Upscale Trappings Make Statement

One of the many headaches a business owner faces is how to decorate and furnish an office. How does one balance a budget, procure furnishings and make the place appeal to clients in a way that conveys the business’ intended psychological and marketing message?

Julie Wait Fryauf, owner and operator of Julie Wait Designs in Rogers, said many businesses enlist the help of designer services, which allows them to have a say in decisions without having to scrutinize every detail.

Fryauf, who’s also an American Society of Interior Designers member, has designed upscale digs such as the offices for Cooper Communities of Rogers and the Griffin Co. Realtors in Springdale. She said it’s her charge to lay out the space of an office according to usage and needs, select appropriate furniture, place the furniture and ensure lighting is proper for workstations.

Fryauf couldn’t give an estimated range on how much commercial clients spend on design and furnishings. But she said in Northwest Arkansas, clients tend to lean toward the “nice but not too extravagant.”

Fryauf’s fees range from $50 to $75 an hour, and she usually specifies furnishing that can be purchased from local dealers such as Today’s Office in Springdale or Moser Corp. of Rogers, she said.

Movin’ on Up

Moore Stephens Frost Financial Group of Little Rock opened its first Northwest Arkansas office last year in the J.B. Hunt Parkway Tower in Rogers’ Pinnacle Hills area. Keith Ekenseair, the firm’s CPA and managing partner, said he didn’t hire an interior designer to outfit the office.

Instead he relied on his office manager, Melba Matthews, a friend and his wife to help pick out pieces that made the space “elegant and comfortable.”

Ekenseair said he was intimately involved in the process and that the team went to different stores in the area looking for the right pieces. His wife even picked up a stuffed pheasant at Bass Pro Shop in Springfield. The process took about two months, mostly done on the weekends, he said.

Moore Stephens Frost’s décor can be described as traditional with an eclectic mix of country French and American “outdoorsy” furnishings.

The firm’s budget for the space was $100,000, and Ekenseair, an accountant for 19 years, said he was within that budget when the office opened in March 2003.

Extra attention was given to employee workspace. One room in the firm has cubicled workstations for four people. The cubicles have small glass inserts to help “open them up,” and they are larger in square footage than a typical office cubicle.

Ekenseair said the firm spent about $30,000 on the four-person office alone, which included fully adjustable task chairs that cost $1,100 each. He said the chairs were an investment because they increase employee comfort, and in turn, productivity. And Ekenseair said, he won’t have to purchase new ones in a couple of years.

Today’s Office supplied all the office furniture, such as cublicle fixtures, and upper-end, cherry wood desks. But Ekenseair stressed how much shopping around his team did. A wall clock in the office waiting area cost about $30 and came from Hobby Lobby, he said.

Four conference room chairs even came from a client who was tired of their look. Ekenseair said he was conducting an audit when the chairs came up in conversation, and a deal was instantly struck.

He had the chairs reupholstered, and they now surround a meeting table in his office.

Ekenseair is matter of fact about the cost of his furnishings. They were an investment that hopefully gives his clientele the feeling the firm is successful and more than competent. Above all, Ekenseair said he wanted the office to be comfortable.

The firm’s Rogers office has done well since its opening, expanding from three employees to nine, with plans for two more in the near future. Ekenseair said the office is going to expand its existing location before tax season, and the firm will spend about another $70,000 for furnishings and decorations when the time comes. Most of that capital will be spent on a revamped conference room and another four-person cubicled office, he said.

Trendy Tradeoff

The McIntosh Group of Fort Smith opened its Bentonville office on June 1 and went out of its way to outfit the space with custom, creative furnishings.

Cameron Clement, brand outlook director for McIntosh, said he and Alan Sowers, customization director, designed much of their Bentonville office’s furnishings and had them custom made.

“Pablo Picasso meets Norman Rockwell” is the way he described the look of the office.

“It’s sort of anti-themed, but not chaotic,” he said.

The psychology behind the fun, energetic atmosphere is to demonstrate to their clients that the group can come up with creative solutions, he said.

McIntosh commissioned a welder to replicate pieces they’d seen, as well as some original work. Clement said the welder understood the group’s vision. Ironically, it took less time than ordering the items, he said.

Some of the furnishings, such as a leather couch, chair and ottoman set, were purchased from a store in Austin, Texas.

Clement wouldn’t to say how much the group spent on furnishing the office, but said it was “competitive” and that it came within budget.

The return on investment can’t really be measured, Clement said. The impact the design and furnishings have on the office’s employees on a daily basis is without comparison, he said.