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Keeping The Workplace Safe This Season

As we head into a new season, there is a collective worry that this flu season will be far more devastating than in years past. With no sign of this virus slowing down, and a vaccine still months out, workers are becoming even more aware and considerate about how to keep their workplace safe and comfortable for everyone. Managing an office space and leading a team can be difficult during these uncertain times. But arming yourself and your workplace with the right solutions will make all the difference in the fight against COVID.

So what are some methods to introduce into the workplace to safeguard employees, visitors, and clients alike this fall flu season? Above all else, you and your workforce should use the known and proven-to-work sanitation standards, which should be regularly followed and unwavering. Your employees need to ensure the safety of everyone in the building while coming and leaving work even if they have individual offices, which is why asking everyone to mask up while at work is another simple solution that guarantees safety for all. All communal areas should be socially distanced and mask-required in order to be safe for employees of all ages.

This information is probably not anything new, but before we get into other safety methods, we thought it important to mention those above, though most people by now are well-versed with the standard safety precautions in place. The following fall solutions list a number of new and inventive systems that really help eliminate unnecessary surface contact, potential airborne contamination, and general fear within your commercial establishment.

Keyless Locking Systems

Considering how often we open and close doors, it only makes sense that locking systems should evolve to meet the modern moment and utilize the available technology. Space Plus, A Division of The Sliding Door Company offers innovative keyless locking door systems that connect right to your smartphone! Rather than carting around a set of dirty keys and touching handles and doorknobs unnecessarily, you can unlock your doors with the tap of your finger.

All you need is your smartphone and the locking app. Simply unlock the door and push open, cutting the contact in half. Especially useful in office settings for utility rooms or individual office doors that open and close regularly, these systems make entering and exiting a total breeze.

Sanitizing

The importance of consistent sanitation cannot be overstressed. Your company should have already created a job for one of your cleaning staff or contracted a team of sanitation experts to consistently and professionally clean, disinfect, and sanitize your commercial space. Door knobs, elevator buttons, kitchen counters, and other communal spaces within the office must be wiped down and sanitized often. Providing hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes throughout your commercial building is also highly recommended in order to help keep employees cleaner and safer for all.

Space dividers

Aside from masks, large outdoor spaces, and self quarantines, space dividers are the newest solution of choice. Many of you have likely seen pop-up plexiglass or glass dividers in restaurants, banks, or any other business that comes in close contact with customers. And as a commercial business, it is your responsibility to outfit your facility or office space with top-grade spatial dividers to keep your employees and your customers a safe as possible. Sliding Room Dividers (floor-to-ceiling and smaller sizes), as well as sliding glass doors and Office Partitions, make it possible to welcome back workers safely without risking the health of everyone indoors. You can choose from countless customizable options, handles, accessories, and even glass transparency when you order your sliding office dividers from Space Plus!

Putting these tips into play, you can safeguard your staff, employees, and your customers against this fall flu season! For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving solutions! From Bi-Fold doors to swing doors,wall dividers to suspended systems, Space Plus has it all. Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and start your educational transformation today!

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Blog

Modern Tech Offices Demand A New Level of Swank

It’s no new news that the modern tech industry has surpassed growth expectations, cemented its influence on every corner of modern society, and has moved into just about every major U.S. city. And not only does this tech/startup industry bring money, jobs, and modernization to each new locale it plants itself in, it brings a new wave of design inspiration to a city. From Los Angeles to Silicon Valley, Houston to New York, the business of technology is booming. And over the past decade, that’s meant a massive increase in new building construction, the reimagining of office spaces, and an absolute field day for commercial interior designers across the country. And as an interior designer yourself, surely the thought has entered the mind once or twice as to how exactly one goes about outfitting an expansive, highly coveted work environment for a well-regarded tech client.

