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In preparation of our 20th Anniversary, ROE/Evolution Interiors is getting a brand new look! We’re very excited and hope you are too! Since 1994, ROE/Evolution Interiors has been Chicagoland’s premier new, pre-owned, and remanufactured furniture dealership. Join us and our Best-of-Class partners in helping you create great spaces with incredible results!
For details please contact: Dan ShermanSenior Project Manager/Sales Rep ROE + Evolution Interiors 905 S. Menard Avenue Chicago, IL 60644 C (773)447-6150 | F (773) 379-5221
I don’t know about you, but I feel as though this holiday season just snuck up on me! It’s hard to focus at work when all of a sudden you have to figure out your holiday gift list, gather recipes for that amazing dinner you promised your family, or figure out logistics for holiday travel. It certainly is overwhelming, but you can’t let your work lag behind because your contacting every Toys-R-Us to check if the newest Furby is in stock. Take a deep breath and keep your head in the game: 1.) Create of a list of priorities. It’s easy to forget a project or two when you have a lot on your mind. Having a list keeps you on track, and when you cross off a completed project it feeeeels soooo good! 2.) Stick to your schedule, despite what is happening after work. Holiday drinks with fellow employees? Great! But, remember, that is after work. Get things accomplished before you go out and you’ll be able to fully relax and enjoy yourself. 3.) Use breaks and lunch hours to coordinate your personal holiday plans or shop for gifts online. 4.) Delegate! Sometimes, the most wonderful time of the years is the most busy time at the office! If you’re getting way over your head, delegate smaller projects to fellow employees. 5.) Take a personal day. If you can’t give your 100% because of gifts that need to be wrapped, shopping that needs to get done, etc…just take one day off and dedicate it entirely to getting that holiday list completed! You’re no use to anyone at the office if all you can worry about is whether or not you need glowing reindeer or a inflatable snow globe on your front lawn. Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Sales Associate & Digital Media Coordinator
In the spirit of election season, I think it’s time to focus on the most iconic American office in our country: The Oval Office. Whenever a new president takes over the big seat, they tend to add their own style and personality into the oval office’s design. Let’s take a look at the Oval Office’s many different designs throughout the years: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933
Straight, clean lines and not a curtain out-of-place shows that Roosevelt was a man of order! John F. Kennedy, 1961
You can certainly see Jackie O’s influence in this space with the soft pastels, modern furnishings, and a chandelier to add a bit of glamour. Richard Nixon, 1970
The late sixties was very evident in the Oval office during the Nixon years. The gold upholstery and retro chairs just screams “Partridge Family.” Ronald Reagan, 1980
Neutral, earthly tones and traditional furniture show that Reagan was a fan of keeping it simple and classic. Bill Clinton, 1995
Ah, the Clinton years. The reds, whites, and blues, in the Oval Office during that time just seemed to say “Bipartisanship.” George “W” Bush, 2000
Bush kept it classy with neutral tones, creams, damask patterns, and fresh flowers! Barak Obama, 2012
Relaxed furnishings for an easy-going kind of guy. The plush, velvet couches and warm tones makes the Oval Office look awfully inviting. Now here’s the big question: Is the office design going to stay the same the next 4 years or is the Oval Office under going yet another transformation? You decide! Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Sales Associate & Digital Media Coordinator When a company focuses on maintaining an eco-conscious office and staff, they find a healthier and more productive place to work and a lot of dollars saved! This can all be done by how employees travel, how they work, and the tools and furniture the company provides.
A Smarter Commute. Take public, ride a bike, or carpool with fellow employees. American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 3.7 billion hours and 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year. Help reduce the impact by finding Greener ways to travel. If you must ride alone, look into a hybrid or electric vehicle or a sweet solar-powered scooter!
Work From Home. Companies are more open to letting employees work from home since everything is done via the computer and online now-a-days. With video conferencing, the Cloud, and other innovative workflow tools, it’s easy to work from home or anywhere. You can answer 80+ emails, write up a few proposals, and communicate with clients while never having to change out of your jammies!
