Where Minds Meet

In the past year, we here at Cymax Stores have been undergoing renovations due to our increasing need for office space as we continue to grow. Gathering around the conference table for a meeting for the first time since the boardroom reopened its doors, we all admired the new conference table and office chairs. It turns out, while the chairs are indeed new, the conference table was not; where it once had been two-toned it now had been stained a rich black. I couldn’t believe the difference it made. It literally had breathed new life into the boardroom.

I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, the conference table is not only a place to hold a meeting; it is the focal point of the room. It’s the first thing people notice when walking in and sitting down. The image the conference table projects could further your company’s image and play a positive role in advancing your business’ success. It might be tempting to think that buying a large flashy conference table with matching trendy, yet comfortable office chairs will do the trick. However, if you want to make a good first impression on prospective clients or employees, the boardroom or conference room should look professional yet inviting.

The distinctive character and ambience of your boardroom will largely be determined by the shape of conference table. The most common shapes for conference tables are rectangular, boat-shaped and racetrack. For a classic look that will never go out of style, choose a rectangular conference table. On the other hand, the boat-shaped conference table has a sleek, contemporary vibe. If your meeting room or boardroom is smaller-sized, round, square or octagonal conference tables are good alternative choices. Regardless of the shape of the conference table, you don’t want one that is too large or too small for the space. The conference table should proportionately fill the center of the room and look balanced.

The base of the conference table also contributes to its overall look and feel, while giving it strength and stability. When selecting the type of base for your conference table, the following criteria should be met: it complements the effect you want to achieve, it is strong and durable and it is stable. Popular types of bases for conference tables are the curved plinth base, the H-shaped base and the slab base. Many kinds of conference tables also have traditional legs that lend the table a relaxed, modern appeal.

The style you choose for your conference table makes a bold statement about your business. Traditional conference tables are characterized by medium to dark finishes and architectural detailing such as decorative molding and carved legs. Contemporary style conference tables are known for its use of sleek lines and geometric shapes and can have eye-catching two-tone finishes.

First impressions are important. The type of conference table you choose for your boardroom will help your company project a positive and confident image that is so important in today’s market. You will find everything you need to create the ideal boardroom, from conference tables to office chairs, at More Conference Tables.

Airs of Sophistication

Often times, self-image and the related interest of establishing an atmosphere that belies that image are integral parts of finding the initiative to be successful in business.  This is particularly true in professions that have a rich and storied history that typically included sophisticated office furnishings.  Not that you necessarily be a lawyer, banker or any one of these “refined” vocations per se.  The freedom to give your office a touch of class and established stateliness can spur you to see your professional self w

ith a heightened sense of worth.

Office Furniture and More offers a wide selection of competitively priced office furniture products that fit the bill for the office that is looking to incorporate some of the grandeur of days past.  The view from your window may not be of a cobblestone street and gaslight lamps, but you’re free to use a quill pen if you wish.

The Kathy Ireland Nottingham Epic Secretary Desk is a perfect starting point for infusing some 18^th century English charm to the space.  Its swan neck pediment and urn finial suggest aristocratic refinement in the workplace as stylishly now as then.  A Stanley Corinthia File Cabinet is one with which you’d be hard pressed to find another so steeped in old world grandeur.

 Heighten the mood by writing with the aforementioned quill pen by candlelight at a Haugen Rolltop Scholars Desk that may well have you envisioning yourself as a modern day John Locke.  Allow a suitable amount of dust to cover the bound-leather texts tucked into your Pulaski Accents Bookcase. 

 The individual who wished to recreate the sophisticated airs of centuries past in their office is sure to find every piece to their liking at OFFICEFURNITURENMORE.

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.

My New Perch

If you’re like many of us who spend an increasing amount of time at working at home on the computer, you’re one of two types and two types only. If you’re an A, you’ve already appraised the value of quality comfort and function seating – and invested in an office or desk chair that meets those needs. If you’re a B, this truth is likely becoming more and more apparent and you’re considering such a purchase yourself.

