All over the country, employees have been getting used to a more flexible and agile way of working. It’s made us all look differently at the office environment, with a focus on wellbeing and productivity.
With more workers empowered to consider moves away from offices with harsh lighting and blank walls – is it time to assess how you can adapt your office with fresh and inspirational décor to tempt people back? Mental health and general wellness are being talked about much more than in pre-Covid times and bright and inspiring workspaces can positively influence the well-being of employees.
We have come up with some ideas to revamp your office, some simple and others more ambitious, but you can put your own unique slant on them all.
Our office makeover ideas will cover:
Five great reasons to splash out on an office makeover
If you want to carry out an office makeover on a budget, it needn’t cost the Earth, but if you need to justify the spend to your MD or Facilities Manager, explaining the following benefits to them will help to bring them on board!
- To inspire creativity
It’s difficult to feel inspired in a meeting room where the main point of interest is the coffee machine! But a few clever alterations can work wonders to stimulate the imagination and productivity of your workforce.
- To make your mark
Why settle for a sterile, generic office environment when it could say so much more about the ethos and values of your company? An office makeover is an opportunity to ensure your workplace truly embodies what your business or brand represents.
Large Format Printing (“LFP”) products enable you to make temporary changes to your office décor that can be replaced easily when you want to refresh them.
- To impress your clients
When a client comes to visit, what do they see when they first enter your offices? A tidy reception area and friendly greeting are always welcome, but, with a little imagination, there is so much more you can do to make a great first impression.
- To boost employee morale
There has never been a more important time to boost employee morale. After 18 months of Covid-19 restrictions and, quite possibly, members of staff and their families being seriously affected by the illness, getting back to the office can be a positive milestone that lifts their spirits. One way to give everyone a boost, that needn’t be hugely expensive or difficult, is to give the office a bright new facelift, ready for welcoming staff back to work.
- To be more efficient with office space
When was the last time anyone really thought about the position of all the furniture and equipment in your office? Rearranging your office layout could not only save you space, it will also be an important feature of your office makeover, so employees feel like they have returned to an exciting new space.
Creative ways to transform your office
To help you get started, try sketching out a plan of your existing office layout so you can re-evaluate the space allocation. Is there an area where you could position glass panels to create a new, trendy breakout space? Even a small corner of your office could be brought into play as an additional meeting space once you have revisited the furniture layout. At the same time, you can also consider other factors, for example, are staff getting the best access to natural daylight?
Once you know what the changes will be, you can then start planning your makeover with the finished effect in mind. To keep costs down, you don’t need to make major changes, you can use what you already have and keep it simple, like decorating the outside of the doorway to your meeting room, for example.
The following are a few further ideas for updates to your office that you may like to consider:
- Using themes for inspiration
With so many clever LFP products on the market that can be customised with your own design, it’s easy to create various themes for your office spaces. You could theme your workspace based on your business type and give it a different twist for each room. For example, a travel company could use different nationalities as themes, or a sportswear company could focus on different sports or famous sporting brand ambassadors.
You could just focus on one particular area of your office, such as the meeting room, and create a mood that resonates with your company, such as a fun and quirky, or cool and sophisticated theme.
- Transforming a tired reception area
Your reception area creates the first impression your visitors get of your company before they even speak to anyone, so, by using a little ingenuity and with the clever use of interior design techniques, you can ensure that impression is a positive one. Posters, wall and window graphics can display inspirational quotes and mottos to promote your company ethos and you can use special effects to create a mood. A wall covering can create the illusion that the visitor has entered a stately home, or is on top of Mount Everest! The beauty of customisable LFP products means that you can create whatever effect you want, without employing an artist to set the scene.
Branded items such as a pop-up counter to hold reading material or promotional literature could also showcase the theme you have chosen for your reception area. Another quirky addition to attract the interest of visitors could be a 3D model of an item that represents your business.
- Getting creative with wall space
A wall is a blank canvas that can be used to completely transform the look and feel of your office space. Using wall graphics will enable you to create your own designs and update your theme or change it around whenever you like. You could use an exposed brick effect to create a trendy, warehouse feel, or even replicate being in the middle of a rainforest! There are lots of possibilities to explore.
There are a variety of LFP products that you could use on your walls, from gloss or matt removable wall film to a long-lasting, permanent wall wrap, depending on your requirements. There are different products on the market for adhering to all types of wall surface, including textured surfaces.
Another way to transform a wall is with posters. High-res posters will look vibrant and eye-catching and offer another way to make a great impact using your empty wall spaces.
- Having fun with office windows
Windows and glass panelling present more opportunities to refresh your office with the clever use of graphics. They are another surface on which you can display mottos or your company logo, or maybe display a quirky design on the glass panelling of your break-out space to add some interest and inspiration. One-way window film, for example, can create privacy for your meeting room, whilst those inside the meeting room can still see what’s going on outside. Blockout window film can be used on a glass screen to hide any unsightly areas of your office behind a colourful graphic, rather than using traditional, plain partitioning.
Inspired?
This article’s main focus is on how to transform your office using LFP products, but, if your budget permits, you could also look at updating the office furniture and lighting. However, rather than going all out and spending lots of money, just take a look at what you already have. Being creative with wall and window graphics and rearranging the layout of your office is a cost-effective way to make a significant difference to the look and feel of your office. And instead of replacing perfectly serviceable, but jaded furniture, remember that even a desk can be given a facelift with removable graphics! Graphics come in all sorts of materials that adhere to a variety of surfaces so virtually any stationery item can be given a new look.
Once you have some ideas down on paper, you could sketch them out more professionally using design software before suggesting an office makeover to your colleagues or the boss. Visit the Raccoon Store for a wide range of LFP products to inspire you!