Go Digital! Why is it that in the height of the digital age, we’re still mass consuming large amounts of tree pulp for paper that’s used only once? Encourage everyone at the office to print to PDF when creating a document and start a Dropbox folder where the company can share files with each other and clients. Of course, we can’t complete cut out paper usage, but we can still buy recycled and recyclable paper.
Buy American. You hear other companies boast about their furniture being “Green” and “Eco Friendly”, but most products are being manufactured in China. Having to wrap the product in Styrofoam and plastic to keep it from getting pushed around in a boat that have many, many miles to go and lots of fuel to burn to get to the U.S. isn’t exactly “Eco Friendly.” Check out American companies such as Workbench 2.0 who’s located in Wisconsin and only makes furniture from sustainably managed forests.
Be aware of what surrounds you. The walls painted around you, were they painted with low VOC paint? The furniture you’re working on, is it venting undetected harmful fumes in your office? If buying furniture, make sure the finishes, glue, and paint are of the Green-ist quality. You can always find out by researching the product or asking the sales person out right. Also, keeping an air clarifying plant, such as the spider plant, in your office helps clean the air around you.
Buy Used/Refurbished! It prevents a lot of waste from going to the landfills and keeps dol-lah bills in your wallet. Also, recycling and selling the furniture you have grown out of contributes to the decrease in waste as well. The process of refurbishing updates the furniture while making the least environmental impact. Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Digital Marketing Coordinator and Sales Associate The first “chair” was probably a moderately-sized rock. The second one was probably also a rock but just a little more comfortable. While seating may not have been a high priority to people trying to catch a mastodon for lunch, it had to start somewhere. Today there are seating options for almost everyone no matter what size, body type, favorite color, or fabric preference. With improvement came choices, but one thing has remained the same. Before you buy a chair, sit in it. Is it the type of chair you’re going to use 20 minutes at a time in a break room, or are you going to be glued to it for a conference call that’s going to last all morning? Determine your purchasing requirements before you start the search. With some chairs in certain situations, comfort may not be the number one buying criteria. Maybe you don’t want the sitter to hang around any longer than necessary. Price may be the ultimate factor if you have to get a lot of employees in chairs right away. It all depends, and one chair definitely doesn’t fit all. Here are a few examples.
BREAK ROOM CHAIRS The best chair for most break rooms or cafeterias, in this seller’s opinion, is one that stacks so many of them can be moved around on a cart. Stack 40 or so on a mobile dolly, and you’re ready to set them out or hide them away in storage. This saves space and makes moving them around a lot easier. This is especially important in multi-use rooms that need to be a dining hall one minute and a training room the next. Look for materials that are easy to clean when buying this type of chair. Coffee and mustard wipe off plastic a lot easier than they’re coaxed out of fabric. Hold down the cost if arms aren’t needed; not all stack chairs call for them. Are they going on tile or carpet? That’s important to know in order to determine what base works best for your needs. A “sled-based” chair on tile calls for rubber or plastic glides that will support it on four points rather than the long metal runner. This saves the floor from being marred or damaged. Carpet, on the other hand, is very sled-friendly since it makes the chair easier to move. Stackers with legs instead of sled bases still need feet that will not damage tile floors.
CONFERENCE ROOM CHAIRS A typical conference room chair is similar to, but a little different than, a task chair. They’re usually not as adjustable, but they don’t have to be. Fixed (non-adjustable) loop or t arms along with a fixed back are normal in this kind of chair. Since many different people will use them for relatively short periods of time, they must accommodate all of them. They’re not user specific so the sitter isn’t expecting as much as he or she does from a personal task chair.
