A Place for Information and Design

Metro Home Show brings out the goods

According to design guru Kimberley Seldon, most home show visitors arrive armed to solve all their design dilemmas.
However, Seldon, who is heralding two new additions to this year’s Metro Home Show, says venturing to design events is akin to a going on a fishing trip.
“My dad taught me that you don't have to catch a fish to have a great day fishing, and I think that's true,‰ says the broadcast personality and Style at Home magazine editor.
“We hope everyone will come by just to soak up the atmosphere, listen to our accordionist, enjoy the experience of learning about design and the decorative arts, meet new people, ask questions and maybe even find
something wonderful you can’t live without.
“Starting this Friday, 300 exhibitors and local design celebrities at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, will offer attendees tips for living and lounging in style.
Seldon aims to help GTA dwellers add character to their homes with Kimberley Seldon’s Designer Flea Market and décor ideas with Style at Home Urban Dwellings, an offering of seven uniquely designed theme rooms.
“You can get a $4,000 table for $2,000,” says show manager Melissa Arnott.
“It’s not a flea market where we sell baubleheads.
“I think it’s a fabulous event for people . Traditionally at home shows people get cash-and-carry items like a mop or staining product,” Arnott says of the flea market. “This is a different element. Always a great place to pick furniture you wouldn’t normally get anywhere else."
“Toronto-based interior designer Greg Quinn says events like the Metro Home Show are great way to narrow the overwhelming options available to consumers and businesses. “Today there are so many options you can choose from," says Quinn, president of X-Design, a 10-year-old interior design firm. "Whether redoing a space or recreating your home, it‚s hard for the general layperson to do, to choose flooring or if they‚ll know how big that appliance is really, in the end people want to touch and feel a product.”
According to local designer and National Post columnist Sasha Josipovicz, ideas at interior design trade shows cater only to a particular set.
“The three or four girlfriends getting together hip-hopping to open houses on the weekends and then attending these shows, which is great,” he adds.
Although the show is the perfect opportunity for busy moms, and the like, to learn “what is ‘in design’ in Toronto right now,” Josipovicz says, “the world is bigger than Toronto.”
“It’s like a Grand Ole Opry under one roof and they‚re all playing the same tune,” he adds.
For in-the-dark GTA dwellers, Arnott believes the home show illuminates a variety of options.
“The bottom line is people are looking for information, whether they’re on their own for the first time or for their family, the more information we can give them from the Metro Home Show, the better service we’re providing.”
The Metro Home Show runs till Sunday January 18 at the Metro TorontoConvention Centre, 255 Front St. W. For more information, call 416.385.1880, 1.888.823.7469 or visit www.metrohomeshow.com.

Publication Date: 2004-01-18
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3559