Bright office furniture – The Pros & Cons

Are you considering bright office furniture? Now that summer is finally here we are all digging in the back of our wardrobes for our bright coloured clothing. I am looking round for a Hawaiian shirt to take with me on holiday to Mexico this year, as apparently they are back in fashion again! But what if you want bright office furniture to make your office as bright as your wardrobe? What are the pros and cons?

Pros of bright office furniture

A more welcoming, homely office

Using brighter fabrics on office chairs and desk divider screens makes the office seem more welcoming.

We have recently had a request from a client for bright desk divider screens in their call centre as a change from their very plain palette of white desks with grey walls. Its bright touches like these that can add a bit of character to a workplace and make staff feel more valued. Bright fabrics for screens and office chairs come in hundreds of colours to suit all tastes.

The general trend today in office furniture colours is for a lighter colour palette to ‘soften’ the appearance of the office. This makes work places more welcoming and encourages staff to stay longer and feel that they belong. The softer, lighter appearance also helps to attract more female staff and younger staff as opposed to a business which has a dark, imposing décor.

Personalise your office departments with bright screens

Bright desk divider screens can differentiate between different departments 

In larger offices, unless there is adequate signage, one department can blend into another. Adding bright, colourful desk divider screens can differentiate between departments and, in a way, encourage team spirit. If departments do move the desk screens can simply be lifted off of their brackets and slid on to the screen brackets on their new desks.

If tastes do change the desk divider screens can also be reupholstered at a low cost to a new colour more in keeping with the times.

Any bright seating fabrics can be stain repellent

Having bright seating fabrics needn’t be a problem as regards of staining

We now supply seating in ‘Halcyon’ fabric by Camira Fabrics, the biggest supplier of seating fabric in the UK. Halcyon fabric is stain repellent and liquids simply roll off. If you do manage to stain it Halcyon can be cleaned with solution of water and bleach. Plus Halcyon comes in 60 colours including patterns.

We can also upholster seating in Vita Vinyl which comes in some great bright shades and is easy to clean.

Cons of bright office furniture

Furniture fashions change along with tastes

What you like now may be getting on your nerves in 5 years’ time. Over the past few years we have sold a lot of chairs in Madura fabric which is a bright lime green. They look great when they are new and they leave here but being a bright colour it does attract the dirt after a while no matter how well you look after it.

Also would you like to look at a lime green item day after day for years on end? If you have a regular turnover of chairs and breakout seating this isn’t a problem but if you tend to hold onto your furniture for a while then I would tend to go for more muted colours.

That isn’t a bad thing as there are some great muted colour fabrics available that won’t grate after a while. Our biggest client always has black fabric on their chairs which they have been buying from us for over 20 years and black never goes out of style.

Add a bright furniture colour as an accent colour

Another way to add a bright colour is to add it as an accent colour so not on every chair but on one every now and again.

Another option, depending on the style of chair you choose, is that we can supply chairs two-tone chairs with two different fabric colours on the same chair. So you could have bright coloured seat paired with a grey or black backrest to tone it down.

Brightly coloured desks?

As for bright desks, storage and tables the only bright colour that we sell is white which is still really fashionable and should be around for a long time still.

You can add colour to your meeting rooms as our Luna Meeting Tables have the option of Pastel Green or Powder Blue table tops.

Also, Boss Design are shortly to bring out meeting tables with a linoleum top in all sorts of colours.

Ready to take the plunge?

If you would like to find out about how Lismark can add a bit of colour and character to your workplace, please give us a call on 0116 251 7741 or complete our contact form and we will call you at a time of your choosing.