Many like to assume that the classic techie is characterized as somewhat of a right-side-of-the-brain, analytically-minded type, but you’d be surprised how well modern Techies can sniff out good interior design versus a lackluster working environment. After all, they’re used to enjoying the fruits of the industry, which undoubtedly have trickled down into everything from their business trips to their comfortable, stylish coworking spaces. So, creating a working environment for these tech brains to create, play, and work within is crucial in their success- both as individuals and as team members. Not only does great interior design help aid their ability to work, but it is also a symbol of the industry’s success, worth, and prestige. With top clients and brands visiting the office often, it’s important to have a well-considered space to host meetings and to showcase work in, among other practicalities. And let’s face it: there’s also simply a bit of indulgence present in the industry. Not a bad thing!

Luckily, being the interior experts we are at Space Plus, a division of The Sliding Door Company, we have the answers you’ve been asking yourself for too long. (We know, sometimes it’s hard to ask for help!) Below is our must-have interior check-list we hope provides you with enough inspiration to get started designing for your new tech clients in the years to come!

First things first: Start with square footage.

As a designer, you need to be able to understand how much room and space you’re working with. Knowing your limitations and how much available space you get to fill is a crucial first when setting out to design a new work environment. This blank canvas is the “skeleton” of your new project that allows you to conceptualize the floor plan before you move on to furniture, desk configurations, and decor. Measure, photograph, and model the space before doing anything else. Creating a map of your intended layout is key!

Next: Begin the Modernization- but make it art.

Our suggestion? Start with the framework before adding in the artful accouterment. This would be everything from wall finish, to doors, office walls, and dividers to material choices. For example, by selecting ultra-modern, well-made sliding glass doors, and office wall partitions, the entire space becomes instantly more functional, updated and contemporized from the start. Instead of continuing with bland office doors, elevate the surrounding space with modern glass pocket doors, and other sliding glass doors that offer both easy and stylish aesthetic. You can decide to go with completely transparent glass, highly opaque for more privacy, and everything in between.

Fill it With Furniture!

Trust us, your clients will appreciate a well-considered furniture selection that offers both comfort and creativity. Even in offices, furniture can be a defining characteristic of the space. Especially when designing a coworking environment, you’ll want to provide thoughtful communal spaces for employees to relax in and bounce ideas back and forth within a comfortable, neutral space. Consider designing multiple seating areas amongst the office with plenty of coffee tables and accent chairs for team members to use during the workday. Create little privacy hubs by installing wall dividers and glass wall partitions to block off visibility from lounge to lounge. These artful spaces are also great to use for casual client meetings!

Next, provide the space with thoughtful juxtapositions. By mixing soft and sleek materials like shearling chairs and velvet couches with raw, earthy opposites like wood and metal you’re able to create interest and intrigue. The combination of indoor/outdoor space is a new must-have in today’s busy and populated world- especially for techies! Provide some much-needed greenery into the office to soothe and freshen the space. Pick houseplants that do well indoors and don’t require much maintenance!

So, there you have it. Our top design tips and tactics can be used as inspiration to help aid your new tech project from the start! Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online for your up and coming commercial needs including glass office dividers, privacy walls, and sliding room dividers. View our online catalog, Get a quote from one of our professionals today, and order the perfect office partitions and sliding doors you need to ensure safety for all online at SpacePlus.com

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Blog

Testing Facilities Arm up with Spatial Dividers

As we head into our second large-scale shut-down this December, many people worry about their ability to safely visit health facilities. Without a doubt, there is an influx of people visiting health centers, testing facilities, and hospitals now compared with the rest of the year. Add the seasonal flu into the mix, and we arrive at an overtaxed healthcare system. And in addition to the normal seasonal illnesses, a lot of people are also deterred from visiting the centers because they either don’t want to spread their illness, or they don’t want to contract something during their visit to a health care center. This very reason is why hundreds of drive-through testing centers have popped up across the country.

As a testing facility, it’s time to invest in your patients,  and arm up with all the necessary safety precautions and physical barriers possible. So in order to keep visitors to your establishment safe and feeling confident in your facility, implement these tips and tactics into your testing facility to be the safest, most reliable testing center in your area.

Unsure where to start? Luckily, Space Plus, a division of The Sliding Door Company, has all the answers to your safety solutions this winter.

