Furnishing an office is one of the biggest expenses a business faces. Wear and tear, changing design trends, and expanding needs can put a major crimp in any company’s budget. It’s economical sense to consider all the options when faced with furnishing an office, whether it’s replacing a piece or an entire redesign. Maybe recycled office furniture is perfect for your company.
Most “used” furniture consisted of overstocked inventory: discontinued, former floor-model, refurbished, or sold by a company upgrading their furniture. Quality is not always the issue, but space is. One company’s ill-fitting office suite is another company’s golden find.
If something has been recycled instead of discarded, it’s generally a classic style that retains value. Plenty of vintage furniture, especially mid century modern office furniture, has been rescued from the pre-owned section.
If you can look past the grit and wear of something previously owned, the design options are endless. An ugly wood desk can be sanded and re-stained, eye-searingly colored chairs reupholstered. The choices can be far more creative than sometimes even new furniture.
Pre-owned or recycled furniture comes already assembled. You can sit on the chairs, test the sturdiness of the office desks, and get real measurements for tight spaces when you see the furniture instead of shopping online. Dimensions are a bunch of numbers. Feeling the back support of the most amazingly comfortable chair is something that can’t be conveyed by a picture on a screen.
This sort of goes without saying, but you’ll do more than save on the overall price. New furniture sometimes comes with unanticipated fees, delivery, stocking, and assembly. If you do the setup yourself, it costs you time and potential frustration. Purchasing refurbished or recycled office furniture means it’s delivered the day after you’ve finalized the transaction, and can be placed immediately, getting you and your employees back to work faster.
>> Shop glass wood contemporary conference tables.
Part of your homework is knowing the products. Here's the difference between something remanufactured, refurbished, or reused. Remanufactured is restored to its original condition. This means replacing parts that are broken or show too much wear and tear, and generally making the piece like new. Refurbished is cleaning, repairing, touching up, reupholstering or repainting, and making the existing piece like new again. Upcycling—the practice of making a piece of furniture better than original manufacturing—falls into this category. In some instances, these pieces outstrip new in every way: quality, aesthetic, and price. Reused is sold “as-is.” No repair work is done. These are typically the least expensive pieces that offer the most customization. A rip in a cushion is no big deal if you plan to replace all the cushions in the fabric design of your choice anyway, but that scratch-and-dent price can’t beat any other way.