A particularly useful part of the site is the Room Planner. This section allows you to design your office with the help of a designer, or by using a online planner (based on Shockwave), or even by downloading templates from the various collections and using pencil and paper. Since it was past midnight on a Saturday when I had time to try designing the home office I used the online option. The online option does require you to have Shockwave installed (a free albeit time consuming download).
After letting all the components install, I started designing the home office. Cool! After establishing the size of the room, I could quickly add architectural details (like doors, windows, electrical outlets). Then, the web site lets you add "Your stuff" onto the plan--this included a desk I already had and two bookcases. It was easy to size the shapes to the actual size of the furniture and rotate things into position using the scale and rotate tools. Now came the fun part, choosing new furniture from Herman-Miller's Home Office line. After I had chosen a new chair and computer desk from the Thomas J. Newhouse line I printed out my plan. Herman Miller included a nice list of new items to purchase. Best of all the Thomas J. Newhouse line was on sale for 30% off.
Herman Miller supplies you with the design details of each collection--better information than you can usually get from a store clerk. As you are shopping for new furniture, Herman Miller lets you customize your purchase to some degree. For example, on desks you can customize the height of the desk, the top finish, and even the leg finish.
The Herman-Miller store claims that 90% of the items are shipped within two days--the web site does tell you how long your product will take to ship. The store does offer a variety of shipping options--as they say Fast, Fancy, Free. One of the options offered, White Glove Delivery, includes setup at home for a price--perfect for those of us who dread "Some assembly required." Our order did take a bit longer than two days but was worth it.
If you want the best quality of furniture for your home office and more information than you can possibly get in a store, check out www.hmstore.com.