Covid Testing Centers

With hundreds of testing centers across the country, there are many unique differences to each facility depending on where you go. For instance, while some testing centers resemble a normal indoor clinic, others have converted entire parking lots or large swaths of open space into a drive-through testing facility. And while there is little difference in the accuracy of these centers, there could be a big difference in how safe they are. So if you’re running or helping to manage a COVID testing center, here are some helpful pointers for drive-in testing centers.

Drive-Through Testing

Many consider the drive-through COVID testing lots to be the safest means for obtaining Coronavirus test results. Why?

That’s simple. Here’s why:

  • The patient doesn’t have to get out of the car
  • The patient doesn’t touch any communal surfaces
  • Little to no interaction with nurses and clinic professionals
  • Drive through, take the test from your car and wait for the results

This version of a testing center is perfectly risk-free and safe for those getting tested! However, as an employee of a COVID testing center, it might feel far riskier. After all, employees and volunteers are the ones that are interacting with potentially sick people, and in many cases are handling test packets and samples.

So in order to keep your employees and hardworking volunteers safe, arm your drive-through center with the safest solutions around.

What are the best safety measures available?

Without question, anyone working at a testing center should be wearing a mask, a face-shield, or both. They should wear gloves that they change out regularly and a hospital gown if possible. Those are all the obvious safety precautions that you can ask your workers to take each day, but how can you ensure even more safety and physical barrier between patients and testing workers?

The best way is to create more physical safety by integrating standing Glass Wall Partitions between patients and workers. QubiGlass wall partitions from Space Plus are perfect for the job, for a number of reasons. They’re made from real glass, not porous acrylic like plexiglass. This means that these dividers won’t allow bacteria and germs to set in, and they can withstand years of heavy cleaning and disinfecting. They come in a wide range of varying sizes and configurations and are a total breeze to set up. Because they’re completely transparent dividers, your testing center staff can still interact with those getting tested all while remaining safe behind a solid barrier! The best part? QubiGlass wall dividers come in an array of varying configurations, sizes, and opacities so you can choose from hundreds of designs to find the perfect match for your COVID testing center! Have them installed within a day, and enjoy a safe testing center for the winter months to come!

For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving solutions! From Bi-Fold doors to swing doors, Wall Dividers to suspended systems, Space Plus has it all! Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and order your very own custom QubiGlass Partitions today!

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Blog

Arming Your Office With the Holiday Essentials

Can you believe it’s already the first week of December? Neither can we. And though this holiday season might look, feel, and be unrecognizable compared to past years, most of us are still making do with the circumstances. Truth be told, most of us could use a little festive cheer and some healthy holiday distractions after the year we’ve all had.

 

And while many businesses and restaurants have had to temporarily close their doors for the next couple of weeks due to the pandemic, there are still millions of in-person offices operating across the country. So how can you spread some joy, stay safe, and enjoy the last moments of 2020 from your place of work? As an office manager or the owner of a business, it’s time to make your interiors shine with the holiday essentials. Here are a few ideas to pull from as you begin to reimagine your workplace this December.

 

Deck the Halls

One of the best traditions of the winter holiday season is decorating spaces with all the fun and cheerful accouterment to choose from. It’s hard to be a Scrooge when there’s so much fun everywhere you look! Work with a few coworkers, do it yourself or hire a team of Interior decorators who know they’re doing to create that perfect holiday pizzazz with all the festive decor of the season. Maybe even invest some time picking out a dazzling Christmas tree, a beautiful menorah, or create a fun homage to the winter solstice! String lights up around common areas and put out little candies or treats at the reception. It may seem silly, but all of these little gestures do go a long way during the work week!

