It's no secret that a facility's flooring can make a statement about the building and the business conducted there. It's also no secret that budgets for renovation and modernization dictate the quality of materials chosen. However, most facilities managers, specifiers, and designers agree that carpet chosen for the CEO's office or boardroom should be more luxurious than the carpet chosen for the mailroom.
Creating a unique space in each area of a facility is a challenging task. With
limited coordinating carpet options and budget constraints, aesthetics are often
compromised. To increase design possibilities, carpet manufacturers are now
offering collections with endless coordinating color and design capabilities
at varying price points, enabling a facility to be carpeted from mailroom to
boardroom.
The mailroom-to-boardroom concept offers carpet unique to each area while still
coordinating color and design throughout a facility. But how can this specification
to meet varying style and design needs be achieved without hassle? Facilities
professionals and designers often work with several manufacturers to achieve
these individualized specifications. However, years after the installation,
difficulties can be encountered when contacting the original manufacturers with
inquiries about warranties and cleaning processes.
The mailroom-to-boardroom concept solves these dilemmas by offering coordinating carpet for every square inch of a facility on all scales - using a single manufacturer as the one source for the total installation. This one-stop carpet shopping process offers facilities managers a variety of products with quality assurance.
Flooring concepts are built from the basement up using various coordinating
colors and an array of patterns from collections. For example, for a heavily-trafficked
entrance area or mailroom, a carpet with a small-scale curvilinear pattern in
a blue colorway, constructed of a very durable loop-pile, can be specified.
For executive boardrooms, a more luxurious cut-and-loop-pile product in the
same blue colorway can be selected to reflect sophistication and style. For
open-office space, a loop product with the same curvilinear design in a different
colorway can be specified. Loop products can be specified with patterns scaled
to complement the size of the room in which it will be installed. Also consider
solid color cut-piles for borders and accent areas to add a finishing touch.
Style no longer needs to be sacrificed when specifying carpet with lower face
weight. Manufacturers like Lees are utilizing state-of-the-art technology to
produce sophisticated, high-style carpet in an endless array of design options
with lower face weights and superb performance attributes. More manufacturers
are realizing that facilities managers, specifiers, and designers benefit from
product collections, and are offering coordinating products at various price
points to help distinguish areas, retain a unified design theme, and not "break
the bank."
By Greg Wittlinger
Greg Wittlinger is executive vice president and general manager of broadloom carpets for Lees (www.leescarpets.com), a division of Burlington Industries Inc., Greensboro, NC.
