The Great Cleveland Home and Garden Show III

 Well, since tomorrow morning we will again make the trek to Cleveland on another Retiree Road Trip, I thought I would finally finish the tour of the Great Cleveland Home and Garden Show. The seating area above was in between two little houses. One of the things I was really looking forward to was the dream house they construct inside the IX Center. 

This was a TINY house. We are standing in line because only four people could walk in at once. Then we pivoted and walked out. The mattress was in a loft, the size of a mattress. 

 Here is the one on the left. It was empty inside which made it look even smaller. They both cost around twice what we originally paid for our house in 1979 and then you would need property to put them on. We were not impressed. They seemed smaller than most campers!

 I just thought this was neat.

 Then we got in line to see what we thought was a house sized house. It actually had a bathroom, great room with kitchen and a "media room" which would be a bedroom.

 I plan to remodel our bathroom (well, I started planning at least 3 years ago).  My mother suffered from elderly onset ALS and my dad suffered a stroke. Both needed a wheelchair accessible bathroom which was impossible in their home. I plan to be safe, not sorry and try to install a wheel chair (different from handicap accessible) shower before I need one.

 Tile ideas.

 Meandering through the great room.

An expresso machine built into a granite wall in the kitchen. My husband is a retired plumber. He was wild about this. You would have to take the wall down to fix the water line. How much damage to replace the machine? Yes, I must design for easy repairs over style.

 This was one wall of the media/bedroom. The screen was about 8' x 6'. We were thinking we could watch tv without our glasses!

 Home number 3 was a cabin.

 Tiny, but the high ceilings helped.

 A tiny stairway lead upstairs. We had to duck to enter the loft. Then we stood there because there was no room to go down. We all had to leave at once.

 Itty Bitty Teeny Weeny kitchen. My purse would not fit in the sink. I am sorry I did not get a photo of the bathroom with the composting toilet.

 I would love to have this in my backyard!

This was the fancy house. The line was actually longer than it looks. We thought about it and decided we did not have the patience to go through it. You could see through the windows on the sides and it looked like most houses. 

So that's it. I did see a video tour of the house on a Cleveland morning show. It looked like most of the houses I remember on House Hunters. 

I was hoping for some killer bathroom ideas and other decorating and remodeling ideas to knock me off my feet. Most of the booths for bathrooms were those covers for bathtubs. There were booths for window manufactures, etc.  I was a little let down. 

One of my two favorite exhibits was this booth from Habitat for Humanity. I don't know if you have a Habitat Re-Store by your house, but they sell everything from building supplies (I found Armstrong peel n stick tile at mine for a temporary bathroom spruce up) to furniture and everything in between. I am in LOVE with this desk and it was very affordable. If I could have thought of anywhere I could have placed it, I would have purchased it in a heartbeat. 

I cannot believe I did not take any photos of the booth that VNTG Home from Cleveland showcased. They go into estates or those who downsize and take it all for a price. They reupholster vintage furniture, and have a warehouse showroom of treasures. For the show they had several items of furniture and several tables of mismatched china. I found the two plates first and was willing to mismatch cups, but the clerk found their mates! Each piece was $2 for the entire cost for both pairs was $8.00. As soon as Spring really truly arrives, my husband is taking me for a visit as the lady assured me they have a huge room of dishes waiting for me!

My husband loves to tell people he paid $30 for tickets, $10 to park and took me to a garage sale.  

This weekend the Retiree Road Trip will be visiting the The Great Cleveland Auto Show. There will be 859 vehicles for us to view, sit in and compare. We have been looking for a new vehicle for maybe 18 months now and are taking odds on whether there will be one there we can agree on. My husband is looking for either a new truck with a crew cab or a large sedan.  I have narrowed my choices to either a sports car or a small yellow bus to transport all my grandchildren. It should be an interesting day!