 

The gift of Personal Space

Another interior upgrade you can offer for your hardworking staff is the gift of more personal space! Seriously, physical separation from others these days is a hot commodity and something that not every worker has the good fortune of having. Enjoying some healthy personal space during the workday offers the sanctuary needed for an all-around productive day. Cubicles or other such standing wall partitions offer less visible distractions, quieter surrounding noises and fewer possibilities for run-ins with that chatty co-worker. All of these little hindrances to our workday can cause a lot of agony for workers who already struggle with focus. And now with the real danger of contracting Coronavirus at work, employees appreciate physical barriers more than ever. So whether your workplace has an open floor plan, or already uses cubicles, we have the perfect new year upgrade for your office space! Free-standing glass wall partitions from The Sliding Door Company can be installed within a matter of hours, require no construction to the building, and offer invaluable flexibility. These glass office dividers come in a wide range of glass opacities, configurations, and sizes. You can also choose the perfect handles, locks, and accessories so that your sliding wall partitions integrate flawlessly into your floor plan! Your team members will absolutely love these office upgrades and will enjoy enhanced focus and peace during their busy day. What’s more, a new line of Qubi Glass dividers can be installed as a freestanding wall partition, or as an added glass “wrap” on top of preexisting dividers. When added as a wrap, it makes cleaning, disinfecting, and preserving your office dividers a total breeze!

 

Take your office environs up a notch with these exciting ideas and inspire your hardworking team through your newly updated office interiors. Holiday cheer is so infectious! Don’t hesitate to go the extra mile for your valued employees and one of a kind coworkers. For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving solutions! From Bi-Fold Doors to swing doors, wall dividers to suspended systems, Space Plus has it all! Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and order your very own custom Qubi Glass partitions today!

 

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Blog

Upscaling Boutique Hotels

As a hotel owner, you’re constantly updating and evolving your facilities to appeal to your clients. With so many competing hospitality options within close proximity to you, your hotel needs to pique the attention of your clients from the moment they see your business online. By offering updated interiors, carefully considered amenities, great staff, and modern architectural design, you’ll make it hard for potential clients to stay somewhere else! Easier said than done, right? Each of these necessities takes time, money, and conceptualization to realize, and oftentimes, as a hotel owner, that’s not exactly your specialty.

Not to fret! There are designers, architects, and curators available specifically for this kind of work. If you want to make an impact in the hotel industry and ensure your establishment is a success even during these uncertain times, look no further. Below we have some of the best tips and design ideas to inspire your hotel interiors and grab the attention of those excited hotel goers in the months to come!

Step 1: Update Your Interiors

Interiors are literally everything when it comes to inspiring future stays. The level of excellence of your hotel interiors reflects your relative value. Are your rooms and spa facilities updated and chic? Is your lobby luxurious and comfortable? Do you have modern furniture and a consistent theme that flows throughout the entire building? If you can’t answer “Yes!” to all of these, you’ve got your work cut out for you. The first impression one gets when stepping foot in your lobby is arguably the most important impression out of anything else. You want your guests to feel excited, wowed, and luxurious when they enter your establishment. Having thoughtful considerations like a sleek coffee bar, a sumptuous alcohol bar or restaurant, beautiful interior design, and a wonderfully attentive reception will make or break their experience from the start.

Modernizing your hotel lobby can be done with a less-is-more mindset. Minimalism and effortlessly uncluttered design is all the rage these days. You can achieve this look by pairing back your interior decor, having bold color choices, and updating your interior technology. Your doors, for example, should be sleek, modern, and buttery smooth to use. The Sliding Door Company makes fool-proof aesthetically beautiful sliding glass doors and floor to ceiling wall partitions. By integrating these throughout your hotel lobby and spa facilities, you’ll level up your facility overnight.

Step 2: Make Their Experience Unforgettable

From the moment they arrive at your boutique hotel, they need to be positively wowed. This includes everything from the little treats and considerations you leave in their suite for them. Beverages in the cooler, chocolates on the pillow, feather-soft pillows, and cloud mattresses all curate an unforgettable experience for your guests. Other amenities such as breathtaking spa facilities, a state-of-the-art gym, a deliciously inspired hotel restaurant, and sparkling clean rooms will all elevate your business, making your boutique hotel a total destination.

