Filing It Away for a Rainy Day

At first glance, file cabinets might seem like the most boring pieces of office furniture around. But consider this: remember the last time you spent 20 frustrating minutes searching for a document only to discover that it had “just” been misfiled? A good filing cabinet, chosen specifically for your work environment may be the best way to protect yourself against loss or misuse of the data that is so valuable to your business. At More Filing Cabinets we can help.

Maybe we won’t be able to protect you entirely from well-meaning employees, but you will be able to find a wide variety of file cabinets, in different sizes and configurations, with or without locks, that will meet your high standards as well as your business requirements. File cabinets can be as simple and uncomplicated as your standard letter size vertical metal cabinet with two or more drawers to fireproof lateral filing cabinets that are as strong as a safe.

Before buying a file cabinet for your office, consider what you will be using the cabinet for and the features you want it to have. Do you work with blueprints or survey maps? A roll file cabinet would be a good choice. However, if you’re buying a file storage system for a doctor’s or dentist’s office, stackable, lateral filing cabinets will give you plenty of room and allow for future expansion. Think just because you have a small business, you might be able to get away with storing any important papers you need in the top drawer of your desk? A standard file cabinet that can accommodate both letter and legal sized files will get you organized and give you confidence in knowing that documents vital to your business are safe and secure.

Lateral file cabinets do use more floor space than vertical file cabinets, but one lateral file drawer can hold more files than a standard vertical file drawer. Lateral filing cabinets are generally more versatile since they can accommodate both letter and legal sized folders in the same drawer. Keep in mind, that the files in a lateral file cabinet will face the side of the cabinet instead of directly facing the person opening the drawer.

While you may not have the resources for a storage safe with an inch-thick complex steel lock, a well-designed file cabinet should still provide you with enough protective features to give you peace of mind. Many types of office filing cabinets have a single-lock system that locks all the drawers. Some kinds of locks will lock one drawer, usually the top one, only. If this will be a concern, ask how the file cabinet security system works before you make a final decision.

Whatever your filing cabinet needs, More Filing Cabinets has file storage solutions suited for a variety of work environments as well as for the home office.

Paper Trails

The need to keep written records and documentation is one that is more pressing for certain types of businesses than others. While some merely collect and reference invoices or the like, others find themselves swimming in paper files due to the nature of their operations and / or uneasiness with more digital methods. Pair this reality with progressively smaller yet increasingly cramped modern office spaces and occasionally your paper trail receptacles seem to take on a life of their own, threatening to take over every wall of your office like ivy ensconcing a helpless building.

Truth is, the majority of offices are not so far removed from the expansive plain-gray filing behemoths for which often the lion’s share of wall space was given up without a fight. Filing cabinets have come to be offered in a wider variety of aesthetic styles and designs since, but only recently have design ergonomics been able to radically break from the vertical box norm.

The aforementioned space-concerns were dictating one of two courses of action; the first would have entailed having both the files and paper themselves becoming smaller. As appealingly green as that may sound, human eyesight limitations joined a well-established pulp and paper production industry in making that impractical. 8 ½" x 11" wasn’t up for any compromising, and so the only choice was for the file cabinet to become smaller itself.

Enter the Flat File. These innovative space-saver filing cabinets are a godsend for any business, big or small, looking to turn the tide in the war against office sprawl. Compact, more lightweight and capable of accommodating a greater number of files than you’d think at first glance, a flat file may well be the answer for any home or office-based business.

OfficeFurnitureNMore.com is the place to go to look over an impressive selection of these new workplace heroes, and keep in mind they are much more easily stacked than your conventional cabinets with their lighter weight and lack of expansiveness. Featuring quality flat files from renowned filing experts like Safco and Mayline, Office Furniture N More pairs with the convenience of online shopping to provide you with the freedom to renovate your office without having to leave it.

A Home Office or a Guest Bedroom? Why not BOTH?!

There's one room in your home that doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up. Originally, you intended to use it as a home office, so you bought a desk but when relatives came for a visit, you stuck a bed in there as well. Currently the room is being used as a storage room, and now there's barely enough room to sit down at the computer. With a little bit of creative planning, you will be able to transform it into a functional dual purpose space that will be a welcoming place to work and an inviting room for guests.

Decide first what the room will be mostly used for. If you have a home-based business, or use the computer on a regular basis, then choose the home office as the room's primary purpose. The room's emphasis will determine the type of furnishings you buy and how they will be arranged.

The most important piece of furniture when planning a home office is the desk. Select the smallest size of desk you will be comfortable with. You might be tempted to choose an impressive looking executive desk, but when decorating for a dual purpose room, you will want to use your available floor space sparingly so that you can fit everything in.

To make the room as warm and inviting as possible when used as a guest room, choose enclosed storage wherever possible. Putting office-related peripherals, such as the printer, fax machine and the CPU behind doors, not only controls clutter but helps to make the atmosphere less business-like.

Bookshelves are an excellent choice when decorating a dual purpose room. Even if they are used mostly for manuals or reference materials, a shelf full of books tends make the room look comfortably lived-in. It is also a great place to display mementos and collectibles. When guests are over, place baskets or storage trays in a section of the bookcase or shelving unit to use for items they would like to keep close at hand.

Of course, your home office/guest bedroom will need someplace for your guests to sleep. There are so many alternatives to choose from but the three main categories are sofa beds, futon sofas and daybeds.

Sofa beds, also called sleeper sofas or hide-a-beds, are sofas with a bed frame and bed built into the unit. As needed, it can be unfolded from inside the couch and then retracted when not being used as a bed. Due to the bed mechanism, sofa beds tend to be heavier than regular sofas of the same size.