I’m the latter and have in fact, just today. decided to order a new Office Star office chair from Cymax Stores. OfficeFurnitureNMore.com has an impressive selection of desk chairs and I’ve decided to go with the Office Star Pillow Top Mesh Office Chair. The broadly cushioned seat and back panel seals the deal for me after all the function amenities. Lever-operated pneumatic height column, Tilt w/ lock, 360 swivel, adjustable arms – you know, the whole complement of what I’ll need when I’m looking to be productive in my workspace.

Truth is, since I bought my place I’ve been primarily using my computer while sitting on my drum throne. Now the Taye Drums 760 motorcycle-style cloth seat is one heck of a drum throne and super comfy, but I need something with a flex-back panel and some amrests for while I do my thing in the evenings. An office chair that features a molded mesh back panel and a built-in lumbar support beam is a good fit for anyone who can develop stiffness in their back after long seated periods or those who have existing back issues.

Those of you living in warmer climates can appreciate the appeal of a ventilated mesh or screen back office chair, and both Office Star and fellow American manufacturer Boss offer nice quality-made and competitively-priced models keep your shirt dry on hot days. The Boss Contemporary Executive Office Chair is a perfectly simple yet good-looking and full-function task chair that makes the grade for a professional office setting. A Boss Ergonomic Leather Chair can take on a more stately office role with a look that that can’t be beat at 134 dollars and only at officefurniturenmore.

Eurostyle Office Chairs are definitely the way to go for those whose workspace or den continues to be a focal point of their modern decor. These chairs have, as their name suggests, a very chic European vibe to them that falls right into sleek simple stylish.

Check out their Bungie Low-Back Office Chair and see what I mean.

I’m anxious to push off for a roll over to my file cabinet or all the way wall end to spy on the living room, not to mention lots of random 360 degree swiveling to “work it in”, you know. Looking forward to its arrival with, as I conveniently held until the last sentence,

FREE GROUND SHIPPING!!

All Eyes on You

The lectern is an oft-overlooked piece of office furniture that has an inherent value in successfully communicating business objectives. With a background in Toastmasters / Debating Club, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time behind these fixtures and can attest to the positive influence they have on both speaker and audience. Yes, they offer a convenient and easy-access spot for notes and prompts, but they provide much more than that.

How many of you can remember at least one birkenstock-wearing, semi-bohemian type professor from your post-secondary years? He likely delivered his lecture leaning against the desk, legs crossed and arms propped aback. While your interest in the subject matter may have kept your attention, there were likely more than a few fellow classmates who were decidedly less attentive based on his demeanor.

Conversely, any type of communication that is delivered with the air of authority provided by a lectern is almost sure to be taken in by the audience with a heightened

sense of significance and contemplation. Whether it be in a lecture hall or boardroom, a lectern has a very unique character in the way it commands deference and claims the floor for the speaker. Furthermore, this same quality is equally beneficial to the speaker, giving them a greater sense of confidence and resolve in delivering their communication.

It is this value, attached to the simple fixture standing alone at the front of the room, which makes a lectern such a worthy one for any large boardroom. The speaker’s presence is heightened so dramatically by standing behind the lectern that it buoys his or her confidence and demands the attention of the audience. The value of this type of atmosphere to spoken corporate communications goes without saying, or it should.

Individuals convinced of this reality are recommended to take advantage of the ease and convenience of online shopping and visit www.cymax.com. As a premier online retailer of quality-made and competitively priced office furniture, Cymax delivers with an impressive selection of Da-Lite lecterns to meet the needs of your office. From table lecterns and floor lecterns to multi-media lecterns that allow you to run presentations, you are nearly sure to find one that’s the right fit for you. Pedestal lecterns are popular with those that like to bring an old-world pulpit severity, if you will, to the room.

