The Complete Guide to GSA Office Furniture

The Complete Guide to Waiting Room Furniture

Outfitting a waiting room is easier said than done. Whether it’s a small reception area or a huge lobby, you’ll need to cater to your guests’ needs as well as the needs of your front desk staff. Here’s what you should consider before selecting your new waiting room furniture.

Reception Desks

The receptionist desk is the centerpiece of the waiting room. As such, selecting a desk that will make a positive first impression on your guests and employees is important. The right reception desk should be beautiful, functional, and durable enough to last you several years. Not only do you want to make a positive impression on guests, but you also want to make sure your receptionists have the space and tools they’ll need to work effectively, including a large enough work surface space and plenty of storage. For a full look into how to select the right centerpiece for your waiting room, read our complete guide to reception desks.

Reception Seating

Keep the seating in your waiting room comfortable and mix it up. Offer guests chairs that they won’t mind sitting in for several minutes at a time or longer, depending on your typical waiting room flow. 

In addition to the support of the chair seats and backs, you’ll want to offer a mix of different seating types for added comfort. You should provide guest chairs with and without arms, some bariatric seating, and potentially sofas, benches, and hip chairs if your typical guest requires it. Learn everything you need to know about adding seating to your reception area by reading our complete guide to waiting room seating. 

Décor

Though it may not be as obviously functional as desks and chairs, décor plays a huge role in the overall look and feel of your waiting area, and it can impact how your guests perceive your business overall. By incorporating the right wall décor, area rugs, plants, and light fixtures into your space, you can make your waiting area feel more like home, which guests will certainly appreciate. Get a glimpse into how to decorate your reception area by reading our complete guide to office décor.

Accessories

While décor makes the waiting room more aesthetically pleasing, accessories assist in the overall flow of the space. Adding waste receptacles, floor mats, signs, coat racks, and crowd control tools will make your lobby easier for visitors to navigate and for front desk staff to manage.

The Complete Guide to Bariatric Seating

What is a bariatric chair? In short, bariatric chairs are specialized seating designed to support more than 300 pounds of evenly distributed weight. But there’s a lot more to it than that. Every office needs some big and tall seating, but this type of furniture is especially important for medical facilities that need to put guest safety at the forefront of every choice. Here’s what you should consider when it comes to the bariatric chairs you put in your healthcare facility.

Number of Chairs

How many bariatric chairs you’ll need in your building will depend on the nature of your medical facility. We recommend a minimum of 15–20% of the seating in your waiting room be bariatric, though places such as orthopedic clinics should have more due to the types of patients they assist. When selecting how many bariatric chairs to add to the space, the key is to know your patient population and plan for it accordingly.

Keep in mind that you should add bariatric seating not only to the reception area but also to the patient rooms. Provide at least 1 high-weight capacity guest chair to each patient room. You may also want to equip each room with a bariatric doctor stool with an extra-large seat and reinforced base. Healthcare providers might need them, but sometimes patients also sit on these stools.

Weight Capacity

There is no official standard for the load limit on bariatric chairs, but a 750-pound weight capacity or greater is typically preferred in healthcare settings. Many medical offices even look for bariatric chairs that can hold 1000 pounds or more. 

When shopping for your bariatric seating, note the difference between whether the weight capacity listed refers to a static load or an active load. A static load weight capacity is the amount of weight a chair can hold when something is sitting still on top of it. In contrast, an active load weight capacity is the amount of weight a chair can hold when something is dropped on top of it. For active load capacity, chairs are put through a drop test meant to simulate the action of a person plopping down into the seat, making this a sometimes more reliable measurement of load limit, depending on your needs.

Seat and Arm Design 

The seats on bariatric chairs vary quite a bit, but if you’re looking for the best of the best, select an option with a shallow seat design. A shallower seat will prevent guests from sinking into the chair, making it easier for them to stand. Most bariatric chairs have a seat width of around 24–30” to accommodate guests appropriately.

When it comes to the arms of the chairs, be sure to select an option that will not get in the guests’ way as they try to get up. Although the seat width often accounts for this, you may also want to select chairs without enclosed arms—or potentially an option with no arms at all. If you choose bariatric chairs with arms, be sure that the arms have been tested to support the weight of somebody leaning on them to get up from the chair.

Dignity 

The key to good healthcare design, particularly when it comes to bariatrics, is to ensure that your patients and other guests will maintain a sense of personal dignity during their visit. In other words, they shouldn’t have to struggle to get into and out of a chair, and they shouldn’t feel like they’re being singled out by being forced to sit in a seat that looks very different from the other chairs in the room. 

