ABOVE: Chris Toomer and Tonya Mortensen stand in the renovated chapel room at Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont. The room received new flooring, paint, light fixtures and furniture.

FAIRMONT– Lakeview Funeral Home in Fairmont has been steadily working over the last eight months on giving the interior of the building a serious facelift. The renovations, which aim to make the space more warm and inviting, are expected to wrap up in the next month.

The funeral home, formerly the Assembly of God Church, was established in 1997 by Daron Johnson and Dennis Boro. In 2017, Chris Toomer and Tonya Mortensen purchased the business.

Mortensen said that since they took over, she’s been wanting to update the interior and now was finally the time.

“When we got it, we ended up putting on new shingles and siding,” Mortensen said. “We did a lot of outside work.”

New windows were also part of the work they initially did to the exterior of the building.

“One of my goals was right away to start on the inside but that didn’t happen until almost seven years later. It was something that needed to be done,” Mortensen said.

She said this project has been their most significant since taking over the business.

“It ended up being a lot more than we planned, but we’re super happy with how it’s turning out,” Mortensen said.

ABOVE: New stone on the fireplace, furniture and other fixtures near the chapel room at Lakeview Funeral Home.

Work started in January of this year and while no structural changes were made to the interior, nearly everything has been touched.

“We put in new flooring, we painted the walls and ceilings. We put in all new lighting and furniture,” Mortensen said.

While the previous colors were a lot of maroons, tans and hunter greens, the new colors are mostly white and beige with gold accents which has resulted in a much brighter space.

The stone on both of the fireplaces was redone and the kitchen space was also redone which lead to more counter space and a bigger sink.

Toomer explained that work at the beginning of the project was more tricky because of the type of business they are, they are never able to fully close.

“We had to work in pockets and that’s where all of the vendors were good in working around our schedule,” he said.

Mortensen added that families were also understanding of the project, which they appreciated.

They used a lot of local contractors for the work and Deb Williamson of Inspiring Interiors was their main decorator.

“She was amazing to work with and put in a lot of time,” Mortensen said.

ABOVE: The renovated kitchen at Lakeview Funeral Home has more counter space and a bigger sink for families to utilize.

Toomer spoke to why Lakeview wanted to make this investment in their building.

“Funerals can be costly depending on the decisions the family makes for the type of service they want for their loved one and people want things to be nice and warm and inviting and I think we have created that atmosphere here at Lakeview that will serve the community well for many years to come.”

He added that the last time the interior was updated was back in 2003 when Daron and Dennis put an addition on the building so it was time to bring the space up to date.

However, he said a goal of theirs in redecorating was to make the space timeless, as Williamson often said.

“It’s more of a longevity thing. Trends come and go,” Toomer said.

Now they’re just waiting on delivery of a few more pieces of furniture and other furnishings. While both Mortensen and Toomer acknowledged that the project was big, they’re happy with how it turned out and are excited to see how other people feel about it, too.

“Now that we’ve updated, it’s amazing how many people have come in and said how nice it is and have complimented the building,” Mortensen said.

They are planning to have an open house so the public can view the renovated space sometime in the spring.

ABOVE: The lunch room at Lakeview Funeral Home features a new big cross, lighting, stone work, and flooring. New tablecloths and some other decorative items will be delivered soon.