It’s a common piece of advice for nervous would-be speakers to pretend their audiences are completely naked. I too received this same suggestion, but it was wholly ineffective. In time, however, closing my hands over the top rail of the lectern did wonders for me before I scanned the audience and took a deep breath. You too will likely find the lectern to be a very calming, focusing and empowering “rock” as you prepare to be the center of attention.

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.

Inflexible Walls

There is something of basic human nature in the need for many of us to make use of every last piece of space available to us, just the same way as it is for others to discern the value of openness in relation to optimum efficiency and general well-being. For business owners in today’s increasingly-impinged office spaces, finding a happy medium between the two is a challenging necessity.

I’m reminded of an ongoing issue in my own family, and likely many others. My mother is more of a pack rat while my father is every bit a ruthless purger. Her solution to any and all items that do not fit into being located somewhere specific in the home is that they be placed in the garage, with the logic “that’s what the garage is for.” This is decidedly to the chagrin of my father, who sees it as his automotive / yard works sanctum with an ordered chaos to it that needs be understood by he and he alone.

Similarly, it is quite likely that the interests of productivity and work climate in the office may come to be at odds with each other as concerns space management; particularly as a host of factors make the modern office smaller and smaller all the time. Add to the conflict the fact that employees are more frequently wearing more than one hat and need greater technology-thus-space at their disposal, and owners or managers are obligated to give more thought to office layout than they likely ever have before.

In much the same way Rubbermaid (tm) tubs and stackable plastic shelving have created harmony between Ma and Pa, modular office desks and workstations from Cymax Stores are an ideal means to ensure finding that balance. Further, the convenience of online shopping at Cymax means you can re-coordinate your office without leaving it should you so choose.

Impressive advances in modular design mean it is easier than ever to combine office desks with a Bush hutch and / or a peninsula desk or return bridge to accommodate employees’ ever-growing need for more work surface space. Built to be sturdy, durable and a quality hybrid of function, style and ergonomics, Bush office products are sure to meet your every criterion.

Similarly, a corner desk or corner office suite is an optimum means of utilizing space in a most efficient manor. Adding a corner hutch adds vertical storage / filing capacities, and although most offices today are striving for at least some semblance of the open office concept, cubicle panels are another office staple to be found at Cymax Stores.

As much as the Christmas decorations will be a fixture of my father’s garage for 55 weeks of the year, an

ever-increasing quantity of office workstations and related items are sure to be an inevitability of your office. As your business grows, so will your office. However, your office space will most certainly not and the inflexibility of those walls will dictate you either move to one more spacious or make the best of what you’ve got.

For those who would choose the latter, a visit to cymaxstores.com may well be in your future.

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.

Bored of your Boardroom? Spice it up with Office Furniture

Bored of boardroom meetings that seem to go on and on? The scene usually looks like this: The donuts and weak coffee dwindle slowly while the guest presenter repeats the same ideas as the last guy, only in about fifteen different ways. You can feel you neighbor’s breath on you because there is not enough room for everyone at the table and the presenter keeps fumbling to keep their papers from falling off the make-shift desk that’s been impractically placed in the far corner of the room. To top everything off, the projector buzzes too loudly for anyone to concentrate and the only thing that is truly keeping everyone from nodding off is their utter discomfort in the circa-1980’s office chairs. If any of this sounds familiar, your office boardroom definitely needs some sprucing up.

The best place to find good, quality boardroom tables and office chairs is at Cymax, where online shopping makes your furnishing job easy, so you can concentrate on the job that you are actually employed to do. At Cymax, you will also be able to find high quality projectors which will eliminate fuzzy pictures and the need for everyone to squint to see them. As well as projector mounts, so that you won’t have to rely on stacking the perfect amount of books underneath your old projector. Try treating your presenters with a lectern, complete with a large reading surface, a shelf, and caster wheels so that nobody has to shuffle around.

