IN THE NEWS

Published Monday  |  April 7, 2008

Home Show Offers Plenty of Ideas – And White Teeth

BY CHIP OLSEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

At the Omaha Home Show, some visitors found the latest home trends, new products and expert advice.

Others, meanwhile, whitened their teeth.

The show ran from Thursday through Sunday at the Qwest Center Omaha.

The home show, in its 52nd year, is designed for homeowners who are remodeling, landscaping or redecorating their homes.

By Sunday afternoon, the Overland Park, Kan.-based Dazzling Smiles Inc. said more than 200 people paid $99 to whiten their choppers. There was often a two-hour wait for the 20-minute service, said H. Greg Kipnis, who was one of two people working on teeth for the company.

Steve Hamilton and his wife, Teri, drove 50 miles from North Bend, Neb., to find home improvements for their lake house. Instead, the couple stumbled on Kipnis' booth soon after arriving at the show.

"We were just walking by and my wife said, 'We're doing this,'" Steve Hamilton said. "You just sit there and listen to music. I almost fell asleep."

The show, sponsored by the Metro Omaha Builders Association and the Metropolitan Utilities District, featured more than 350 exhibitors, who spread across 200,000 square feet of space.

Brian Hamburger, the show's marketing director, said window displays, landscaping and outdoor kitchens were popular exhibits this year.

He said painting and wallpaper expert Brian Santos from HGTV's "Smart Solutions" show also drew a lot of attention. Santos had a crowd Sunday of more than 100 watching him show off his painting secrets.

This year's home show featured seminars on interior design, financing home projects, and flat-screen and digital TV options. Visitors also took part in cooking classes and toured designer rooms.

Don Howland of Omaha spent a couple of hours Sunday looking for home improvement products for his daughter, who recently moved to Omaha from Denver.

Howland said he was enjoying his stroll across the convention center floor, but he offered some advice about getting in and out of the show quickly: Focus and skip the trinkets.

"You can't stop and talk to everybody," the 73-year-old said. "You can't just stop where they are giving away a piece of candy."