Design and Staging

Home Office Design and Renovation

With many people working from home now, finding a space to work uninterrupted, efficiently, and in some level of comfort, is more critical than ever. It feels timely, and relevant, that we share the story and photos of one of our home office projects.

John, our founder, often works from home - either in the early morning before he heads into the office, or on weekends during the busy trade show seasons. His Mississauga, Ontario home was built in the early 80s and always had a space for an office. With renovations completed in 2010 on all the bedrooms, kitchen, and basement, the office remained untouched. A few years later, he was looking at home office design ideas and considering his options. He decided to leverage the design expertise and fabrication capabilities of the Exhibit Solutions team to renovate his home office.

We do not traditionally work in the residential space. Still, we treated this project with the same level of consideration and attention to detail that goes into all our work. The objective was to create a home office that:

  • Provided a space for two workstations

  • Considered the ergonomics of working at a computer for hours at a time

  • Ensured all the technology was hidden but easily accessible (printers/routers/cables) 

  • Creatively, was inspired by one of their favorite vacation spots - Palm Springs, California

  • Stayed within their budget


Home Office Before

BEFORE

Home Office

AFTER

Team members worked closely to ensure that the final product reflected the original objectives, and John and his wife were delighted. Over the last 30 years, he has worked very hard to establish Exhibit Solutions as a company that produces beautiful designs and quality work. It was both fitting and rewarding to finally be able to work on something for him that was as personal as his home office.


Our Design Manager developed the home office concept and CAD drawings for fabrication. Project Managers sourced laminates, new flooring, paint, furniture and presented to John for approvals. Our team of carpenters crafted the custom millwork (cabinets, drawers, counters) in house.


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Furniture

These chairs (that swivel!) were sourced from West Elm.

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Accessories

A combination of framed personal photographs, treasures discovered at HomeSense, and a wood sculpture purchased from an online retailer.

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Artwork

For artwork, we sought out a California based photographer and purchased two of her prints of Joshua Tree.

Best Buy & Future Shop - Connected Homes Summit & Tradeshows

It has been great to see all the tradeshow and training elements come together for the Connected Homes Summit in Niagara Falls this week.  Our designers, carpenters, crews and graphic production staff have been working on new pieces for the Microsoft Canada team and it was great to finally see some live photos from the convention centre today.


Event photos just in - Staples Back2School

Microsoft and Lenovo Canada are showcasing their products at the Staples Back2School event today.  It is all about the experience: Trainers showcased the devices in a library, living room,  bedroom, cafe, office and lecture hall. 

The exhibit spaces are based on 10' x 10' footprints.  The interior design & staging for these themed environments was focused on showcasing their devices being used in the real world. The printed backgrounds are not photographs, they are 3D environments we created, rendered in Cinema 4D & VRay, and printed specifically for these displays.

The Living Room

LivingRoom

The Office

TheOffice

The Bedroom

Bedroom.jpg

The Library

library

The Cafe

Cafe.jpg

The Lecture Hall

Lecture Hall.jpg
 

More event photos here:

Staging your home? Staging your exhibit?

I often visit the Houzz site and love looking at beautiful homes, but I often wonder how those owners keep their amazing spaces neat, tidy and free from clutter. Of course most of these houses had interior designers hard at work and it got me thinking about an article I just saw posted by Freshome Design & Architecture; it was about home staging and the impact on the sale of your property.

With Toronto's housing market booming the way it is - I have experienced first hand what a difference it makes to stage your house for sale.  I'm not only suggesting for you to clean your home but have a design savvy friend help you de-clutter your space, rearrange furniture, or even go out and hire a professional stager.  Home buyers will not be able to look past all the 'junk' at the beautiful woodwork, the great pot-lights, or the beautiful kitchen.

I believe the same applies to exhibits.  I started to think about what booths we have done where staging played an important role in making the product or messaging stand out.

I want to share two examples.  The first is Microsoft's 'Home' exhibit for a Future shop event in Whistler.  They had asked us to help create an environment, that not only provided some space for a trainer to talk to a few attendees, but also allowed them to showcase their products in a 'home' setting.   This booth was very different from our usual 'corporate' exhibits and even though we did not go the traditional route of building a small scale house - there was still a lot of staging going on!

The second example I found (and we can't take any credit for the staging!!!) is from Mucci Farms

The first set of images were taken after our installation crews set-up the booth:  you have the carpet down, the exhibit structure up, the lighting, graphics, AV and rental furniture ready for the show.

You can see from the 'before' and 'after' that the booth is fairly plain until all their produce is showcased throughout the space.  The greenhouse vegetables are so vibrant in colour and the Marketing Coordinator did a fantastic job incorporating their product into the staging of their exhibit.   Cushions, vases, bowls, and other accessories were used to complete the look.

 I guess staging is not strictly for your home anymore!

If you want some tips on styling or staging your home (or even exhibit) - you can read the article

"Why Home Staging Could Give You The Edge in The Property Market"