Step 3: It’s All About Convenience

From the moment your guests book their stay with you, to the second their car pulls up to your hotel, they should be expertly catered for. Every interaction they have in your facility needs to be tailored to them specifically, offering a personalized experience for each party. People pay a high price for convenience, meaning, your business and staff need to go the extra mile. Have a concierge waiting outside for arriving guests, provide a valet service, and show your guests around the facility so they become well-acquainted with their new environment. Provide suave entry and exit with sleek sliding glass bathroom doors and sliding closet doors in every room to enable quick and easeful use. Use these tips to check the convenience box every guest is looking for and make your hotel an unforgettable experience.

Putting these tips into play, you can begin to retrain your mind and body to have a super focused, productive day, whether at the office or at home! For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving solutions! From Bi-Fold doors to swing doors, wall dividers to Suspended Systems, Space Plus has it all. Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and start your educational transformation today!

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Blog

Simplify Your Workspace for Enhanced Clarity and Focus

The average worker admits to having difficulty maintaining focus throughout the day, for a litany of reasons. Talkative coworkers, unintended eavesdropping on important business conversations, loud phone calls, cluttered workspaces, and a general desire to be elsewhere can all lead to a lack of focus during the workday.

If this sounds all too familiar, chances are you may be experiencing a detrimental focus problem. Good news: you’re not alone! What’s more, there are a number of simple enough, attainable solutions for your workday dilemma. By using mental check-ins, spatial solutions, and giving yourself breaks when you need, you may be able to regain your ability to focus and enjoy a productive, accomplished workday once more. Read on for all the helpful tips and tactics to get you back on track!

Mental Check-ins

Many people find that having some sort of mental check-in strategy in place can help to keep them on track while also improving their general awareness of time and accountability. One useful trick is setting an alarm on your phone every thirty minutes or so that helps alert and remind you of your current task at hand and encourages you to keep to your schedule. This little

life hack can also help improve your understanding of time and how quickly the day goes by when we aren’t paying attention. Every time the alarm rings, it should signal that it’s time to recenter, reevaluate, and recall what work you aim to accomplish.

The Buddy System

Similar to the alarm method, the Buddy System encourages you to team up with a coworker of yours to create a helpful support system. Every few hours, do a quick check-in for a few minutes to see how each of you is doing, your current productivity, and if you’re staying on track. These check-ins can help each of you work through stagnant blocks or find solutions to problems that you’re experiencing that might be causing you to procrastinate.

Solace in Solitude

More often than not, the leading factor contributing to our inability to focus is our surrounding physical environment and the distractions that come with shared space. Noises, phone calls, through foot traffic in our areas, coworkers gossiping, and more. All of these fascinating goings- on can often distract us to the point where our whole workday feels like a wash. A great way to help with this is to ask your employer or management if spatial solutions could be installed in your open floor plan. Sliding glass doors for the office and glass wall partitions can offer a much- needed sense of solitude, visible privacy, and provides a distraction-free zone to enable a productive workday. Even if these sliding wall dividers don’t block out every little sound, they do offer enhanced privacy and a great physical barrier between you and your coworkers, as well as other distractions. Having your own glass “fortress” of calm and quiet, you may find yourself being able to focus like never before!

Take Needed Breaks

Too many of us find ourselves skipping lunch, staying late at the office, and in general, not allowing ourselves the necessary breaks that we truly need throughout the day. After all, we were not designed to sit still and focus on a bright screen for 8+ hours each day. Do yourself a favor and get up every few hours to walk, stretch, make a cup of tea, and get the blood flowing again. This also helps increase your ability to focus when you return to your desk ready to concentrate. Mental resets are so important when attempting to have a productive workday.

Don’t overlook that vital aspect of your workday.

Putting these tips into play, you can begin to retrain your mind and body to have a super focused, productive day, whether at the office or at home! For more ideas, inspiration, and related blogs, head over to Space Plus, a Division of The Sliding Door Company for all the best in commercial space-saving, sustainable and energy efficient solutions! From Bi-Fold doors to swing doors, wall dividers to suspended systems, Space Plus has it all. Schedule a free consultation with one of our showroom professionals and start your educational transformation today!