Make bariatric patients feel just as comfortable both physically and emotionally as you want all of your patients to feel by providing attractive, easy-to-use seating options that support more weight than standard chairs. Safety and design are just about equally important when it comes to bariatric seating, the same as the seating at your healthcare facility as a whole.

 

The Complete Guide to Whiteboards & Bulletin Boards

Office boards come in many styles, which means there are many options and narrowing it down can be tough. First, consider what type of room you’ll use the board in and how often you’ll use it. Next, read our comprehensive guide to find the best board for you and your office.

Type 

Whiteboards have a glass, melamine, or porcelain surface meant to be written on with a dry erase marker. You can find whiteboards in any area of the office as they’re ideal for expressing temporary messages to coworkers.

Chalkboards, otherwise known as blackboards, are green or black and meant to be written on with chalk. Although chalkboards were once commonplace, they have been widely replaced by whiteboards over the last several years and are now rarely seen in office settings.

Interactive boards have a touch screen and work with projectors to help meeting facilitators better express their ideas by interacting with graphs and other graphics during presentations.

Presentation boards are wall-mounted cabinets with doors that swing open to reveal a whiteboard and/or corkboard that can be used during meetings but neatly tucked away for a clean look when not in use. Presentation boards are commonly used in private offices.

Bulletin boards are open or enclosed boards with a fabric, vinyl, or cork surface used for pinning up paper and other lightweight items with thumbtacks. Bulletin boards are used in many areas of the office but are especially useful in common areas for announcements.

Announcement boards are enclosed bulletin boards. They typically have a glass door that keeps posted announcements visible while protecting them from theft or damage from the elements in an outdoor setting. The door or doors may be lockable.

Message centers are freestanding multi-bulletin board units that display information on all sides. These are typically seen in common areas, including outdoor spaces where people are expected to approach from all angles.

Map rails are thin strips of cork or fabric material made to run along a wall. These are commonly used in classrooms and hallways for displaying student artwork, learning materials, and, of course, maps.

Directory boards, also called letter boards, are fabric boards with grooves that hold specially made letters. These boards generally help visitors in a lobby find a specific office in a large building.

Construction

Melamine is a plastic material commonly used as a whiteboard surface. Melamine is budget-friendly and lightweight, but this type of surface is more susceptible to staining, ghosting, and denting, so you may need a replacement every few years, depending on how frequently it’s used. Melamine boards often feature a steel backing that makes them magnetic.

Porcelain (or ceramic) is another common whiteboard surface. Although more expensive than melamine, it offers greater durability and resistance to scratches and stains. Like melamine, porcelain boards are easy to write on and often magnetic, but because porcelain is less porous, the surface is less likely to succumb to ghosting.

Glass is not porous at all, which makes it the most durable and most expensive option. Markers erase easily without smudging or ghosting, so these boards should last for many years. Glass markerboards are usually frameless and available in many colors, which gives them a modern appearance most offices desire.

Cork is a lightweight substance obtained from the outer layer of a cork oak tree. This material is often used as the surface on bulletin boards since it easily holds thumbtacks. Plus, cork grows back very quickly, making it a sustainable material.

Rubber behaves similarly to cork but is often preferred due to its eco-friendly design. Rubber is also better at withstanding the outdoor elements and does not support the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria in damp areas.

Fabric is another common bulletin board material. It’s often preferred due to the variety of colors and patterns available. Fabric is often preferred over cork because it better hides pinholes caused by thumbtacks.

Vinyl bulletin boards are weatherproof and easy to clean, making them ideal for outdoor use.

Special Features

Eco-friendly boards are manufactured using recycled materials such as milk jugs and water bottles. It’s common to find eco-friendly outdoor boards since recycled materials are usually weather-resistant.

Enclosed boards have a door, which is usually made of glass and may be lockable. These are ideal for use outdoors where weather resistance is needed and in areas where announcements need to be protected from potential theft.

Mobile boards roll on casters, which are often lockable to keep the board in place while in use. Mobile boards are often used in conference and training rooms with ever-changing layouts and as partitions between workstations.

Reversible boards have a whiteboard surface on both sides or a whiteboard surface on one side and a bulletin board surface on the reverse side.

Outdoor boards are specially made for use outside and constructed using weatherproof materials to withstand even the harshest elements.