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5 Tips to Improving Your Kitchen Using Bar Stools

Bar stools initially used in pubs and bars are a modern addition to the home kitchen décor and furniture. Since 2010 bar stools have become considerably popular in homes as they significantly enhance the look and style of your kitchen. Bar stools, allow people to sit at a higher position while socialising, eating or drinking. However there are certain factors that should be taken in consideration when using bar stools to add to the beauty and aesthetics of your kitchen.

Make Furniture Look Pleasant

One of the most important tip when adding bar stools in your kitchen is to ensure that it complements the overall décor and theme of your kitchen. Pairing metal bar stools with traditional furniture in your kitchen might not be a perfect blend. Hence, it is essential for you to keep in mind the style of the kitchen furniture when selecting the type and style of bar stools. The colour and material of the bar stool should match the bar for instance, if you have wooden furniture throughout your kitchen, the perfect option would be wooden bar stools that would add to the overall classic appeal.

Furniture Size

Before using bar stools in your kitchen, be certain about the size of the island. You do not want six of these chairs for a small bar, as it would make the overlook overcrowded. It is ideal to use the number of bar stools that can be easily accommodated within the size of the bar without swarming. This will allow people to easily move the chair and sit comfortably without touching the person sitting beside them.

Look for Variety

Nowadays people have a wide variety of bar chairs they can choose which includes industrial stools, mid-century designs, leather stools, wooden stools, suspended bar stools, modern bar stools, fabric seats and wicker bar stools. This comprehensive range of kitchen stools are catered to meet the décor and comfort requirements of different styles of kitchen.

Hire an Expert Interior Designer

If in doubt, use expert advice from an interior designer. They are in a better position to guide you on the style and material of bar stools that would best suit the design of your kitchen. An interior designer has considerable experience in designing and decorating a kitchen, which is why it is always recommended to seek expert advice before starting any kitchen renovations. They would know the number of bar stools that would fit into your kitchen without making it look too congested.

Take Estimates and Measurements

The height of a stool is another essential tip to remember when adding to the charm of your kitchen by using bar stools. The height of the bar should be in the right proportion to fit into the counter or bar. Hence always measure the height of the bar before adding a bar stool. You don’t want the barstool to be extremely low or high compared to the bar which makes it uncomfortable and difficult for a person to sit and have food or a drink. Ideally the space between your seat and table surface should be 9”-12” as bar are usually 41” high and standard kitchen counters are 34”.

Original Source: http://furniture-bay.blogspot.com/2015/10/5-tips-to-improving-your-kitchen-using.html

How to fine-tune your office chair to make it more ergonomic

One of the most things when working in the office is getting the right settings for your chair. Nowadays, your average office chair has a lot of adjustability in it, so the first thing to get right is the height, you want to make sure that you get your chair at the right height for your body. So raise or lower your chair height until you feel comfortable and your body is in a neutral and straight posture. Once you are happy with the height, you want to check to make sure your feet are flat on the floor, if not, you should look into introducing a footrest.

When your feet are flat on the floor, you should also ensure that your knees are not higher than your hips as when they are, that will out pressure on your spine. So immediately, we know that height is very important to get right.

The other thing to check is that the backrest is supportive of your back and spine when you are reading, writing or typing, so it is advisable to lock the back of the chair to ensure that is doesn’t move back or forth, so your back and spine is in a healthy, upright position. Perhaps when you are on the phone, you could release the lock and give your back a break by allowing the chair back to tilt, so simply lean back and relax for a bit.

If you think your backrest is too stiff to move back when you lean back in your chair, you can adjust the tension of the backrest using the tension control mechanism, which in majority of the chairs, it’s in a form of a knob either underneath the seat or on the side of the seat.

Once you’re working again, don’t forget to put the lock back on so you maintain a good posture.

