You gotta love a trade show where fully costumed flamenco dancers entertain the crowds by hammering their heels into a “stage” that’s really a kitchen countertop.
This would have to be the International Builders Show, sort of a clamorous cross between a Paris fashion show and Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon.
The four-day event, held here earlier this month, is the annual trade fair and convention of the National Association of Home Builders. Within the show’s 620,000 square feet of display and meeting space was every permutation of the construction business, from insulation to interest-rate analysis, from dishwashers to demographic studies.
Even when the show and its related events drift into the driest realms (just how many styles of aluminum replacement windows does this country need, anyway?), the faithful attendee knows that just across the aisle, there’s probably a Lewis Carroll Moment waiting to be savored.
Here’s one: Louisiana-Pacific Corp. rolled out its — are you ready? — Norman Rockwell Siding Collection (“a wonderful inspiration for the exteriors that now bear his name”). It may sound like a Mad magazine parody, but they’re darned serious and have the licensing agreement to prove it.
Or: A short walk away, a division of HomeStyles.Com, a blueprint company that has made its considerable fortune by drawing up the floor plans for literally thousands of subdivision houses, staged a seminar to explain “why suburbia is so damaging to our society.”
It’s this mix of showmanship and contentiousness that makes this huge annual event so oddly compelling. To be fair, the trade-show portion was dominated by acres of practicality and household eye-candy, in keeping with this year’s pervasive theme: Consumers long to put their own personal stamp (yes, even the flamenco variety ) on their homes, and manufacturers and builders must learn how to please them.
A sampling of product introductions:
THE BRONZE AGE COMETH: First, there were the stainless-steel kitchen appliances, which proved so wildly popular that companies began to make cabinetry to match. Now, apparently, metal is heading for the walls, judging by its abundant display by the Daltile, Crossville and Ann Sacks tile companies.
Beyond tile, there are all kinds of metallic trims. Style Solutions Inc. is putting real metal finishes on its ultra-light urethane moldings and ceiling medallions. Using a new process developed by Metallon Inc., Style Solutions now has elaborate moldings in brass, nickel, copper, bronze and other metals (you can even have “rust”). Metallon also has teamed up with Simonton and Hy-Lite Products to put the coatings on their windows and doors.
A BLAST FROM THE PAST: Armstrong wants you to panel your ceiling, though it really doesn’t call this new product “paneling.” Taking a cue from the flooring and countertop industries, the company suggests that you put “laminated planks” up there. Armstrong’s tongue-and-groove planks are available in four wood-grain laminates. (Don’t look now, but this probably signals an eventual comeback for all that wall paneling from the ’60s and ’70s that we’ve all just finished tearing out.)
SHEER INDULGENCE DEPARTMENT: This category has two leaders this year. Kohler Co. annually rolls out a show-stopper, and this year it is the Sok bath. Literally a tub within a tub, Sok places the reclining bather neck-deep in water that continuously overflows into its outer tub. The company suggests that the visual appeal of this “endless horizon” of cascading water is very comforting. While all this is going on, 11 air jets generate effervescent bubbles that a Kohler spokesman likened to champagne bubbles.
If your goal is to one-up the neighbors, I suggest you visit Ann Sacks, which is an even more upscale affiliate of Kohler. The firm’s “Piel” line includes oxblood leather — yes, leather — wall tiles and a leather-embossed bathroom sink console. Used lavishly, the effect is of an upholstered room.
But, leather in a bathroom? “Well, I wouldn’t put it in a master bath,” suggested a company spokesman. “But it would look great in a powder room or guest bath.”
The Man Show
Such “masculine” styling isn’t accidental. Another Kohler subsidiary, Kallista, teamed with designer Barbara Barry and Baker Furniture to create bathroom suites that are marketed specifically toward men. The key elements in “Barbara Barry for Him” are spare styling and lots of mahogany.
These designs are newsworthy in an industry where “sell to the women” is practically a mantra.
California builder Larry Webb told attendees at a seminar here that they ought to stop designing homes where the dual walk-in closets in the master suites are of unequal size, a common arrangement in today’s market.
“Men want as big a closet as the women,” Webb said. “Even if they don’t have as many clothes . . . they think they will eventually.”
Back in the real world
We did say “practical” a while back, didn’t we? Consider this:
– Speech-recognition technology takes a utilitarian turn with the Vos Systems IntelaVoice light switch. Just say, “lights on” or “lights low” (or program it to whatever language you prefer), and that’s just what happens. The devices come as a wall switch or as an adapter that plugs into an outlet. The company also is marketing a home video security system that utilizes infrared technology so that the camera can see who’s standing at your doorway in the darkness.
– Undeniably, Americans adore their dogs and cats. What they don’t adore is the beasties’ habit of leaving liquid love notes on — make that in — the carpeting. DuPont has introduced SpillNet, a paper-thin, protective sheet that goes between the carpet and padding: The idea here is that day-to-day spills and Fido’s accidents can’t penetrate the padding, where they couldn’t be shampooed out the way a rug could. SpillNet’s anti-bacterial features guard against mold, mildew and odor, according to DuPont.
– Warm thoughts: Who wouldn’t love to have a kitchen fireplace? Alas, they seldom find their way into the final blueprints.
Heat-N-Glo, in Lakeville, Minn., has introduced what it calls the first fireplace designed specifically for kitchens. The Crescent model has a classic “hearth” look, and although it’s not built for real cooking, it does offer an optional bifold door with a “flip-down bun warmer.” Buns or no buns, the big sell here is that this gas fireplace is cost-efficiently designed to fit standard kitchen-cabinet sizing.
– Given the times, it’s not surprising that “energy” was a word on a lot of lips here. Attracting attention were the fuel cells displayed in the booth of the American Gas Association, a trade group for natural-gas utilities. The fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity through an electrochemical process that produces significantly lower emissions than conventional generators, according to the association. The association hopes that fuel cells (which already are used to provide electricity and drinking water on NASA space flights) will next be used to fuel the backup power generators that have become so popular in upper-bracket houses and are starting to go mainstream.
It’s not likely that American houses are going to break out of their beige doldrums anytime soon, but there are some small signs of hope on the horizon.
– It’s hard to walk past an array of cobalt-blue appliances, which is what KitchenAid now has, in addition to bright reds, greens and yellows. This year KitchenAid added to its year-old line of high-gloss finishes, joining Viking, which also has an array of ranges in such hues as “lemonade” and “mint julep,” the latter of which looks suspiciously like “avocado.”
– And, all joking aside about the tenuous link between illustrator Norman Rockwell and vinyl siding, there’s a little something to cheer for here — the colors.
It’s hard to drive through an average subdivision and not think all the houses are beige. The white ones look beige; even the gray ones look beige. That’s because our climate is so punishing to the vinyl siding that makers have to stick to a very narrow palette that has been shown to hold its color (beige) through the fiercest weather.
Louisiana-Pacific says its new ColorGuard siding (licensed by the Norman Rockwell Estate Licensing Co. in Niles) stands up to ultraviolet rays so well it can turn out such welcome changes as forest green, barn red and chocolate brown.
