Hi everyone! The heavy snowfall last week kept us from working on the house. But that left time to enjoy the Iowa home show circuit. We started out attending the Des Moines Home Show last weekend and the Waterloo Home Show yesterday.

Let’s start with the Des Moines Home & Garden Show:

We started the day with anticipation. Right now things are a blank slate, so the possibilities are endless (of course, within budget). It’s been 10 years since we were at this point in a house remodel. We’d like to stay local on as many things as we can, but we couldn’t pass up getting 100’s of ideas all in one place.

Our boys have been great helpers in this whole journey and came along too. We tried not to let all the vendors overwhelm us. Kitchen cabinets? Landscaping? HVAC? Tile? With so many choices we’ll be needing to make, we tried to just enjoy the show and take in ideas.

We feel pretty good about the exterior design we’ve been working on. There were a few design firms that would offer hourly consulting. We think that it may be a good idea to bounce our ideas off a professional.

When I think of “Home Show”, I think of vendors being in construction, cabinetry, plumbing, HVAC, tile, hardwood floors, bathrooms, etc. But there was SO much more than that. We saw chip dips, back massagers, quilts, ring cleaning, and many others.

Here’s a guy demonstrating “The Aqua Blade”, an awesome window cleaner. If you stand and watch his demonstration, watch out, you might just want one! (Thankfully, Chris was off talking to a flooring vendor but came by just in time to save me from an impulse buy!)

Here’s “The Ratchet Pruner” that cuts large branches with ease. There were branches laying all over their booth so you could try it for yourself. Chris didn’t let me buy one because, as Chris said, “We have 3 chainsaws that can prune anything you want.” Foiled again! 🙁

There was even a boat dock & lift company. It’s called FLOE. Best docks & lifts on the market! Shameless plug…my brother-in-law, Kourt, is the dealer in Omaha. Check him out at Husker Dock & Lift. He services the entire US. The guys in the picture are dealers in Eastern Iowa. They were nice enough to let us get a picture with them.

After winding our way up and down every row for three and a half hours, we came to the Iowa Lottery’s tiny house. We purposely saved this for the end of our day as a motivation for the boys to get through it all. Although our project is the opposite of tiny, they were excited to go inside it.

We jokingly contemplated how fun it might be to live in a tiny house while we remodel. After squeezing all of us inside of one, we quickly determined that more square footage is necessary for our family. We’ll be renting during the remodel. However, with our new house being right by the Iowa River Trail project that’s being developed in Hardin County and Chris just happens to be the chair of, we could instead have a tiny house on the property that could be rented out as an AirBNB place. (Of course, this would be something we’d consider in the far off future, we’re focusing on the house first, right?!) 

The last row had a stage with different speakers on the lineup. When we got to it, the Bath Crashers guy was speaking. We could have listened to him for awhile but with our youngest practically laying on the floor, we knew it was time to go. A six and eight year old can only last so long at a home show! Four hours since getting our tickets, we were on our way back to the car with plenty of new ideas.

Now on to the Waterloo Home Show:

Then yesterday we made it over to the Waterloo Home Show. We enjoyed the smaller size of this home show. This one felt more relaxed with an ease of getting around and talking to the vendors. Right as we walked in to the arena, a flooring company had this beautiful tile to greet us. If it fits in the budget, I’d like to have some unique tile accents throughout the house. The hard part with any project is making sure that the design elements throughout the house have an overall theme to them. 

Or this tile. It’s beautiful too! Tile has really come a long way in the last 10 years. We are definitely drawn to these because of the detailing that makes them look like a hand glazed tile. 

One construction company had a couple idea boards. I love this one! Yes, that is a navy cabinet door with a brushed brass handle. Who would have ever thought that brass would be back in style?!

These fence posts were part of a big area dedicated to a pond store out of the small town of Wellsburg, Iowa. I’ve always been a fan of the Sticks artwork in Des Moines. These would be neat along a driveway. When we remodeled our current house, the inside came first, while curb appeal came last. With this new house, we are starting our focus on the exterior then working our way inside.

Overall, I’d say our home show visits were a success! It didn’t overwhelm us too much and we came away with some great ideas!

Till next time…