At Cymax, find a conference table that everyone will enjoy sitting at, perhaps one with a wide presentation top, a slab base and optional electronics modules. Choose from a large variety of top colors, base colors, edge colors – you can even feature three colors on one table. You can also have the option of where you would like the power and communication modules placed, so that there will not be any loose or disorderly cords hanging about the table.

Embellish your coworkers to office chairs that are comfortable, ones that nobody will complain about, no matter how long the meeting is. Adjustable ergonomic office chairs on caster wheels are perfect for boardrooms. Your staff may fall asleep, saddled in comfort, but at least they will not fidget around and get on everyone else’s nerves. If you have surprise guests or just not enough office chairs, stock up on stacking chairs that can be stored as easily as they can be brought out.

The weak coffee problem – and the side-effect of sleepy colleagues – can be rectified by a fashionable coffee maker a generous 1.5 liter capacity, pumping out enough coffee to keep the entire room buzzing with tons of constructive ideas and plenty of caffeine.

At Cymax, find lighting, hutches, storage cabinets, computer armoires, bookcases, and other office furniture to make your office as comfy as you can. You spend most of your days at work, after all, so make it as relaxing as possible for all employees and office guests. At Cymax, we also know how busy your days can be, so we make it easier for you to get what you need with online shopping that can be delivered right to your office. It’s just a day’s work for us.

Furniture Bribery and the Toppling of Nepotism

The maxim of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” has never been more true in the spectrum of career and job searching as it is today, and projects to be even more painfully relevant in the future. I have no problem with the cut-throat nature of business, just as long as I have as equal an opportunity for a close shave as does Mr. Todd’s nephew but, regrettably, that’s not the way it works most often in the corporate Fleet Street of the twenty-first century.

Sure, it stings that much more when a) you’re qualified to the eyeballs, then b) make the second interview short-list only to learn you’ve been rejected in favor of the second cousin of the receptionist whose husband ceaselessly offers the “I’m sure you haven’t taken your mulligan yet, Mr. Hardy” to keep the boss from double bogeys during Friday’s extended “power lunches.”

I suppose you could tailor your job search to anywhere you might conceivably have a familial “in”, but for me that would mean another undergrad degree or wearing a name tag and little to nothing in between. For most of us, I imagine, the scenario would be disdainfully similar. So the question is – What can you do to give yourself an edge?

I haven’t come up with much so far, but I did happen across the Bestar furniture collection in search of affordable and pleasingly functional office furniture. After a short perusal, I (sheepishly) came up with this half-baked suggestion. What about bringing along a piece of office furniture to “curry their favor” as they say?

As ridiculous as this sounds, (and it does) what’s not to suggest that a particular hiring agent might be “touched” by the thoughtfulness of your bringing a ready-to-assemble Bestar corner desk up 8 flights of stairs? Or that your promise to bring back that most fashionable Bestar computer desk when (AND IF GOSH DARN IT!!) you start training on Monday morning sways the decision to your liking? Perhaps bribery is your thing and you combine a Bestar desk or maybe a Bestar workstation with a considerable dose of unfounded flattery to rig the outcome? Hmm?

What’s that you say? You’ve always dreamed of being a purchasing officer and the accountant’s drop-dead gorgeous daughter-in-law and her philosophy degree are, however incomprehensibly, massively intimidating? You need to up the ante my friend! How about a conference table as the proverbial carrot-on-a-string dangled in front of him or her? Maybe even a pair of office tables if you sense you’re in something of a dead heat.

Fast forward; now, assuming you are indeed the new purchasing officer, there’s no need to put to waste all of your ill-gotten knowledge of conference tables. Stand proudly at the round conference table (or maybe it’s a modular conference table – you are the purchasing officer after all, right?) you’ve so tastefully brought to the office and lay out your plans to furnish the entire place in just the right mix of traditional executive office furniture, contemporary office furniture and modern executive office furniture. Then soak up the accolades…

The end justifies the means, people, the ends justifies the means.