Because they can be used as a sofa by day and a bed at night, futons are ideal for dual purpose rooms. Once used to decorate dorm rooms and basement bedrooms, today the futon is a popular choice for the living room, family room, den or guest bedroom. Since the mattress sits directly on top of the futon frame, it tends to be lighter and more user-friendly than a sofa bed.

Daybeds resemble a standard sofa, with a back and two arms. They function as a bed and generally do not transform into a couch. During the day, daybeds can be used as a sofa. Since they are essentially a kind of bed rather than a couch, they utilize bedding linens and accessories such as skirts, throw pillows and comforters, and can look quite decorative. For a dual purpose room where the home office is the primary use, a daybed might not be the ideal choice, especially if you need to meet with clients or business associates.

Filing cabinets come in all shapes, sizes and designs. Select one that is stylish enough to be used as a nightstand or end table. If you will be storing sensitive materials in your home office, choose a lockable filing cabinet.

If there is closet space, consider adding a chest of drawers or a small dresser. When not used by guests, it will be a great place to store extra office supplies such as copier paper, notepads, etc. If there is no closet, consider adding a wardrobe armoire. Should that be out of the question, put hooks on the back of the door so that your guests will have someplace to hang clothes, etc.

These dual purpose room design tips will help you create a space in your home that is an ideal work environment for you, but a comfortable place for guests whenever they come to stay.

A to Z

As another year passes into the books for our country and our southern neighbor readies to do so in two days time, Cymax would like to remind federal and less-swamped bookkeepers alike of the peace of mind afforded by keeping records in an orderly and equally stylish manner.

Surely filing is one office capacity where the suit-n-tie guy can envy the suburban rental shop clerk. Must be nice to give it little more thought than impaling way-bills on a paper skewer before rubber banding a lengths’ worth and dropping the stack randomly into a nearby drawer. For most, the need for a legitimate paper trail means a specific fixture must be within short reach of the desk, and the days of the grey-metal box file’s uniformity have long since past.

Even as recently as my teenage years, when I thought of a large office I had a conception something along the lines of the drab stretches of the Washington Post Office in All the President’s Men; an endless horizon of copycat cubicles, monstrous typewriters and the odd furnace-sized computer mainframe. Out of the public school fishbowl and into the real world, I naturally realized modern offices aren’t nearly as wholly sterile.

So now whether you’re as much a vanguard as Woodward or Bernstein or a more humble corporate peon, there is every reason to expand your filing capacities at the office without ever leaving it by means of online shopping at cymaxstores.com. With over 500 filing storage products, you’re nearly assured of finding a way to make the token daily bend-over-and-pull a little more pleasing.

A Bush Lateral File might be a well-received choice, combining more sleek and modern design with a variety of hardwood cabinets, charismatic design themes and notably competitive pricing. Kathy Ireland Lateral File Cabinets possess the same visual-character appeal as a means of furthering the warmth and personality of the space in which you likely spend a large portion of the week. For the price, a Bestar Pedestal file can’t be beat and the versatility to vertically mount the unit may expand its practical and value appeal. A HON Lateral File is a safe bet for those who are looking to fall somewhere in between the aforementioned 1976 reference and something more modern, with hybrid takes on filing cabinets incorporating that simple practicality with subtle design facelifts.

Happy 141^st Canada and similar birthday wishes to our American friends as their Independence Day approaches.

Thinking Outside the Box: Breaking Free From Office Cubicles

Cubicle life can be drab and draining at the best of times. Being caged inside four walls of grey fuzzy fabric, put together with rusty screws and wobbly legs does not exactly inspire a creative and effective work area. Natural light and open space should not be a break-time luxury; instead, it should be a fundamental element of your office space.

Cymax Stores provides online shopping for office furniture that is essential to a successful work environment. At www.bushfurniturecollection.com, you will find a variety of office furniture fit for every type of business and every office employee. Office space arrangements can be tricky, but with over seven hundred options for cubicle configurations alone, Bush Furniture covers everything you might never have even thought of. No matter how small or big your office is, we’ll find a fit.

With collections such as Bush Furniture’s Office-in-an-Hour, designing your workplace has never been so simple. Cymax allows you to narrow your search by design, finish, and price so that you can find what you need right away. Mismatched chairs and tables, lack of storage options, and messy wires stick out like sore thumbs. Impress your clients with stylish uniformity and pamper your employees to a comfortable work environment.

Bush Furniture desks come with panel grommets for wire access, keeping computer equipment tidy and out of sight, so no more tripping over cable wires on your way to the boss’s office! No matter if you are right or left handed either, you will find a desk that accommodates you.

Although a messy desk might make it seem like you have a lot of work on your hands, it doesn’t look attractive for the passerby. Filing cabinets can help you clean up your desk and organize your files so that important information is out-of-sight but easy to access. Also an attractive and efficient storage option is a hutch for over a desk. A hutch allows you to keep your desk surface clear; it also allows you to display special items, such as framed photographs of your loved ones, so that your workspace has an individual and personal feel to it. Bush Furniture also carries bookshelves in all sorts of colors, sizes, and styles.

Many items in the Bush Furniture collection come in a variety of finishes, giving a different look for every office, while keeping the style within one workspace the same. With choices in quality materials, styles, and collections, get rid of the drib and drab in your workplace.

Most of us spend more of our waking hours at work than we do in our own homes, which is one of the reasons why it is so important to furnish an office in a way that respects and keeps in mind the needs of each employee. Our environment affects our frame of mind, which in turn affects our ability to produce and inspire ideas and productivity. Cymax works to help you accomplish a positive environment for your work team with our extensive Bush Furniture collections.

From our office to yours: happy shopping.