Show Speakers Give Great Advice

Entertain with Style
Settle in with Karen Bussen, one of America's most exciting entertaining experts and author of the wildly successful "Simple Stunning" series of entertaining books (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), as she offers practical advice and inspired ideas for all facets of home entertaining with her distinctive “less waste/more taste” approach. Karen was a hit last fall with show attendees!

"My goal is to help everyone in America celebrate more often, with more style, without sacrificing quality or over spending," said Bussen. A quintuple-threat expert in food, wine, hospitality, flowers and design, Bussen believes a truly great party is filled with unique, well-chosen details and personal touches. “I’m so excited to be coming to Houston to share some of my “Simple Stunning” home entertainment tips!

This spring Karen will demonstrate a unique “Green Garden Party” filled with products that are environmentally friendly yet also beautiful and affordable. From tableware and candles to flowers, food, drinks, and décor, Karen will inspire you to take small steps toward creating home events that are filled with sustainable style and substance. As always, she’ll share her insider resources for websites, catalogs, and product lines, along with clever uses of things you already have in your own home.

You’ll leave this demo feeling empowered and excited about creating your next “green” get-together, and Karen will be giving away free Vazus and Verterra dinnerware as a part of the presentation. What’s a Vazu? What is Verterra Dinnerware? (link here) Be a trendsetter and help preserve our beautiful planet while hosting a fabulous fete your friends will love! You’ll learn about new centerpieces, table settings, and party details that will make your home parties shine.

Peggy McGowen, ASID, CMKBD
On the horizon – More Sparkle and SHINE!

Kitchens on a Budget
Kitchens are a specialty of Peggy McGowen, ASID, CMKBD (Certified Master Kitchen and Bath Design) and founder of Houston-based Kitchen & Bath Concepts. Explaining her designs as champagne taste on a budget, McGowen teaches how homeowners can model their kitchens to look high-end by compromising on product selection instead of design and function of the space. Peggy is one of the most popular speakers at the show.

“Whether you select a $6,000 or $1,500 refrigerator it has the same functionality and layout, you’re just not spending as much,” she said. McGowen wants homeowners to understand where to spend, where to save and where to splurge.

She’s happy to share a few design tricks. For anyone who wants an island without a construction crew, buy a chest of drawers, put a stone or marble slab on top and use it as a stylish island. Another crafty idea if the kitchen lacks closet space is to install an armoire as an impromptu pantry.

Peggy will also be speaking about the latest trends in color, cabinetry, “green” materials and countertops.

Homeowners are searching for clean lines in the design elements of their home. McGowen said, along with simple designs versus detailed woodwork, people are looking to add a little fun to their kitchen and bath decor. “There is more shine, more sparkle, that’s the trend.” People are using environmentally friendly materials made out of reconstituted rock and glass to get the desired effect. McGowen’s spring forecast for countertops and cabinetry: simple and sleek!

Simplify and Organize
Organizing the home, whether it’s the kitchen or a spare room, is Ellen Delap’s life. A professional organizer and owner of Professional-Organizer.com, Delap simplifies the process for anxious hoa rders and homeowners with a clutter problem.

“Organizing really appeals to people who want to freshen up their home, are downsizing or just simplifying their lifestyle,” she said. “I think the country is embracing that right now, but the biggest challenge people face is getting started.”

Instead of complicated plans and ideas, Delap said she wants people to leave the home and garden show with something they can start the moment they get home.

Professional organizer Ellen Delap will speak about the traditional approach she takes to helping her clients get their homes in order.

“Baby steps are important,” she said. “I subscribe to what I call the traditional strategy, where you’re sorting through things with a partner for two or three hours at a time and getting things out the door. Then you donate, consign and trash immediately after you’ve sorted.”
Delap said she will refer what she calls the five obstacles to decluttering:

1. financial attachment
2. sentimental attachment
3. the “no time” excuse
4. the “I might need it one day” excuse
5. perfectionism

“Sometimes we get stuck in our efforts to declutter and we need to be aware of what gets us stuck,” she said.

She will educate her audience on other professional organizers’ strategies such as Peter Walsh, regularly seen on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and will bring along several organizing products including storage bins, paper sorters and label makers. She emphasized that although clutter is a common problem, happening more often than people might think, the solutions are individual to each person. “I think everybody’s strategy needs to be what works for them,” Delap said. “There’s no one way to do this.”

Ron Thompson -
Outdoor Living – From drab to FAB!

Ron Thompson of Thompson Landscaping is one of the show’s featured speakers. He said he will introduce his audience to outdoor living and landscaping ideas and trends that are best for their individual lifestyles.

“We will talk about all the different aspects of design for creating a patio or seating area that will become an outdoor room,” he said.

Thompson will talk about incorporating a pizza oven into an outdoor kitchen along with more traditional appliances such as gas grills, refrigerators and warming drawers to create the ultimate space for casual and comfortable outdoor dining and entertaining.

He will show attendees different types of fountains and other water features that are not only beautiful but useful as well. Thompson will also address the needs of children by creating natural pathways tailor made for games of hide and seek or by creating an underground trampoline that is flush with the ground to keep kids safer than on a traditional off-the-ground trampoline.

But Thompson said comfort, particularly in the Texas heat, is also an important part of his designs. “We can install an outdoor cooling system that will cool your area down by about 15-20 degrees,” he said.

Thompson will address the needs of the environmentally conscious with rain-harvesting systems, which use rainwater to irrigate lawns naturally, or by installing eco-pavers, which are more permeable than traditional pavers.

“Eco-pavers are a big thing, especially in The Woodlands, because with this paver the water actually goes through it,” he said. “With typical pavers the water just runs on top.” Thompson said eco-pavers can help not only to irrigate a lawn naturally but can also prevent runoff and help curb flooding, something many Houston-area homeowners would benefit from.

Take Style Outdoors
Jeff Cunningham with Cunningham Gas Products promotes enjoying the great outdoors in the backyard with some cool ideas to make hot weather bearable and living outside more enjoyable.
“We’re about making the outdoor environment more pleasing, more entertaining, more fun,” he said. At the show, Cunningham said he plans to talk about different types of fire pits, using gas or wood and new innovations in outdoor fire pits, as well as outdoor kitchens. One of the most popular items now in demand is outdoor pizza ovens, "this was the MOST requested product at the spring show and we have found the worlds best pizza oven maker -- Chicago Brick Oven." Jeff knows what he’s talking about as Cunningham Gas Products is a family-owned business of over fifty years!

Clive Berkman, a Houston-area chef and restaurateur, believes that “food does not just feed our stomachs, it feeds relationships.” Berkman will focus on creating a meal that allows people the time to sit down and relax. “It’s about inclusiveness and getting others involved,” said Berkman. One way to simplify cooking is by streamlining the kitchen. Berkman plans to explain how to equip and design an efficient kitchen, as well as the best layout for people building or remodeling their homes.