RE: Ideal Home Show, Earls Court

["Rob Mouser" <rob@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Pete

TBH I think the show is very over rated. One of the main problems is there
is just "so" much too see and it becomes a little overwhelming.
This years
theme of "Mediterranean Living" is of little benefit to most
unless you want
a house that looks like a cave or happen to be lucky enough to have a place
in the sun? (there's a cave dwelling).

Having said that it is good for an "under one roof" mega window
shopping
exercise. Some very nice furniture displays (Hulsta has some lovely stuff.)
mainly at the upper end.

Loads of "stuff" (Soft furnishings, kitchen gadgets etc etc) in
the upstairs
shopping area and more "gimmicks/fads/natty ideas" than QVC in
the DIY
section!! :-)

In summary, you'll see no more than you would by visiting the showrooms of
many of the exhibitors, the advantage is that its under one roof. Ensure
you
have lots of stamina and be prepared to queue to see the showpiece homes in
the "village".

Oh and you will spend money on something, just because you say "Ooooh
that's
a kewl idea, I'll have one".

P.S. If its really busy, visit the Yamaha music stand and ask to play one
of
the sets of electric drums, that should clear a space :-) (Unless you
happen
to be a percussionist ?)

HTH

Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: White, Peter [mailto:peter.white@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 06 March 2005 20:53
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Ideal Home Show, Earls Court


Rob

We were thinking of going; how is it from a "about to start building a
house
so need inspiration and suppliers for the internal decoration" point
of
view?  We'll be going to the SB show in April anyway, so is there really
much more at the IH show?

Thanks, Pete

_____

From: Rob Mouser [mailto:rob@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 06 March 2005 16:46
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Ideal Home Show, Earls Court



Hi

Thought I'd post a quick infopost about the Ideal Home Show in London
currently on. As now seems to be tradition Liz and I spent a few days in
London and spent a day trawling the stands. Imagine my excitement this year
when I read that there is a Men's gadget zone! http://tinyurl.com/4ecwd
<http://tinyurl.com/4ecwd>

Wow! It was bad, no really really bad! A handful of gadgets (I think I
counted 8?) all nicely encased in glass stands so you cant play with
anything. OK, the bikes and car were there to play with but that's about
it.
Oh and don't expect anything from Sony or an Aibo the picture is purely for
effect!

Simply the funniest thing is the T3 Toilet (They are pushing this as major
attraction!). They couldn't even be bothered to make that look good! I've
listed below a "how to build your own" T3 toilet:

1) Build a "bog" sized box out of ply, make sure its not too well
made and
paint it with some white emulsion.
2) Make one of the walls from Perspex (Again don't finish it too well!
That's what decorators calk is for!) so your guests can look in but touch
nothing!
3) Fill it with some home hi-fi and a Xantech MRC-88 multiroom amp
http://www.xantech.com/mrc88/
<http://www.xantech.com/mrc88/> 
. Don't build
anything too neat just a hole in
the wall at floor level will do everything stacked one on top of the other.
Don't forget to put the MRC88 at the bottom of the stack as they get real
nice and hot!
4) Mount a 17" LCD into the wall. Again don't go to too much trouble a
standard LCD just sunk into the plywood stud will do. Finish it neatly with
some nice pine cornice.
5) Mount a Xantech LCD on the wall http://www.letsautomate.com/10955.cfm
<http://www.letsautomate.com/10955.cfm>
(OK, I admit they are really nice!) but just use a few standard buttons
scattered around the screen for effect. Oh and one colour is fine even
though these babies will display 64k colour!
6) Mount some speakers (Surface mount please!). Any will do (I cant
remember
what they were I was too busy laughing by this point.)

Now for the big finish!

7) We all know about those lovely iPod docks http://tinyurl.com/5hlyv
<http://tinyurl.com/5hlyv> 
for
your wall now but hey don't worry just make another hole in your ply wall,
frame it nicely (Well nearly) and then plonk your iPod in its standard dock
in the hole. Remember to leave a few cables visible for that "can't be
arsed
to do it properly" look.

In summary? Well they didn't get any advice on this list about what's hot
and what's not! If it was a DIY install at low budget then I would be very
impressed. But come on they spend millions putting these stands together!!
Take your wife enjoy your day but don't get too excited about gadgets!

Rob

P.S. I did see a stand somewhere with 2-3 Roomba's running around the stand
but as they appeared to be the old models I didn't even look too hard.