This post concludes our two-part series on how to optimize the interior design process for your church (for Part 1, click here). Whether you’re remodeling an existing church building or undertaking new construction, the interior design process has its own components and time frame that need to be addressed.

Jennifer Snider, our staff interior designer, has put together a series of critical steps for a successful church interior design project. We pick-up her suggestions with Step 4.

Step 4: Consider Inviting Professionals into the Process

The extent to which you involve professionals is going to depend in part on the size and scope of your project.

Obviously, if you’re erecting a new church building, you’re already involving professionals like The McKnight Group with the construction. But it also makes good sense to tap our design team to help you along.

If you’re just doing a church remodeling project with interior design components, you might be able to handle that on your own. Still, professionals are going to offer resources you would not necessarily have access to or know about. They can provide ideas that might not have occurred to you and they can help you make the right decisions and keep you on course.

Thus, professionals can often save you both time and money, helping your project stay on track, on budget, and in alignment with your church’s vision no matter how big or small the project is.

Step 5: Explore Possible Interior Finishes for Your Church Building

One helpful way to start this process is to do site visits and collect ideas. This can be done very methodically, but don’t miss out on any random-chance opportunities that come your way. You want to collect ideas, both of things that you like but also things you don’t like, as it’s sometimes useful to identify design elements that aren’t going to work for your church’s vision.

Your site visits could be to other churches that minister in a similar way you do—or want to do. But there are other types of places you can visit as well. For example, if you’re planning to add a café, visiting coffee shops can help you understand how interior finishes affect the feel and use of a space.

Think also about the people you’re trying to reach with your church remodel or build, then go where they go, so you can see what speaks to them. You can take pictures with your phone, and bring back images to your interior design team for consideration.

Step 6: Execute Your Church Remodeling or New Building Interior Design Plan

This step is what most people think of as the entire process—but you can see it’s really the culmination of all the steps preceding it.

You’ll need to order materials and coordinate between the different subcontractors you hire, so that painting and flooring happen in the correct order. Make sure you have all the right people in place at the right times, so that everything can happen as efficiently as possible.

Also, if you’re undertaking a church remodeling project, you’ll need to consider how to continue worship and other ministries during the renovation phase. This can be frustrating for everyone, so warn both leaders and participants far in advance. You want to prepare them for the changes and remind them of the reason you’re doing all this work in the first place: your church vision to reach people for Christ.

But Wait: There’s More

So that’s it—but not really. There’s actually one more step that’s just as important as the first six, and we’ll reveal that in our next blog post. While you wait, feel free to visit our website and sign up for any of our free i3 webinars. We promise they’ll be filled with helpful information, just like this post!