With more flexible chairs, you get the option of adjusting the arm height. This feature is particularly useful to ensure that your shoulder muscles are in a relaxed and healthy posture, so ensure when you are typing, your elbow is in a straight line and level with the desk height, otherwise, if the arm rest are too high up, you will be shrugging your shoulders when means your shoulder muscles will be working statically which will be more difficult and tiring.

It is also recommended that you sometimes allow the backrest of your chair to tilt back which creates a rocking motion, and results in a change of posture and alternatively, blood circulation, so make sure you get all of the adjustments in your chair to be able to get the most out of it.

So if you’re typing, on the phone with someone or in a meeting, do use different adjustments of your chair and let your body relax and try to keep a healthy posture and in other words, let the chair do the work for you.

At Furniture Bay, we have a large range of office chairs which are suitable for every budget, from entry level office chairs, to fully ergonomic posture chairs, so please feel free to check our website and don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any advise.

Original Source: http://furniture-bay.blogspot.com/2015/10/how-to-fine-tune-your-office-chair-to.html

Bar Stools – The versatile pieces of furniture at home or commercial places

Bar stools are very widely used at homes these days, as they are very versatile and movable. They are the ultimate space saving type of seating used in the world where space is an issue.

So many homes also have bar height counters or breakfast islands and some even have built-in bars, hence the demand is now greater than ever. 

As the demand is high, many office furniture suppliers have now begun to offer this piece of furniture as standard and as many styles and colours are available, you need to find out what style exactly it is you’re looking for and consider a number of factors before buying your next set of kitchen stools. 

What are they made of?

There are all types of bar stools upholstered in different materials such as fabric, leather, suede and even wooden bar stools with the main construction from bentwood. They also come with different characteristics such as arms; no arms, with back or no back and some feature adjustable heights whilst some are only fixed height.

Which type to choose?

Generally speaking, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about getting your new stools is the fact that they are height adjustable or not, but there is more important factor to consider, such as footrest as you want to ensure that your feet are in total comfort as the footrest will provide a spot for your feet to rest. You would agree that your feet would not reach the floor if you want to make yourself comfy on a chair at your breakfast bar for the morning meal.

The next thing that comes to mind would perhaps be the arms, as a lot of people would prefer arms which provide more comfort, however on the other hand, they would stop you from tucking them underneath your breakfast bar if space is an issue. If you want more comfort and have enough space, then you might want to consider having arms on your chairs.

One factor that is not absolutely necessary but still advantageous is height adjustment, if you have height adjustability, then you’d be able to accommodate different people with different heights, comfortably at your bar or Breakfast Island, however fixed height stools will limit you as to who can use the chair, i.e. a child or an adult.

The last feature that you may want to get with your bar stools is to have a backrest. As you would appreciate, back support is ideal for homes with children to ensure they have more safety, they also provide that extra comfort whilst you are enjoying your coffee or tea over a friendly chat on the phone or whilst browsing the Internet. On the hand, backless bar stools are more traditional in appearance and more common for typical bar seating that you might find at a commercial places. They also encourage correct posture by forcing you to sit upright while aligning your spine.

 

At Furniture Bay, we have been supplying a great selection of bar stools both for domestic and commercial vicinities. To find your perfect breakfast bar chair, browse our website at http://www.furniturebay.co.uk and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

How Kitchen Stools can put a New Twist on Breakfast

Kitchen stools are a great way to transform your kitchen. A breakfast bar complete with a nice new set of breakfast bar stools can bring a number of wonderful new benefits to this vital part of your home environment and completely change the way you approach key meal times. In particular, a breakfast bar can completely alter the way you approach the meal it was created for and named after; breakfast.

The Importance of Breakfast

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Too often, however, today's breakfast is a rushed, half-hearted affair or is even skipped entirely in the rush to get out the door and get to work, especially if you have to travel to the office via the school run. Modern schedules are busier and more hectic than those of the past, and have done away with the idea of everyone sitting around the breakfast table.

