Remodeling Show Recap

Sunday morning we went to the Remodeling show down at the American Royal building. And while it annoys me that they have exhibitors selling stray things like jewelry or clothing or nuts, we did get some useful information.

There were tons of replacement window people so we talked to a few and got lots of brochures. We also talked to an insulation guy, and met our next door neighbor who runs the kitchen remodeling part of her husbands hardware store. We've met her husband when he was outside, but as it's been cold we're not out much and had yet to meet her face to face. Having been in the house she said "Oh yeah, you need a new kitchen," scoring her major points in my book.

Most useful, in my mind anyway, was talking to the guys from Overhead Door.

My mom bought me a new garage door at my first little house in Brookside, and it was all done by Overhead Door. Their products work beautifully and hold up well, but have always lacked a bit in the style department unless you wanted the basic sort of door that everyone else has. Until now.

What drew us over to their booth in the first place was a really sweet door with an aluminum frame and frosted glass panels. It looked like the door above, but that photo is not theirs because they don't seem to have the aluminum and glass line on their website yet.

Whats even better is that you can also get mirrored or reeded (my favorite) glass, and nearly 200 colors of aluminum, so we could match the frame to the rest of the trim on the house. Best of all, it was a third of the price of the other glass and steel door I've been lobbying for. I also learned that they now make openers that mount at the upper corner of the door rather than dangle from the ceiling, and overhead lights that just plug in and are turned on wirelessly by the opener.

I think the modern glass and aluminum would be great with our 50s stone, and have been planning on glass panels in our exterior doors as we replace them. You know how I like continuity. It seems like Brett's on board as well as he was trying to figure out a way to backlight the glass so that it would look good at night. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it.