51st Tri-State Home Show opens at Convention Center. WEEKEND THIS
Remodeling, repairing or building? Find everything you need in one location
Has the unseasonably warm weather of the last few weeks given you a case of spring fever? You’re ready to tackle your spring home improvement list of repairs and renovations but unsure where to start or what materials you’ll need?
You’ll find all the information and products you need — plus advice from experts on how to use them — at the 51st annual Tri-State Home Show sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga. The expo will be open Friday through Sunday, March 10-12, at the Chattanooga Convention Center.
The Home Show covers all aspects of home maintenance from roofing to waterproofing the basement. More than 500 booths will display the latest and greatest in products and services for new home construction, renovations and remodelings or just giving the bedroom a new coat of paint.
Visitors will find displays on brick, tile, windows, doors, roofing, insulation, indoor and outdoor lighting, guttering, pest control and more. There are always elaborate outdoor living displays ranging in size from small decks to stone patios with outdoor fireplaces to elaborate, multilevel patio spaces such as those presented by Fischer Landscape Co.
Model kitchen displays are always popular with Home Show guests, especially Hitson Cabinet Inc., which incorporates new and coming trends into its designs. This weekend, Hitson is partnering with Ferguson Enterprises, Stone Source and Wilkerson Tile for a 600-squarefoot display.
“We’re actually doing two full kitchens, a small kitchen display and a master bath,” says Jeffrey Costa, Hitson project manager.
“We’re going to show some new countertops called Dekton from Stone Source. We’ll have a waterfall island, and this will be the first show where we’ll have our new European, or frameless, cabinets. It’s exciting to show something no one has done in the Home Show before.”
The frameless models to be on display will have the base cabinets painted dark gray and the upper cabinets painted muslin. Mixing paint colors is another example of a design trend on the horizon that Hitson is previewing.
Always a draw for visitors at the Home Show is the chance to receive numerous freebies while browsing the booths. Some vendors will hold sign-ups for giveaways; others offer discounts.
Hullco Exteriors is marking its 40th year in business and will offer several Home Show promotions riffing on 1977 (the year of the company’s founding) or the number 40. Examples, say Hullco spokesmen, include $1,977 off siding or sun rooms, $770 off bath solutions, $400 off entry doors and $77 off windows.
Additionally, Home Show visitors can get a free ticket for admission Saturday from 10 a.m. until supplies run out, courtesy of Hullco. Simply stop by the Hullco display in the concourse area of the Convention Center, pick up one of the free T-shirts to wear into the expo, and a company staff member will hand you a free admission ticket.
Chattanooga Central Vacuums/Aerus Electrolux is another company offering discounts to Home Show guests. Owner Rick Neufeld says he has exhibited in the Home Show every year since founding his company 13 years ago.
“We get more leads from the Home Show than any place else; it’s the No. 1 place for getting exposure for someone in the construction industry,” he says. “People might see us one year and buy from us three years later. They will tell us they saw us at the Home Show.”