This is unfortunate, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day in a number of ways. Not only is it the meal that gives you the energy to fuel your day as it takes off and keep you going until lunchtime, but it's also one of the defining moments that lays the groundwork for the mood and progress of the day to come. A rushed, half-hearted breakfast of convenience may not give you the energy and nutrition you need, and it will certainly not help you to start the day in a good mood. Rushing from your bed to the door as quickly as possible, barely even pausing for your breakfast, can feel exhausted before you even arrive at your desk. A proper and pleasant breakfast, on the other hand, can help you  feel ready to face not only the journey to work but the morning's to-do list and the day beyond.

Where Kitchen Stools Come in

Can a set of breakfast bar stools really do anything to change all this? In fact, they can do a surprising amount. They offer you an alternative breakfast solution which is well-suited to the rush of modern life, providing a compromise between the need to be quick and the benefits of taking a few minutes out in the morning to eat your breakfast properly and calmly. As much as we like to idealise the days of sit-down breakfasts, the truth is that these are no longer practical for most of us and sitting at a proper breakfast table seems to formal and involved when we are in a hurry. A breakfast bar and set of stools will provide you a simple, easy, quick way to “perch” on the stool for a less formal sit-down breakfast, encouraging you to relax for a moment and eat properly without wasting too much time.

At the same time, kitchen stools are often designed to be decorative as well as functional. In this way, they can help to enhance your kitchen as an environment to spend time in and make it altogether more pleasant. This will help everyone, from busy professionals to their kids who slept through their alarms on a school day, to more effectively relax and take a breather before leaving.

Original Source: http://www.broowaha.com/articles/23009/how-kitchen-stools-can-put-a-new-twist-on-breakfast

Improve Your Employees' Morale With Ergonomic Office Chairs

Employee Morale is important on a number of different levels. Only the most Scrooge-like of employers wants their workforce to be anything other than happy in their jobs. Even from a purely practical point of view, however, employee morale is not something to be sniffed at. Happy and satisfied employees are likely to be more productive and more focussed on working hard. If your employees are happy to be working for you, it also means you are more likely to retain your best talent for the long term as they will be happier remaining with you than offering their skills to your competitors.

The seating that you provide to your employees plays a surprisingly big role in safeguarding their morale and giving them job satisfaction. This works on a couple of different levels, and ergonomic office chairs tend to have a particularly powerful morale-boosting effect.

Comfort and Spinal Health

Perhaps the most important way in which seats help with employee morale, and certainly the one which most directly relates to ergonomic chairs, is comfort. Sitting in the same place for hour after hour through most of the week is not good for your back unless you have a very comfortable chair which provides proper support. In the short term, this can lead to aches and pains aplenty, and employees who are struggling with physical pain as a direct result of their seating arrangements are hardly likely to be the happiest.

Over time, this goes beyond mere discomfort and into the territory of actual medical concerns. More serious and more constant pains can develop, and these can be a result of genuine spinal problems that require medical treatment. When this happens as a direct result of sub-standard seating supplied by their employer, you might expect their job satisfaction and overall morale to take a hit. Ergonomic office chairs have been carefully and specially designed based on the latest medical knowledge to provide the best support and the greatest amount of comfort to employee backs, preventing pains, medical conditions, and the morale-sapping effects that these things can have.

Feeling Appreciated

The happiest employees tend to be those who feel like they are genuinely valued and appreciated by their employers. If they feel like a nameless, faceless cog in a machine which could be replaced with any other cog without their employer really noticing, this is hardly good for morale. If they feel like the hard work they put in and the results they bring in for the company are genuinely appreciated and like they are valued as a person, employees tend to be understandably happier.

Chairs can play a surprisingly big role in helping employees feel appreciated, because our seating can really affect the way we feel. This is perhaps why an impressive throne has always been high on the “wanted” list of powerful rulers through history. If an employee is fobbed off with a cheap “computer chair,” this doesn't send the message that they are really valued. If they can sit proudly in a comfortable, good-quality ergonomic chair that has been designed to look out for their health, on the other hand, this tells them they are cared about.