TASK CHAIRS When it comes to variety and function, task chairs are all over the map, but there are three basic adjustable features each one has to have. The arms and back have to be adjustable, and the seat has to be able to go up and down easily. Seat sliders, multi-function arm rests, head rests, and other options aren’t “must haves” for most people, and that’s what makes task chairs so personal. Seating doesn’t end with these three types either. There are guest (or side) chairs, lounge seating, stadium seating, thrones, stumps, giant inflatable plastic balls, and on and on. Ball or rock, stump or task, the one thing to remember is try before you buy. Your butt will thank you for it. post by Terry Cray, Sales It’s hard to comprehend after one of the hottest summers to date that in only a couple months it’ll soon be dark, dreary, and cold! Personally, I welcome Fall/Early Winter and voice it often in the office. My sun loving co-workers stare daggers at me when I claim my love for wearing layers and crisp, cool days… but it’s only because they know it’s true. Winter is coming. (A movie and TV show reference in one blog! I’m so on!) Unfortunately, there are those who just don’t fair well during the winter. 1 in 7 Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and now is the time to think of how to help prevent the possible symptoms of depression and melancholia. Nine to Five-ers barely see the sun in the morning for their commute, they’re stuck in an office with drabe fluorescent light all day, and the sun is down when it’s time to commute home. We’re like corporate vampires during the wintertime. Even towards the middle of winter, my love for cool weather tends to turn to distaste. We need to get a certain amount of Vitamin D from bright lights that aren’t around during the months of January-March. “People have a biological reaction to bright light — it has their bodies processing differently,” Verilux CEO Ryan Douglas told Mashable. “Your body works differently in the summer than it does in the winter. Bright light helps simulate that same response you’d get from being in the sunshine, cuing the functions, but you need higher light intensities that get close to the brightness you’d see outside.” So how do we “find the light?” One of the best ways to prevent SAD drug and stimulant free can be done right at your desk. Light Therapy Lamps are proven to help ease mood swings, winter depression, and even improve sleep disorders!
Happy Lamp. Don’t you just love the name? It holds so many promises. This lamp is a patented super-bright 36 W 10,000 hour bulb with Tricolite Phosphor Technology. It’s a quiet lamp with a flicker free illumination and it’s small frame fits on any desktop.
Uplift has a more adjustable lens, is also flicker free, and has two light settings for personal comfort. Help prevent the Winter Blues. Shine on. Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Digital Marketing Coordinator & Sales Associate Do you remember last year when articles started to pop up everywhere about sitting at your desk all day can kill you? Shortly after the exposed revelation, people began investing in standing desks to deter their impending chair death sentences. Initially, it sounded like a great idea, but, as someone who was in the retail boutique business the majority of her life, I can tell you standing all day can do quite a number on your body as well! A recent article has shown that standing all day increases the risk of Carotid Atherosclerosis, varicose veins, and impairment of fine motor skills. Now, everyone wants to jump back to the ergonomic chair trend, but wait! Sitting all day can kill you, no matter how ergonomic the chair! What do we do?? The information thrown at us goes back and forth; sitting all day is killing you but standing gives you back problems! Sitting! Standing! Sitting! Standing! It’s an endless barrage of articles going back and forth on the issue, but the answer is right in front of us….just MOVE! Too much of anything can be bad for your body, so just move a few times throughout the day and do your sitting and standing in moderation, dear readers.
Move Your Body Every 20-30 minutes, get up from your chair or, if you’re standing, shake your feet about and move around for a couple of minutes. Walk to the water cooler, go grab a coffee, go powder your nose, or work on your Gungnam Style pony ride. It’s important to get blood circulating through the body.
Should You Choose To Sit… Invest in a good ergonomic chair, such as the Humanscale DiffrientWorld chair. This mesh back chair provides sufficient lumbar support, a mesh seat that eliminates contact stress on the legs, and it automatically balances to how your posture should be. Just remember to get up and move a few times a day.
