Some spaces in your church design may seem obvious for making a good first impression, such as the carpet tile in your lobby. There are other interior spaces you might overlook that still impact first impressions. One such place is restrooms.
Putting Cleanliness Front and Center in Your Church Design
When guests visit a church building and enter the restroom, they want a place that feels clean and safe to use. This is even more true with the pandemic. All of us have become more aware of the importance of a clean look, and fortunately you don’t have to break the bank to get it.
As you can see in this photo from Dayspring Wesleyan, neutral walls, laminate countertops, and bright lighting help the restroom look clean and neat. The flooring looks like stone, but it’s actually luxury vinyl tile (LVT), which is more affordable than porcelain tile, but still easy to keep clean.
One important element of cleanliness is to avoid clutter. It can be tempting to add décor in an effort to make a restroom look homey, but that might not align with your church vision for ministry—for example, if you wish to attract younger families. In this image from Garfield Memorial, you can see that they’ve chosen a bold color, but kept the look clean with minimalist photographic artwork.
Garfield Memorial also invested in porcelain tile for the flooring, which is a common choice for the main or primary restrooms in a church building because of its durability. You can also see that they’ve included white tile around the sinks to provide some wall protection in that area.
Additional Options for the Restrooms of Your Church Building
Here are two final photographs of potential finishes for your church building restrooms. Summit Church chose to go with flooring in a woodgrain pattern, while also adding tile around the sinks.
Finally, Bluegrass United Methodist Church chose to invest in a very classy look, with porcelain floor tiles, decorative porcelain tiles all the way up the walls, and glass insets to add shine and sparkle. The countertops are also upgraded to granite, which helps create an overall feel of elegance that’s in line with their church vision for ministry to their community.
As these very different examples demonstrate, the primary restrooms in your church building can give a variety of first impressions. You don’t always have to break the bank and invest in the top of the line (quartz and solid-surface countertops are also classy and durable), but it’s important to remember that the restroom is a critical part of giving a first impression for your church design.
These images come from one of our recent free i3 webinars, where we discussed the importance of making a good first impression in many areas of your church design. To get the big picture and think holistically about the message your church building gives to guests, we invite you to sign up for each of our i3 webinars.