Recently, we posted a two-part series on creating a successful interior design process for churches. Jennifer Snider, The McKnight Group’s interior designer, guided you through six important steps for a church building interior design program. (To read Part 1, click here; to read Part 2, click here.)
In this post, she adds a seventh step, which comes after the design and implementation process. It’s the best way to protect your significant investment in a church remodeling project or brand-new building.
Step 7: Invest in the Maintenance of Your New Interior
This seventh step is the key to good stewardship of your church building: maintenance of your new interior.
All those finishes, furnishings, and flooring will be subject to a lot of feet and fingers over the months and years ahead. Spills will happen, dirt will accumulate, shine will tarnish, scuffs will appear.
Which is why it’s essential to set up a maintenance plan as you are completing your church remodeling project or inaugurating your new church building. Good habits are best set at the beginning, and regular cleaning is critical to keeping your interior design looking new and fresh for as long as possible.
Spread the Word About Church Building Maintenance
One of the best ways to establish good habits is to spread the word about them. When you’re thinking about protecting your interior design investment, there are two important messages you want to spread.
First, you tell everyone in your church family that it’s OK—and actually necessary—to speak up about spills. The longer a spill stays on carpeting or seating fabric, the deeper it penetrates into the fibers and the harder it will be to clean. “Stain-resistant” doesn’t mean “stain-impervious.” Let everyone know it’s not wrong to spill (these will happen), it’s just wrong not to say something when it happens.
The second way to spread the word involves your church building maintenance crew. Whether they are a team of dedicated volunteers or part of your paid staff, your maintenance team needs to know what you have learned about your various fabrics, finishes, and flooring during the interior design process.
All information about cleaning and other maintenance needs to be passed on from your interior design team to your maintenance team, so they can benefit from everything you have learned.
Maintaining Your New Interior Is Good Stewardship
Your church building interior design forms a critical part of your church vision. To outside eyes it may not always be obvious that you’ve invested in maintaining your church facility, but it will certainly be obvious if you neglect to maintain it. Investing time and energy in maintaining your new interior design is also good stewardship of the financial contributions that paid for those new furnishings, finishes, and flooring.
We hope this series of steps has been helpful as you think about the interior of your own church building. For other helpful church building and remodeling tips, take advantage of our i3 webinars. Simply visit our website and sign up—they’re all free.