This post originally appeared on Ezine, and is re-published with permission.

Get Britain Standing with a Sit-Stand Desk

Feel fatigued sitting all day at your office desk? Well you are aware that fatigue is not the only health problem you are facing. There are much greater health implications of sitting at the office desk that you would have never thought of. Take into account the average number of hours you sit every day. You sit for more than 6 hours at the office, and then you are sitting while driving back home, sitting while watching television, sitting while having dinner and then finally sleeping. So what is the average number of hours in which you utilised the important muscles of your body? Hardly one or two hours maximum. In these one or two hours, the most you did was walk, which barely burned any calories.

What Are The Health Implications of Sitting at a Desk?

There are numerous health implications of a deskbound lifestyle, which are also justified by scientific research that sitting at a desk can cause many problems for you. Some of the health problems of sitting at office desk are increase in risk of death up to 40%. It reduces calorie burning to one per minute and completely shuts off the electrical activity in the leg muscles, cholesterol drops to twenty percent and insulin effectiveness drops to twenty-four percent thereby increasing the risk of diabetes. On the whole making us fat and increasing risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Scientific research often compares the health implications of sitting at an office desk smoking cigarettes suggesting that it causes almost the same damage as smoking a pack of cigarettes daily. Many companies are overlooking this inactive lifestyle of employees and no effective measures have been taken to address this issue. Some research also suggests even if you exercise regularly, it will not be able to compensate for the considerable number of hours you spent sitting at your office desk. As humans we are programmed biologically to be active and engage in physical activity rather than sitting all day hence it is essential that we take necessary steps to overcome this important issue.

Benefits of Sit-Stand Desk

The solution to sitting at desk problem is not simply walking or going for a jog after office. Some sort of physical activity needs to be incorporated into the office routine to reduce the health implications of this problem. This is why Britain needs to get standing with the Sit-Stand Desk. These customised desks are specifically designed for our modern working lifestyle to provide the ultimate solution to the sit at desk problem. These height adjustable desks allow us to come out of the sedentary lifestyle and become physically active what we as humans are biologically programmed for. The Sit-Stand Desk allows you to divide your office work time between standing and sitting at intervals since standing alone throughout the day can also make you tired quickly.

The benefits of the height adjustable desks are proven scientifically, that standing for a minimum of three hours a day can invigorate you, make you feel healthier and reduce back pain by fifty percent. It will increase the heart rate by ten beats and increase the calorie burning process.

Original Source: http://furniture-bay.blogspot.com/2015/09/get-britain-standing-with-sit-stand-desk.html

Choosing the Right Office Furniture is Crucial for Business Success

The success of your business relies on a large number of factors, and one frequently underappreciated example is the way you furnish your office. It's tempting to cut corners and think that as long as an item of furniture “does the job” that's all you need. However, making the right choices and getting the most appropriate items of furniture can ultimately impact on the success of your business in several key ways.

Ongoing Costs

The first way in which the right furniture choices impact upon your business is simply financial. It can be tempting to cut corners and just get the cheapest office furniture you can, especially if your business is a new start-up, but compromising on quality is quite simply a false economy. There's nothing wrong with looking for good value, but furniture that is too cheap will often need more maintenance or need to be replaced sooner, meaning that you ultimately pay more than if you had bought better-quality items in the first place.

Office Chairs

This is without doubt one of the most important office furniture choices to get right. Seating can have a significant and direct impact on employee morale, productivity and even on your legal obligations as an employer. Chairs that are uncomfortable, especially those that don't provide proper back support, can become a serious distraction for even the most disciplined employee over the course of the working day. This is hardly good for an employee's mood, and has about the same effect on their productivity. Over time, poor back support can lead to spinal problems. Not only is this obviously a bad thing for employees, but could also potentially leave you liable under health and safety law.

