Blog

For the DIY Fanatic; the Design Tricks You Wish You Knew Sooner

Do It Yourself culture has exploded into every corner of the home goods industry. With the phenomenon starting on social media platforms such as Pinterest, Youtube, and later Instagram, we have seen all sorts of DIY projects gone well, and then those laughable mistakes we can all relate to. Yet regardless of the outcome, it’s a fun experiment in testing your skills, getting creative, and making use of the resources available to you. With endless interior design inspiration on the web, it can be understandably enticing to tackle your home improvement project, DIY style. But before you begin, you should know some of the basics to include in your process, and those to avoid. You may be asking yourself, what could really go wrong? Well, quite a lot. Particularly, if you’re undertaking an interior project that may forever alter the landscape of your interiors, there’s a fair amount of planning and caution to be had before diving in headfirst.

When starting a big project, the first inclination for many is to jump right into it, out of sheer excitement, curiosity, and perhaps a lack of experience. While understandable, we’re here to tell you why tearing into your home or constructing something rather sizable is a process that takes time, patience, and planning. Here are the top design tricks and ideas to integrate into your exciting new DIY project to aid in its success and save some headache and embarrassment down the road.

Always Over-Budget

By overbudgeting from the start, you’ll give yourself a comfortable cushion that you’ll likely need at some point during the DIY process. More often than not, we skimp on both budget and materials, only to realize during a critical moment, that there’s no glue, varnish, paint, dirt, fabric or money left to finish the job. Position yourself in a place to carry out the job effortlessly without making extra trips to the hardware store, or waiting until the next check comes in. Before you begin your project, create an itemized list of everything you may need to complete it, then add a few extras to give yourself that peace of mind you’ll want with your available materials. Also, always increase your budget by 10-15% to anticipate those unexpected costs down the road.

Invest In Where it Counts

Make your life easier with the right hardware and space-savers to increase your interior spaces. When jumping into a larger-scale home improvement project, think about how you could integrate some helpful spatial solutions into your remodel/upgrade/beautification to expand your floorplan and bring some serious aesthetics to the table. Building materials like glass sliding doors are wonderful space savers that offer increased flexibility, privacy, or connection depending on your unique needs. Every day our spaces change, are used for different purposes, and we need them to adapt to us. Consider something like sliding barn doors, that easily glide on a rolling track and provide an excellent barrier between communal spaces when need be. This space-saving solution easily slides open or closed. It hugs the wall and does not take up more than 1.5” of floor space. Investing in things like real hardwood, cork, or bamboo flooring (if your budget allows) will not only look much better, but these materials will last much longer than laminate or certain synthetic wood alternatives. Be careful when choosing what to skimp on, and where to splurge. If you’re a homeowner, think about the real return you’ll get when you pay the upfront costs for better quality materials.

dining space with a sliding interior door

Be As Realistic As Possible

It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of starting a remodel or a little home upgrade before truly assessing your skill set and capabilities. Always remember to overprepare, and to underestimate your skills. If not completely sure what you’re doing, or if a facet of the project trips you up, lean into that unknowing as a learning experience only to be gained from the help and guidance of a pro. Sometimes you need to call in backup, even for a DIY project. Nothing will be lost by calling in professional help for the areas you feel incapable, rather, something will be gained in the insight and craftsmanship you’ll gain. For example, hiring The Sliding Door Company to come and handle the installation process of your new sliding door or Glass Wall Partition from start to finish is one large headache avoided.

Start your DIY project as prepared as possible by considering all of these simple yet necessary tips, tactics, and reminders! Before sinking into your exciting new DIY journey, check out the experts in sliding wall solutions, Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online for more spatial solutions, view our online catalog, and Get a quote from one of our professionals today.

SP 1012 – A

Blog

Reimagining the Workplace Following COVID 19

For many, this is an extremely daunting task to be faced with; reimagining how one’s business should evolve to meet the new normal set by the Coronavirus pandemic. How exactly, can one’s business push forward and arrive at a completely altered working landscape? Will life ever be “normal” again?

For the past six months, normal has become Work From Home. Stay safe, stay home, flatten the curve. But after practicing social distancing and enduring home isolation for the better half of the year, many are beginning to question whether transitioning their team back into an office environment could be possible, and if so, how to keep everyone safe and risk-free during the typical 9-5 workday. To do this, there will have to be many structural and administrative changes to your once well-functioning office environment. This process may not be a cake-walk, and you’ll have to meet this challenge with an open mind, and enough resources to be successful in this transition. Here are the top four ways in which you can adjust to changing times and prepare your business to emerge from the current crisis unscathed.

  1. Spatial Separation

To achieve enhanced health and safety for you and your employees transitioning back into the office, it is going to take some physical reimagining. You’ll need to alter/change the overall layout and respective environment to accommodate the necessity for physical distancing. Remember that many employees are still quite nervous and apprehensive about returning to work and putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation. With so many people disregarding government recommendations, it can be understandably hard to know if your peers and coworkers are doing the right thing by wearing a mask/socially distancing outside of the office. As a business owner, the responsibility is on you to ensure your employees are safe when they come into work. Consider ordering modern glass partitions, glass office walls, and easy to disinfect glass office dividers. These spatial solutions offer enhanced barrier and boundary for anyone in the office and will help keep your employees safer and more distanced than normal. They serve a high purpose, allow natural light to flow through the entire office and keep a sense of continuity between employees, raising morale and maintaining a team environment even during the most isolating of times.

2. Enhanced Safety Measures

The next best thing you can do to ensure your office is as safe and as risk-free as possible is to continuously clean, disinfect and manage the health of your working environment. Consider hiring a full-time cleaner or if your company is large enough, a cleaning service that is present the entire workday. They will scrub down surfaces, disinfect and wipe down areas that get high use and traffic such as door handles, bathrooms, communal kitchens, and lounge areas. This way, your employees can feel comfortable existing outside of their little cubicle when necessary. Additionally, require each and every one of your employees to wear a face covering, to refrain from coming into the office if they feel slightly ill, warm, have a runny nose or a cough. Some companies and establishments are even requiring compliance of a routine daily temperature check before entering the building (this applies to both employees and clients alike). Additionally, think about the ways you can evolve your communal spaces, such as kitchens and lounges/co-working stations to become more spaced-out and safer. Move couches and chairs apart to maintain six feet of separation, offer reduced food and beverage options in the communal kitchen area, and ask employees to bring in their own personal utensils and cups.

3. Reduce maximum capacity

An effective tactic in crafting a safe workspace is to stagger workers’ schedules in order to reduce your daily capacity. Organize your employee’s schedules so that some work from home half of the week, while others come into the office, then switch through the week and have the WFH group come into the office and send the others home. While this may be confusing at first, people will fall into this new normal and may even enjoy mixing it up during the week.

Glass Sliding Doors

Transition your workplace into a safe, welcoming work environment by integrating new techniques, safety measures, and spatial barriers for everyone to benefit from. Install glass office walls, sliding room dividers, and glass sliding doors to allow for increased separation while still maintaining a community feel. A “separate but together” floor plan will become a crucial element throughout this reintegration process to safeguard everyone in the office moving forward. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online for more spatial inspiration,  to view our online catalog, and to Get a quote from one of our professionals today.

SP 1006 (V2) A