How did we expand the reception desk we had previously built for a funeral home in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Germany?
From this project, you’ll learn:
- how we expanded the reception desk we had built earlier,
- Why did the customer decide to add additional fixtures?
- how we maintained a consistent look for the reception area.
Implementation Sheet
- City: Neustadt am Rübenberge
- Country: Germany
- industry: funeral services
- Client: Poppe Bestattungen
- Scope of work: construction of a chest of drawers that serves as an extension and built-in addition to the existing reception desk
- materials: wood-colored furniture board
- Project objective: to increase storage space and maintain a consistent look for the reception area

Furniture for a funeral home—the customer came back for more furniture
We had previously built a modern reception desk for Poppe Bestattungen. Some time later, the client contacted us again because they needed more storage space.
Instead of replacing the existing furniture, we built a chest of drawers that serves as a natural extension of the reception area.
A chest of drawers designed to match the existing reception desk
For the second phase of the project, we built a spacious chest of drawers placed directly next to the previously installed reception counter. Its purpose was to increase storage space and provide an aesthetically pleasing finish to the reception area. The chest of drawers was designed to stylistically complement the existing counter, making the entire space look like a single, well-thought-out design.
Interestingly, the chest of drawers is made of a different material than the reception desk. The reception desk is made primarily of natural oak, while the chest of drawers is made of wood-grain laminate. One might wonder why the chest of drawers, which is now part of the reception desk, is made of a different material. Let me explain—the visible part of the chest of drawers consists mainly of the fronts. It’s definitely safer to make the fronts out of furniture board. Natural wood fronts tend to warp slightly. In most of our collections, the bodies are made of natural wood, while the fronts are made of other materials. Thanks to this, Deerhorn office furniture comes with a 25-year warranty, and its lifespan certainly exceeds 100 years.
Renovation without replacing the furniture
This project demonstrates that a well-designed reception area can be expanded even after several months or years, without having to replace the entire structure. All that’s needed is to ensure that the new elements are properly matched in terms of materials, colors, and dimensions.

A chest of drawers that is a variation on a standard chest of drawers from the Corporate collection
All it took was a few adjustments to the dimensions. As a result, the entire process took just a few days.
Scope of Work
- analysis of the existing reception area,
- a design for a chest of drawers to match a previously built counter,
- construction of the building,
- Transport and installation in Germany.
We invite you to visit www.bestattungen-poppe.de
Products from implementation