Desks

Making the right choice of desk is also very important if you want yourself and your employees to perform at the best possible level. There are a few things to think about when it comes to choosing the right desk. Does it provide enough surface space for all IT equipment, and still leave room for physical tasks like the inevitable bits of paperwork that will turn up? Is there enough storage space, such as drawers, for everything that your employees might want to store neatly away rather than leave on their desktop? Does it provide enough scope for keeping things properly organised and neat, such as those same drawers or document trays. All of these things can make a big difference to to the way your business operates, and ultimately to the success it can achieve.

Storage

Speaking of storage and organisation, is there enough of this in the office as a whole. As well as desks, this encompasses things like filing cabinets and cupboards. Even in this digital age, there will still be physical paperwork to deal with along with a range of other items. A lot of this will have to be kept long-term or simply stored until needed. It is important not only enough space to keep the office environment neat and distraction free, but also the scope to keep everything organised and know where everything is.

Original Resource: http://furniturebay.weebly.com/blog/choosing-the-right-office-furniture-is-crucial-for-business-success

Wooden Office Chairs – The Best Way to Furnish Your Office

Furnishing an office, whether for a new business or just as part of a refurbishment, can be almost as exciting as decorating your home. You are giving your business' physical presence a new character and a fresh look, and redefining the space in which you spend most of a lot of the day for most of the week.

Seating is, of course, one of the main parts of an office when it comes to furniture. Wooden office chairs are among the best options for a number of important reasons:

Looks

The working day is much more pleasant if the working environment itself is a pleasant one. If you are furnishing your office as part of a refurbishment rather than for the first time, this is most likely at least part of the reason for the overhaul. There are also practical reasons to ensure your office is well decorated. Employees tend to be more productive if they are in a good-looking environment which is stimulating and interesting without being distracting.

Wooden office chairs are among the best-looking around. They are not only practical but also great to look at. They tend to sport either delightfully retro or pleasantly contemporary designs, and there are few materials more pleasing to the eye than smooth, polished, varnished wood. They not only provide a useful seating solution but also help form part of the décor.

Quality

It is always advisable to seek the best-quality office chairs you can within the constraints of your budget. Cheaper but poor-quality office chairs are unlikely to prove practical or cost-effective in the end, as they will not stand up to the kind of heavy usage that goes with an office environment for long.

Wood is an excellent, durable and high-quality material for office seating that lends itself well to long-lasting furniture. Furthermore, wood is now regarded as something of a premium material, and is therefore generally reserved for those chairs that are built to higher standards all around.

Comfort

Comfort is one of the most important things to consider when it comes to seating of any kind and especially office seating. Uncomfortable chairs, especially those which offer only inadequate support for the back, are more than just unpleasant for workers; the discomfort is seriously distracting and over time can turn into unpleasant health problems that require medical intervention. In short, it is bad for individual health and bad for the health of the business through dragging down productivity.

While the choice of wood as an office chair material has little direct impact on the level of comfort that chair offers, wood is generally a material reserved for higher-quality office chairs designed as slightly more premium products. While it isn't set in stone, the general rule is therefore that wooden chairs tend to fall within the more comfortable sections of the market and provide good amounts of spinal support.

Resource: http://furniture-bay.blogspot.com/2015/07/wooden-office-chairs-best-way-to.html

4 Tips to Consider When you Choose your Perfect Bar Stools

Bar stools can be a fantastic addition to a home or a business. They can provide a practical, comfortable and casual kind of seating for you and your family, for your employees and for your customers, and they are incredibly versatile for use in a wide variety of settings and applications. However, if you want to choose your perfect bar stools, the ones which will prove most useful and provide the greatest possible benefit, there are a few important factors that you really should consider.

Back

One important thing to think about – in fact, more important than a lot of people think – is whether the stool has a back. If it does not, then it is probably only suitable if it is only going to be sat in for very short periods and will probably not be as comfortable as one which does have a back. This is because back support and simply having something to lean back on account for a very large part of what makes a seat comfortable. Having at least a small back to provide some crucial support can make an awful lot of difference to overall comfort.