Should You Choose To Stand… The Kimball Priority would be a good solution for you. A height adjustable table is the best, so if you’re sick of standing all day, you can set the table to a normal height for sitting. A stool for resting periodically is a good investment as well. Remember, moderation is key! Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Digital Media Coordinator & Sales Associate What have you done for your health today? Unfortunately, most people can’t find the time to work out during the work week and it’s taking a toll on our health. The typical routine is to wake up, down some breakfast, drive to work, sit in front of a computer for 8 hours, drive back, eat some take out while watching tv, go to bed, and start all over the next day, all the while feeling exhausted and run down. You notice your belly is growing, back is aching, and your brain is sluggish. It’s time to take time for you. Yoga, even if it’s only for 15 minutes, can take you a long way mentally and physically. Yoga is known to help build strength, confidence, improve circulation, help with depression, improve respiration…the list goes on and on! Here are different ways to incorporate yoga into your work day.
Apps YogaRelax or YogaStretch: Close your office door or reserve some “you” time in a multi-purpose space where you can get some peace and play this app. It’s just like having a yoga instructor in the room telling you what poses to bend into next with soothing music in the background. You can either create your own personalized session or go with the pre-programmed session. Mindfulness Meditation 2.0: Great 5, 10, 15, or 20 minute guided meditation practices. This is a wonderful app for helping one shut out the office noise and find some clarity or for us city-dwellers that have to commute long hours daily.
15 Day Office Yoga Challenge De-stress at your desk! Teacher Sienna Smith via yogajournal.com teaches you 15 easy two-minute poses that help stretch and relive tension from your neck, shoulders, wrist, low back, and hips. Take the challenge and do your body good!
Bring the Yoga Studio to the Office A company should encourage a good work/life balance. A great way to do that is to bring in a yoga instructor a couple of times a week! Here are a few tips to help convince the company to provide a yoga class: - Do a bit of the leg work. Bring it up to co-workers to see how many people are on board, figure out the best time to schedule a class, find a multi-purpose room to have a session, and research yoga companies that will come by to teach. - Inform the Human Resources Department that it’ll help create more alert, relaxed, and productive employees. It’ll also help improve their health and provide the company better health insurance rates! - Let your boss know that it’ll help build a better camaraderie amongst the staff. May you be well. And may you be well at work. Namaste. Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Digital Marketing Coordinator & Sales Associate.
Typically, when buying office furniture, you immediately start planning for workstations, chairs, conference tables, etc…but what about reception furniture? Where do you start? What do you look for? What do you need? One thing you definitely want to keep in mind is that the reception area is the first and last thing your clients see, so why not leave a lasting impression and save a few dollars on some quality, pre-owned furniture? To get started, you need to ask yourself the following… How big is the reception space? How much traffic will there be? How long will clients be sitting? What is your budget? Once you figure out all the particulars, it’s time to shop for furniture! Reception Desk
This is (should) be the first thing clients see. Don’t tuck a small desk away in a corner. A reception unit comes in many different configurations, such as an L shape or U shape with one transaction counter or two. The size of your space will help determine what the receptionist would need. Does this person need a lot of storage? How much surface space do they need to hold a printer, computer, phone, and more? Cost Used: $750-$3,000 Seating
Sofas – This creates a cozy atmosphere and is great for groups, such as families. Available in fabric, leather, or vinyl. Around $250-$1,000. Cost Used : $299-$1,000
Club Chairs – Great for clients that will be waiting in the reception area for a while. Cost Used: $195-$400
Bariatric – Normally used in healthcare applications and fits just about every shape and size. Cost Used: $195-$400
Beam or Bench seating – If you have a minimal amount of space to work with, this is a good option. Cost Used: $350 and up
Wood Frame – One of the most common and affordable reception chairs. Cost Used: $75 – $150 Tables
Coffee tables are great with sofas and club seating and side tables are better for waiting rooms with a lot of seating and more affordable. Cost Used: $50-$225 Accessories
Don’t forget to include some good visuals, such as plants, artwork,and plenty of reading material! Post by Tiffeny Meyers, Digital Media Coordinator & Sales Associate
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