The Philly Home Show, the city’s premier home-improvement and remodeling show, is back Jan. 13-15 and Jan. 20-22, bringing the newest design trends, hands-on demonstrations and celebrity tips from experts from HGTV, TLC and NBC.
Out interior designer and TV personality Vern Yip, seen on TLC’s “Trading Spaces” and HGTV’s “Design Star,” will be on hand promoting his new book “Vern Yip’s Design Wise: Your Smart Guide to a Beautiful Home.”
Yip said he wrote the book to address the most common questions he gets asked as a design expert.
“I did the book in response to almost two decades of being on television and writing columns for HGTV Magazine,” Yip said. “I was finding that I was getting the same questions asked to me over and over again by readers and viewers. It made me realize that there are common things that link all of us. It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or a grand house or if you are renting or buying. These are things we all have in common because these questions are based on proportion and dimensions.”
The most-common question Yip encounters is along the lines of, “How high do I hang pictures?”
In the book, Yip compiled common dimensions and practical tips on picture-hanging, as well as design advice.
“There’s a lot of information about aesthetic components and picking out colors and styles too.”
With the increasing popularity of home-improvement, house-flipping and design shows on television, more and more people are out there wanting to take on renovation projects themselves.
Yip said such folks have to balance their interest with a realistic appraisal of their goals, budgets and abilities.
“Getting the information out there and then letting people do their own assessment and be honest with themselves is important,” he said. “We live in a real DIY culture. A lot of that is precipitated by people wanting to save money. If that is the end goal, a lot of times you are better off hiring somebody who is going to get it right the first time instead of tackling it yourself and doing it over and over again.”
Yip added that the Home Show is more about letting people know resources are available instead on enticing them to chase the latest fashions in home design.
“It gives people access to a broad spectrum of things,” he said. “I’d like to think we’ve moved away from just focusing on the trends and having that be the direction you want to take things in in your home. Instead, it’s encouraging people to have their home be a physical manifestation of who they are and being OK with that. It’s not about having your home look like the pages out of a design book. It’s about truly having your home tailored to you, functionally and aesthetically.” n
The Philly Home Show runs Jan. 13-15 and Jan. 20-22 at Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch St. For more information, visit www.vernyip.com or www.phillyhomeshow.com.