Small Lobby On a Start Up Budget

Startups are always finding themselves faced with the lobby problem. They get small space with and even smaller lobby. There are few issues that always seem to come up.

1. How many people can sit in this lobby?
2. We don’t want to spend a lot, but we want it to look nice.
3. We don’t have a receptionist, how do we outfit for that?

Let’s deal with the how many people issue first. This tends to be a non-issue when most people look into it. Generally, in most lobbies at startups, the people that come to visit don’t have an appointment and won’t be sitting for long. If it is a big group, it is usually a board meeting and the people end up going right into the boardroom to wait.

Two chairs will almost always work. Since most meetings are with one person, this will accommodate up to two different visiting parties. If there are more than two there at once, it usually isn’t for very long, and they can stand. Always put an end table between the two chairs. This is a good spot for company brochures or a magazine. (Tip: Don’t put out your old trade magazines like, Capacitor Weekly or C++ News. These are only interesting to a very limited group of people who probably already work at your company. Put out more general interest magazines like Time or Fortune or possibly the Wall Street Journal. But keep them up-to-date.)

One more digression on the two chairs theme - don’t get a loveseat, two seat couch. Only one person will sit on this. Two men especially won’t sit together on a loveseat. Spend a little more for two chairs. You can spring for wood chairs, with a padded seat if you want to save money. Just make sure they match the wood on the end table. This will also help with the cost issue.

Finally, you do not have a receptionist. A reception station, even a small one, still makes a welcoming statement. The counter says, go here to check in. I know some people just put a table with a phone, but it screams, unprofessional and no revenue! Place a phone on the counter with a list of employee extensions. Make sure there is an obvious number to call if they don’t know whom they are seeking. This helps for delivery people and obnoxious furniture sales people.

The following is a sample budget for new furniture that outfits a small lobby in a professional manner and keep everything under $2000.

Laminate Reception Station $900
2 Wood Side Chairs - $500
Wood End Table - $300

Don’t end up looking like a Doctor’s Office or a College Dorm. Get a real lobby.

What the heck is a pedestal?

Being an Office Furniture Geek, I often slip into "furniture-ese", that obscure lingua franca of my fellow furniture shleppers. One of the primary terms in this language is the term pedestal.

Pedestals, BBF on the left and FF on the right.

A pedestal is a small set of file drawers that sits under a desk, or in a cubicle it sits under the work surface. Normally about 15 inches wide and 28 inches or less tall, they typically come in two varieties. Box/Box/File (BBF) or File/File (FF). A BBF is a 3 drawer pedestal that has two 6 inch tall (or box) drawers and one twelve inch tall (or file) drawer. A FF pedestal has two file drawers that are 12" tall.

Box drawers store your pencils, calculator and other small items. My Mom used to call this the junk drawer. The uncharacteristically clearly-named file drawer is for filing.

Just to confuse the issue, some people call a Box/Box/File a 6/6/12 and a File/File a 12/12. There are also B/F files with just two drawers of 6 and 12 inches, respectively. These tend to hang from the worksurface which makes them a suspended pedestal. Suspended meaning it is attached to the worksurface and does not touch the floor. Also there are mobile pedestals, which have wheels. And freestanding pedestals that are not attached to the worksurface above them. Some pedestals can have a pad on top and double as a guest chair in a pinch.

Below is a photo of what most people think is a pedestal.