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Blog

The Real Importance of Interiors on Mental Health

This past year, in particular, has been a strenuous marathon in mental strength and shear resilience amongst the rapidly changing world around us. Beginning with the unprecedented fires in Australia, the lockdowns, protests, upcoming election and now with the environmental catastrophes across the United States, such as the hurricanes and wildfires we have all been exposed to quite a lot. Perhaps the most extreme emotional turmoil than any of us had experienced in our lives thus far. And now as we begin to reemerge from the confinement of our homes, we head back into group environments that were once places of joy, camaraderie, and integration to find a very changed landscape.

These days, it is second nature to look the other way when crossing someone on the street, if not to avoid crossing the street altogether. It’s normalized to pretend people around us don’t exist because we’re told to remove ourselves from potentially dangerous situations that could lead to the spread of the virus. While these social norms are in place to protect us, they can also be extremely damaging to our human psyche. Feeling mistrust towards all strangers, and in some cases, towards family and friends, has created a collective body of people who resolve to live and work in solitude. So how can we find solutions for reintegration without compromising our humanity in the process? Below we’ll examine some ways in which we can update our interior commercial spaces to protect us from COVID 19 while also regaining some of our human relationships.

The New Open Floor Plan

We’ve all seen them. We’ve probably all experienced them. The Open Floor Plan of the future looks a little different than what is typically imagined. The open plan of today is achieved by bringing the indoors outside. Most restaurants that were allowed to reopen have transitioned to outdoor seating, filling sidewalks and once busy streets with benches, leaving room for 6 feet of separation and plenty of arm room from patron to patron. Investing in pleasantries such as tall, leafy plants and string lights, these businesses have dressed up their establishments in attempts to normalize the very abnormal circumstances. This model, now also adopted by the business world, so far appears to be the safest medium in which to bring people together in a safe, socially distanced atmosphere. The open-air space provides a sense of security for customers and employees alike, eliminating the chance of stagnant, stuffy air that may carry air droplets containing the virus. Even though restaurants and office buildings have begun taking the temperatures of staff and patrons, the vast majority of those testing positive for the virus are asymptomatic. Meaning, a simple temperature test provides little insight about contagious carriers. But with this new model of outdoor dining, open-air office spaces, and outside school lessons, there is less fear about contraction, and as the numbers indicate fewer recorded cases.

Glass Wall Partitions

Indoor Solutions

To accompany the outdoor alternative to coexisting, there are some new and seemingly successful indoor solutions for safe reintegration as well. Glass Wall Partitions and wall dividers are being installed widely throughout office space, schools and waiting rooms to protect workers and customers from spreading the disease. By creating safe, functional environments within larger office buildings we can invite employees back into the office to help readopt a sense of normalcy and collaboration into the workday. People are rightly exhausted from months of working from home. Understandably, many are itching to get back into a healthy home/work-life balance. But we cannot bring workers back into communal environments without updating these interior workplaces to meet the current circumstances. Our collective mental health is has suffered greatly over the past year, and our interiors have understandably become a critical catalyst for our mental happiness or lack thereof. Our commercial interiors should be elevated to compensate for how much time we’re forced indoors. Bringing in plants, more natural lighting, water features, and even pleasant scents all help to soothe our senses and create an elevated place to exist. Stress is caused by so many uncontrollable exterior factors, but interior design is something that certainly can be improved.

Interiors should be designed to spread and enhance beautiful daytime light, drawn in through wide windows and skylights. We aren’t meant to exist for the majority of the day in dark, depressive, artificially lighted indoor environments. By providing light-allowing windows and full-sized Glass Wall Partitions, your office space can bring health back to the workplace. Consider replacing light-blocking interior walls with modern, easy to clean, sliding glass wall partitions and floor to Sliding Glass Room Dividers to improve mental health and morale during the workday.

By providing a more health-centered office environment that integrates beautiful greenery and increased natural light, you can improve the quality of life and health for your employees and customers alike. Visit Space Plus, A Division of the Sliding Door Company online to view our online catalog, and Get a quote from one of our professionals today!

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