Specifying a mobile whiteboard: sizes, wheels and finish options

The Oak Mobile is available in two widths, 92 cm and 122 cm, and the right choice depends on both the room and the routes the board will travel to get there. For a single desk-side board or a compact huddle space, 92 cm is usually plenty and clears doorways with room to spare. For a board that needs to double as the main writing surface for a small team meeting, 122 cm gives noticeably more usable space without becoming unwieldy to move. When in doubt, measure the narrowest doorway or corridor the board will regularly pass through before choosing the wider option, since a board that’s perfect for the room but awkward in the corridor causes a problem every time it moves.

Not every mobile whiteboard uses the same wheel setup, and it’s worth specifying this deliberately rather than assuming. The Oak Mobile uses 75 mm black castors, two of which lock in place, giving a board that swivels freely until it’s braked exactly where it’s needed. The Mobile instead uses transparent skate wheels designed to roll smoothly in one direction, trading swivel manoeuvrability for extra stability while the board is in use. If the board will regularly be positioned at different angles in a representative space, locking castors are the more practical specification. If it mainly travels in a straight line between a small number of fixed spots, the Mobile’s skate wheels are a reasonable, often simpler alternative.

Surface finish affects both appearance and how the board reads under different lighting. The Oak Mobile uses a matte SatinTones ceramic steel finish, available in fifteen pastel colours, which reduces glare under overhead lighting and suits softer, lounge-style spaces. The Mobile is finished in glossy white enamel as standard, offering a brighter, higher-contrast writing surface that works well in rooms with less natural light. Both surfaces are scratch resistant to the same standard as glass and magnetic for all types of magnets, so the decision between matte and gloss is almost entirely about appearance and lighting, not surface quality. It’s also worth checking the surface against the room’s primary light source directly, rather than judging a sample under showroom lighting, since a board that looks fine under bright overhead spotlights can behave quite differently under the softer, angled daylight typical of a lounge or breakout space.

Every Chameleon mobile whiteboard is double-sided as standard, but what’s on each side can vary. The Mobile can be specified fully writable on both sides, or with a PET-felt pinning side on one or both faces, made from 60% recycled PET bottles and rated NRC 0.30 for acoustic absorption. Specifying a pinning side adds a second function to the same board, useful for teams that want to combine writing with pinning up notes or documents, and the acoustic benefit is worth considering specifically for open-plan or noisy spaces.

The Oak Mobile’s solid oak frame comes lacquered as standard, with an integrated base in the same finish for a clean, continuous silhouette rather than a visibly separate understructure. When specifying colour, it’s worth deciding whether the board should blend into the room’s existing palette or stand out deliberately, for example to help distinguish boards used by different teams or departments. With fifteen SatinTones pastel colours available, there’s enough range to do either without resorting to a custom finish.

The same specification questions apply differently depending on who’s using the board. Schools ordering for multiple classrooms often standardise on a single width and surface combination across every room, partly to simplify maintenance and partly to make it easier for supply staff to use any board without relearning its setup. Offices more often vary the specification by room, choosing the Oak Mobile’s representative SatinTones finish for client-facing spaces and the Mobile’s simpler enamel finish for internal project rooms. Neither approach is more correct than the other, but deciding which one applies before placing the order avoids a mismatched mix of models arriving without a clear plan for where each one goes. It’s also worth checking local requirements for school procurement, since some education buyers are required to request sustainability certification as a standard part of any furniture purchase, which makes specifying that documentation upfront even more important than it would be for a typical office order.

Whichever model you specify, a couple of accessories make a mobile whiteboard ready for daily use from day one. The whiteboard starter kit covers the basics needed to start writing and erasing straight away, and is a sensible addition regardless of which model is ordered. For teams working with scrum or another visual project method, the scrumkit adds the cards, magnets and markers needed to set the board up as a scrum board immediately. Specifying accessories in the same order as the board itself avoids a second delivery and a second wait.

