common for offices to have furniture that is upwards of 20 years old. By contrast, the useful life of technology products is about three years.

Over the last decade, we’ve consistently seen the industry move toward open spaces. We have partnered with hundreds of companies to create workspaces with lower panels, no panels, and more collaborative space. These designs allow natural light and improved feelings of spaciousness, but also create higher noise levels.

by Valerie Glander

As Interior Designers, we spend much of our time with clients discussing staff adjacencies, furniture requirements, finish selections and color schemes. A lesser discussed, but important element of designing an intuitive office environment is often left to an afterthought: wayfinding and signage.

Premier Safety recently relocated their business to Sterling Heights, MI. Interested in working with a premier HON dealer, they contacted us, visited our showroom, and picked out a modern and effective workstation for their office. Our designers worked to create a layout suitable to the space, and the customer absolutely loves the result!

by Kim Schroeder

Designing for senior living has seen a significant change over the years. It is no longer the sterile hospital environment that you may think of when envisioning senior living. Nowadays, senior living facilities more closely resemble hospitality and residential design rather than healthcare design.

Typically, the common spaces have seen more of the shift toward hospitality. Dining halls feel more intimate and personal. Smaller café tables, or banquette seating for a few close friends, rather than a large cafeteria table, are the new trend. These facilities strive to make seniors feel like they are out on a night on the town rather than sitting in a cafeteria.

Slide into some office furniture history with Steve, and learn how our chairs have evolved to custom-fit you!

What do tennis shoes, styrofoam, and a desk have in common? Steve talks about his experience watching customers order the furniture they think they want from big box stores on the internet.

by Valerie Glander

While our showroom remains open and we are taking all recommended safety precautions, we realize not everyone is able to visit us in person. Please enjoy a virtual showroom tour of our newest product. (And keep an eye out for the video version, coming soon!) We’ve gotten in some of the latest in Hon product and would love to show it off!

by Valerie Glander

Working with an office design team to plan changes in your office space can be a critical component to a successful project. Experienced Office Designers can help you avoid common pitfalls in office planning and offer solutions to meet the unique needs of your team. The process often begins with a walk-through of the space and an initial meeting about the project, where our most critical task is listening to you, our client. We’ll come prepared to discuss your ideas and identify the vision and scope of the project. By thinking through some of these questions in advance, we can make the most out of our time in that critical first meeting.

by Kim Schroeder

The future of schools is a hot topic. As schools begin to open their doors to students and we move back to face-to-face instruction, conversations need to be had on how school spaces will, or should, function in the future.

One area of school design that is interesting to dive a bit deeper into is the makerspace. A makerspace is a collaborative workspace inside a school…for making, learning, exploring, and sharing…

by Valerie Glander

Your waiting room is the first impression your patients receive. This impression tells them about how your practice is run and what to expect. Not only that, but healthcare surveys show that many say their time in the waiting room is the most frustrating part of visiting a doctor. Lobbies and other transitional spaces offer a significant opportunity to improve patient experience and distinguish your practice from the competition.

Providing more choice and supporting a range of activities helps to make the wait time seem shorter. For families, offering lounge seating or a child-friendly corner to keep kids entertained can be important features. Offering quiet work space for busy professionals with tables or counters and easy access to power helps to alleviate stress and show you value your patients’ time.

by Valerie Glander

In Part 2 of our new product introductions, we’ll take a look at some of our design team’s favorite new products. Soft curves and even softer color palettes continue to dominate new product innovation and we’re loving the shift. As the future of office environments remains uncertain, I am confident in one thing – our ability to innovate and adapt. Office design has seen significant change over the last decade and we will continually be challenged to find new ways of accommodating a younger, more flexible workforce.

by Valerie Glander

Typically, summer is a busy time for the OEX design team. Not only is this a busy time of year for construction projects and furniture orders, but Chicago’s NeoCon design fair— in June— is also when we get to review the newest products releases. Of course, 2020 has thrown us quite the curveball. The NeoCon event may have been cancelled, but the fresh new product and inspiration has not slowed down.

NeoCon 2020 product launches feature lighter scale furniture and softer color palettes. Gentle curvature in lounge furniture has been a huge hit and creates a comfortable tension to the high-tech productivity solutions we are seeing in the office.

by Kim Schroeder

Prior to Covid-19 offices saw a shift toward open, collaborative spaces. The trend was for low panels, benching systems, wellness rooms, and large open collaborative areas. Our main focus was centered on improving the place where we spent most of our time, the office. We opened up spaces, added natural and biophilic elements; we all thought the more open the better. While this concept lent itself to beautifully imagined spaces, people had mixed feelings regarding privacy. Fast forward to today and we are now having to reimagine those spaces to make them safer in our new COVID-19 world.

by Valerie Glander

Systems furniture, better known as cubicles, has gotten a pretty bad rap over the years - and for pretty good reason, I suppose. Consider this: even the man who invented panel-based systems furniture, Robert Probst, is quoted as saying, “The cubicle-izing of people in modern corporations is monolithic insanity.”

Let’s take a look back at the beginnings of systems office furniture and how the office furniture industry has adapted to meet the needs of the 21st century office.

Office space is certainly getting more comfortable! Both our corporate and healthcare clients are including more lounge seating than ever and one question that’s at the top of everyone’s mind is… what about durability?

by Valerie Glander

One of the latest advances in office technology has nothing to do with new devices or automation. Quite the contrary, it’s a responsive textile designed as a health and wellness product. How can a textile improve health while you’re sitting at a desk all day? Short answer - your chair.

OEX partners with a local textile company to source upholsteries made with Celliant fiber. Celliant’s innovative fiber technology promotes more energy and less fatigue while sitting.

by Valerie Glander

Between 2005 and 2015, the number of U.S. workers who do at least 50% of their work from home grew 115% to nearly 4 million workers.  Industry experts predict that this trend will continue, reaching nearly a third of workers working remotely in the next 10 years.  What do these shifts in the workforce mean for office environments?  How can employers play a proactive role in planning for these changes? 

Moment of truth here-- I’m writing this from my sofa with my laptop on my lap.  While I don’t quite meet the criteria of ‘at least 50%’ work from home, I’m part of the growing group who splits time in the office and at home.  It’s not hard to see why – as email and 24/7 accessibility become the norm, it’s no longer necessary to stay at a desk in front of the landline to be reachable and productive.  Now considered an ‘always on’ economy, expectations of response times and flexible schedules dominate the workforce.   

by Kim Schroeder

As we enter the new decade, let’s take a look at what office trends are hot and what are not.  Office styles have seen many changes throughout the years.  So, what should we expect to see for office spaces in 2020?  First and foremost, we expect to see continued growth in improving employee performance, productivity, and well-being. 

Private Office

Executive Office designs have been continuously evolving – a few years ago, selling an executive desk was a pretty straightforward purchase but today that is not the case.  Today’s modern offices integrate technology in amazing ways!  Executive desks can be sleek and beautiful.  There are even apps to download on your smartphone that can move your desk up or down or let you know that you have been sitting in your chair too long.