a few pics of the office

As well as the Victorian cottage renovation in Pembridge, a new oak framed house build in Kingsland and a new build cottage  in Weobley (blogs about those coming soon) that I am working on (not to mention my own planning application from Hell - which rumbles on slowly and darkly without any sign of conclusion - hmpfff!) I have decided to think about a 'revamp' of the Border Oak offices and meeting rooms. Nothing major, just a few tweaks here and there.

We love meeting people at the offices and showing them what we do, and almost every day someone new will say 'what a lovely place to work - aren't you lucky to have such a nice environment?' but it is all too easy to forget about the spaces we take for granted - it has been years since many the rooms have had any love or attention. Some parts are already lovely (but could be made even more lovely), however some spaces need a complete makeover.......for example laminate floors that have come to end of their natural life, toilets that have no idea it is 2014, a sitting room that feels a bit like a posh doctors waiting room (if you ignore the huge stash of vodka behind the sofa!)

Inspired by places I have visited recently - such as The Wild Rabbit in Kingham and the new cinema in Hay on Wye (amazing place) I have come up with a few ideas. But I have also been browsing for inspiration on Pinterest which is my current favourite way of wasting time. Such a shame that you can't take the laptop into the bath to stalk other people Pinterest pages.

Anyway - here are some of the rooms that are works in progress or in need of tweaking. Your thoughts and ideas are always welcome and appreciated. Apologies for the quality of photos - I really must try harder!

And the good thing about writing a blog like this is that I now have to actually do the work because you will all knw about it - and I also get to blog about the finished article (when it is finished, which might be some time - but I am building three houses, designing a new website, three new brochures and trying to garner support for the rebuilding of a huge oak market hall so it's not as if I am lazing in bath looking at Pinterest.)

The 'sign in' desk - very difficult to see how this can be altered without contravening some Health and Safety code. Quick question - how come we have to sign everyone in and out but if you go into a shop or restaurant etc you don't need to do anything?

I'm thinking, paint, new furniture, hang new pictures..........

But we have kept the Christmas wreaths up - made from Herefordshire Hops and filling the space perfectly (and also they are so dry that if you even breathe on them the hops vapourise  - so we won't be touching them unless we have to!)

Aforementioned waiting room - big changes afoot here. New everything I think.......

.......which means we may have three gorgeous sofas for sale

'kitchen' all look ok, maybe some new props need and a bit of a de clutter.

But here are our new store cabinets and display area in the meetings room. All working well and looking good.

But it is probably time to get some new furniture especially as I think some other oak frame makers  have copied these -  and it all gets a bit confusing if we don't look distinctively 'Border Oak'

Loving the new radiator under the big window - industrial looking and electric and the only source of heating in the whole office apart from the wood burner - pretty impressive considering the main building is nearly 35 years old and not built to anywhere near current insulation standards.

here is the infamous laminate that was hastily installed in the 1990's but now looks as if it was hastily installed in the 1990's.

And the loos that will soon be achingly cool........

.......well, slightly more cool than this.