Orders rarely involve a single board. When specifying more than one, it helps to list, room by room, the exact width, wheel type, colour and surface combination required, rather than leaving that to be resolved after delivery. This matters more the larger the order gets: a mismatch discovered after several boards have already been placed in different rooms is far more disruptive to correct than one caught before the order is placed. Keeping a simple specification sheet, room by room, also makes reordering an identical board straightforward later if a team expands or a new room needs the same setup. This becomes especially important when boards are ordered in phases rather than all at once, since a specification sheet kept from the first order makes it far easier to match a later batch exactly, rather than relying on memory or a photo to describe what was ordered previously.

For organisations that need to document procurement decisions formally, whether for an internal audit or a sustainability report, it’s worth specifying that this documentation be included with the order rather than requesting it separately afterwards. The Oak Mobile’s solid oak frame is FSC certified, and Chameleon’s production fully offsets its CO2 emissions across the range. Both models carry a lifetime guarantee on writing and erasing, with the frame and construction covered separately for two years against defects. Requesting these certificates and warranty terms in writing at the time of order, rather than retrieving them later, saves a round trip back to the supplier when the documentation is actually needed.

Delivery readiness differs by model, and it’s worth specifying expectations upfront, particularly for a larger order. The Oak Mobile arrives fully pre-assembled, with the panel already fitted to its castor base, ready for use within minutes of unpacking. The Mobile requires a short assembly step involving two bolts and a leather pulling strap. For an order covering several boards across multiple rooms, confirming assembly requirements in advance avoids delivery day turning into an unplanned afternoon of setup work, particularly if different models with different assembly needs are being delivered together.

A handful of mistakes come up repeatedly when specifying a mobile whiteboard. The most common is choosing a width based on the destination room without checking the corridors and doorways along the way, which can leave a perfectly good board stuck outside the room it was bought for. Another is assuming every board in the range shares the same wheel type, when in fact the Oak Mobile and the Mobile use genuinely different castor systems with different handling characteristics. A third is leaving colour and finish as an afterthought, only to find once the board arrives that a glossy white surface doesn’t suit a softly lit lounge corner the way a matte SatinTones finish would have. Checking each of these specifically, rather than assuming they’ll sort themselves out, avoids a board that technically works but never quite fits the room it was bought for. A fourth, easy to overlook mistake is ordering accessories as an afterthought once the boards have already arrived, which almost always means a second delivery and a second wait before the boards are genuinely ready to use in practice.

For larger organisations, the person specifying the board and the person approving the purchase are often not the same individual, which makes a complete written specification even more valuable. A facilities manager handing a request to procurement benefits from having every decision, width, wheel type, finish, double-sided configuration and accessories, already made and documented, rather than leaving procurement to guess at details that actually depend on how the board will be used day to day. This also speeds up approval, since a specific, fully specified request is easier to sign off than a vague one that still needs clarifying questions answered before a purchase order can be raised.

Before sending a specification through, it helps to confirm the following for each board: model, width, wheel type, surface finish and colour, single or double-sided use and whether a pinning side is needed, any accessories to include, and expected assembly requirements on delivery. For multiple boards, repeat this per room rather than assuming one specification covers every location. Having this list ready before contacting Chameleon turns the ordering process into a single, complete request rather than several rounds of back and forth to fill in missing details.

Once the specification is complete, model, width, wheel type, surface and colour, double-sided configuration, and any accessories, requesting a quote is straightforward. For a broader look at how the Oak Mobile compares with the rest of the range before finalising your specification, read our guide on choosing the right Chameleon mobile whiteboard.

Ready to request a quote? Browse Chameleon’s full range of mobile whiteboards and get in touch with your completed specification.

Looking for a compact option? See the double-sided whiteboard on wheels Mobile.

Can I mix widths within the same order?

Does a locking castor cost more than a standard wheel?

Can the PET-felt pinning side be added to an existing enamel-only Mobile board?

Is custom colour matching available beyond the standard SatinTones range?