Divine redesign
A Bedford church gets a heavenly makeover
BEDFORD, Pa. — It’s not often that an interior designer lands a truly heavenly project. James Checkeye of Evelyn James Interiors in Squirrel Hill was tasked with redecorating Trinity Lutheran Church in Bedford in time for its 250th anniversary.
The three-year project began when Clifton Clark, a parishioner who was also an Evelyn James client, called Mr. Checkeye for help. Mr. Clark owns Clark Contractors in Bedford.
“His wife was actually helping to design the apse, and they were just thinking stripes of color,” recalled Mr. Checkeye. “They were having trouble trying to figure out what to do with this church.”
The designer decided the whitewashed interior needed more color. He put together design boards with color and texture schemes.
“They loved what I did, but I had never done a church before, and I’m not a Lutheran,” he said.
So he researched the Lutheran faith to make sure he understood its symbolism and dynamics. He also spent a lot of time with senior pastor Raymond E. Short.
Mr. Checkeye’s original plan was to use colorful wall coverings around the crown molding and arches.
“I found out they had a lot of water issues and didn’t want the maintenance of having to repair wallpaper. So I took the colors that inspired us from the wall coverings to paint,” he explained.
The brilliant blue and terra cotta accent colors were inspired by a large stained-glass window in the back of the church. They now appear in painted accents around the chair rail and wainscoting. The walls’ pale green and other softer colors came from windows in the sanctuary.
Mr. Checkeye chose these historic colors from Farrow & Ball: Lichen #19 — walls, Dorset Cream #68 — trim, Stiff Key Blue #281 — wall behind altar and accents, Light Blue #22 — ceiling, Picture Gallery Red #42 — accents, and Red Earth #64 — radiators.
He picked a simple pale blue for the ceiling. “I tried to get the Sistine Chapel look here,” he joked.
The carpeting was pulled up in the aisles to give the space a more historic feel appropriate to the building. “We did a hand-scraped walnut floor, but we used carpet where the pews are for acoustic reasons and to soften the space,” he said.
The new ironwork around the altar area was designed by Mr. Checkeye and custom-made by Antietam Ironworks. It contains a symbol called the trinity knot, representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
“We added the marble and all the beautiful ironwork. The altar and up to the reredos is all done in marble,” Rev. Short said.
Mural artist Paul Means of Butler, Pa., painted gold stars and a deep blue background on the wall above the altar and added gold leaf and decorative borders throughout the church. Symbols in the borders include the eucharist, a shell representing baptism and crossed keys, the sign of St. Peter.
The congregation was founded in 1769, and members first worshiped in a small log church. Two other log buildings burned, and this church was built in 1871, said Rev. Short, who has served at Trinity Lutheran for 32 years.
“Somewhere back in the 1950s, a decision was made to whitewash everything from top to bottom, and any kind of artwork that was here was just painted over,” he said.
“A few years back we started to do it ourselves, and as the project grew and our ideas expanded, we realized this was something beyond our capacity to do well.”
Mr. Checkeye did not want to change the historic church’s details.
The hand-carved walnut stations of the cross were made in Croatia. “They are one of a kind,” the pastor said.
“The hanging lights used to be able to be lowered from a crank in the attic to be cleaned and serviced,” Rev. Short said. “But over the years the wire became brittle and hard, and you could not unwind it to lower them.”
The renovation project included electric hoists to make servicing the lights easier. The church also plans to resurface the altar with a large slab of Calcutta gold marble.
“When a church makes these significant changes, you want to have dedications and blessing of the furniture and space,” Rev. Short said.
“June 2019 is the feast of the Holy Trinity, which is the feast of this church, and we will celebrate.”