I can just imagine the face of someone tasked with planning the furnishing of a series of offices or a large studio being told it’s also important to consider carefully the choice of chairs for the waiting room. Probably the rhetorical question that comes to their mind is: “I have to think about that too?!”

The answer is “yes”, and there are many good reasons why you shouldn’t overlook what might appear to be just a mere detail.

It would be a shame to find yourself at the official opening of your new business venture and realise that the impression your waiting room gives isn’t at the same level as the other rooms in your company. 

Let’s try to understand better why furniture selected for such a specific purpose is worthy of careful consideration.

Remember who’ll be using your waiting room chairs

As highlighted in other articles dedicated to waiting room chairs, the quality and finishes are fundamental, precisely because customers, patients, suppliers and guests will be using them.

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Just think of those times when you’ve gone to the dentist’s or your accountant and had to wait a few minutes before your appointment. For a start, you probably don’t want to be there in the first place. Then, if the chair you’re expected to use while waiting is uncomfortable and wobbly, that will inevitably put you in a worse mood.

No professional wants to have deal with an irritated person, so it really is important to think about every detail that can positively affect the mood of your guests and ensure your conversation starts off on the right foot.

Anyone who has a business that deals with the public must create environments that are not only beautiful and comfortable for themselves but, above all, for the people who visit them: those self-same people you’re hoping to impress by creating the right atmosphere. And that means the waiting room as well.

Waiting area chairs … money well spent

Always trying to scrimp on spending can turn out to be false economy where you’re trying to grow your business. Indeed, the opposite may well be true: almost always, by trying to economise, you find yourself having to buying an item twice, meaning you end up spending more in the long run.

A waiting room can also be furnished with renovated chairs. But this doesn’t mean snapping up some worn out pieces of furniture to fill a room that you see as having little importance. This brings us back to the previous point: quality is crucial if you’re seeking to convey a positive message to your guests and clients.

The best approach is to invest money also in furnishing your waiting room. Think of it as your company’s business card business and not merely useless window dressing.

Ultimately, the old proverb really does hold true today: “You get what you pay for“.

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Waiting room chairs in a studio: coherence

A waiting room must already give you some idea about what to expect once you actually enter the professional’s studio.

The furniture must communicate sensations that are coherent with the purpose of the visit. To illustrate further, in different waiting rooms you’d expect to find, for instance: 

  • Imaginative and colourful chairs in an advertising agency
  • Classic chairs in a lawyer’s office
  • Particularly relaxing chairs in a doctor’s surgery

It would be somewhat off-putting to open the door of an orthopaedist’s studio and be faced with dark, depressing furniture. By the same token, a waiting room in photographer’s studio that’s furnished in an unimaginative way would be just as strange.

This is particularly relevant when talking about chairs for office waiting areas. You shouldn’t think that the messages that objects convey to your clients’ subconscious don’t matter just because your premises are a place where paperwork is your stock in trade, 

When sitting alone in a room, every minute detail leaves a lasting impression, so it’s essential to devote time and money to furnishing your waiting room. 

And the price to pay for those who neglect it? Well, you’ll be confronted by an irritable person, sitting on the other side of your desk, who just can’t wait to leave.