Height

There are a couple of things to consider when it comes to the height of the bar stool. Undoubtedly the most important is the question of whether the height of the stool is adjustable. Adjustable height stools are far more useful than static ones. Not only can they be adjusted to suit the height of the surface they are being used with, but also for each individual user to help them find their ideal, comfortable sitting position. A gas lift mechanism will make the process of adjusting the height almost completely effort-free. In the event you do consider static height stools, make sure they are a suitable height for the surface they will be used with. This is probably not something you need to consider with adjustable-height stools, unless the surface is unusually high or low.

Swivel

Swivelling is very useful in a stool. It allows the occupant to find their perfect sitting position and effortlessly move their attention between different things in different directions without straining themselves. Perhaps most importantly, though, it is useful for dismounting. Bar stools are very good at many things, but shuffling backwards and forwards isn't one of them. Without swivelling, this leaves the occupant with a choice between staying well back from the bar or having trouble dismounting, but with swivel action dismounting becomes easy from any position.

Padding

Padding plays an important role in how comfortable a stool will be, especially if it is going to be occupied for a little while at any one time. A padded seat can do a lot to prevent numbness and ensure that the stools occupant remains comfortable no matter how long they remain perched upon their stool. A padded back, while less important than the seat, can also make a definite difference and help the stool provide the greatest possible amount of comfort.

Resource: https://furniturebayuk.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/4-tips-to-consider-when-you-choose-your-perfect-bar-stools/

Mesh Office Chairs – What you Need to Know Before you Buy

Mesh office chairs are an excellent choice on several different levels. They offer a comfortable, high-quality office seating solution with a very smart and contemporary look. They are ideal for offering superior seating to the whole office or as a practical and modern solution for executive seating.

However, there are a few points to consider and a number of things you should know before buying mesh chairs. These will help you to ensure you make the right buying choice.

Not all Mesh Chairs are the Same

Mesh chairs are one type of office chair, designed by the material used. Even if you limit yourself to mesh, it's not as simple as just going out and buying a mesh chair. This category encompasses a full and varied range of office chairs, including a wide variety of different features.

You will find everything from basic, low-backed office chairs of the kind you might also called "computer chairs" to executive-looking high-backed chairs with arms, head supports and ergonomic backs. It is therefore not enough to simply decide that you will go with mesh for your new office seating solution. You still need to put a lot of thought into exactly which types of office chair you need.

Comfort and Health

One area in which even basic mesh seating tends to be superior to similarly basic chairs in other categories is comfort, and this also has implications for health. Poor back support from an office chair can lead to discomfort, pain and over time health issues. Ergonomic backs for healthy, comfortable support are therefore a big deal when it comes to office cheating, and they are especially widespread among mesh solutions.

Once again, however, not all chairs are necessarily created equal and there are various types and features on offer. Most mesh office chairs will give you good support for your back and help keep you healthy. However, if you want extra support and maximum comfort, you may want to look into additional features such as high backs, adjustable backs, head supports and arm rests. These will help you to find your ideal sitting position for both comfort and spinal health.

Matters of Style

Mesh office chairs are extremely practical office seating solutions, but this isn't their only attraction. They are also very stylish and aesthetically-pleasing items of furniture, with a modern and minimalist look. For this reason, they fit very well in contemporary offices and are often chosen as a result of style decisions as much as anything else.

If you have a more traditional office look, on the other hand, mesh seating may not be quite such a good fit from a purely aesthetic point of view. Obviously, for many people the many practical advantages will override simple matters of décor. However, if having chairs with a look in keeping with the rest of your office is important to you then you may want to look at alternatives such as leather or wooden office chairs.

Resource: http://furniture-bay.blogspot.com/2015/06/mesh-office-chairs-what-you-need-to.html