Home and Garden Shows Provide Green Remodeling Ideas

If you're itching for spring, there's an easy way to satisfy your craving: head to your metro area's upcoming home and garden show. While California already hosted a large show in Sacramento featuring more than 200 exhibitors and covering 100,000 square feet of convention hall space, in the coming weeks and months, cities throughout the country typically play host to similarly large home and garden events. 

If you've never been to one, home and garden shows present an opportunity to meet and interview potential contractors, explore remodeling ideas, learn about new products, attend workshops, and much more. Not only do such events help motivate you to move forward with projects you've been planning to do, but they can be a great place to learn about the latest trends, especially those in green remodeling.

Home and Garden Shows
At the recent Sacramento show, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) presented a green remodeling workshop, as well as workshops on storage solutions for small kitchens and how to create outdoor living spaces. Among other things, attendees were able to learn about energy saving appliances and eco building materials.

Sherry Larsen, producer of the California State Home and Garden Show, told the Sacramento Bee that now is a great time to remodel, given the economic slump. There are many deals to be had and while a year ago you might have had to wait several months for a contractor to get to your job, now you should easily find someone available to begin work as soon as you're ready.

Surveys show that 72 percent of the California show's attendees went for landscaping inspiration, and approximately 60 percent were looking for remodeling ideas and materials, particularly for kitchens and baths.

Home and Garden Shows: Getting Inspired
No matter where you live, you can bet home remodeling enthusiasts, just like you, will be out in force at your local show. While you might not have settled on your next project, spending an afternoon walking the aisles of a home and garden show is not only a great opportunity to learn from the pros, but also a chance to pick the brains of fellow remodelers.  Home improvement costs money, so why not take advantage of an inexpensive opportunity to garner advice and wisdom?
Who knows who you may meet or what you may learn?

Source
Sacramento Bee, Seeds: Budding Gardeners Can Take Home a Seedling, by Debbie Arrington

About the Author
Mary Butler is a Boulder, Colorado-based writer and editor, who spends much of her free time remodeling an old house.