8 Unmissable Home Show Features

From Street of Houses to Eco Town and Ask a Designer, check out these interactive experiences – found only at the Home Show over the last few years.

Baahouse

Smart tiny home & speaker series

Anyone who attended Brisbane Home Show this year will remember the mesmerising open plan tiny house from Baahouse. It’s an exciting new feature angled perfectly towards Queensland culture. You could imagine Baahouse sitting on a grassy knoll overlooking a beach, blending seamlessly with the surroundings.

Alisha Mandla, Architectural Designer at Baahouse said, “We work with timber because it’s gentle on the environment. It’s not a toxic material, it’s easy to break down and has a beautiful natural expression. It’s warm and inviting, which has been known to help productivity and lifestyle. It’s a beautiful way to articulate the Brisbane climate.”

As well as looking pretty, Baahouse became centre stage for the sustainable speaker series. Smart homes, tiny homes and energy efficiency were all discussed. If you watch our talks on Facebook, you might have noticed people wandering around the background. They’re not lost! They’re checking out all the sustainable gizmos and gadgets on offer in our simulated tiny lifestyle.

HIA

Ask an Expert

Ever wonder why some Home Shows have the word HIA in front of them? HIA stands for Housing Industry Association and is the official body of Australia’s home building industry. The Home Show has a long-standing partnership with the HIA to provide free expert advice to visitors.

David Bare, executive director of the Housing Industry Association, explained, “We have our ‘Ask an Expert’ stand. Which is very popular with many consumers that want to get impartial advice about their next renovation and their home build. All of the experts are HIA members, and they are all incredibly qualified to provide you with impartial advice about your next renovation or your next home build.”

ECO Town

WOMBAT

‘Who left the door open? We have a WOMBAT running around the Home Show floor!’ Our wickedly popular Eco Town feature is spearheaded by Block judge WOMBAT. His knowledge of sustainability is almost matched by his endless supply of energy. Running from stand to stand, WOMBAT presents our new interactive and educational sustainability feature.

WOMBAT beamed, “We’ve made it to Eco Town, and this place is amazing! Worm farms; plastic recycling; aquaponics. They’ve even managed to squeeze five tiny homes in here this year. It’s twice as big as last year. There’s really a lot of stuff to check out. If you’re into sustainability, going off-grid, eco-living, then this is the place for you. I mean, they’ve even got a couple of Teslas. You gotta see these things!”

Smart Home Hub

Beep Boop Boop

Energy-saving smart home automation; that’s a lot of words. We know we want those words. Problem is, we don’t really know what they mean. Enter Smart Home Hub, a speaker series and featured exhibitors designed to demystify the home automation experience.

Previous speakers/exhibitors include:
• TESLA
• Foxtel
• Optus
• Baahouse + Baastudio
• Samsung Digital Door Locks
• Brilliant Lighting
• ABB
• RACV
• YALE

Cooking Stages

NEFF said

Get steamy with our celebrity chefs! Be wowed by the explosive colours of SMEG appliances. Find your inner chef with Neff. Over the years we’ve seen Josh Catalano from MasterChef cook up some masterpieces in front of our eyes. We’ve seen genius new technology enter our kitchens in the shape of steam ovens, induction worktops, vacuum sealers, hob extractors and more.

Josh Catalano is on a mission to change the way we use our appliances. He said, “Most people use the setting with the circle and fan, then put it on at 180c. That’s how most people are generally using their ovens.”

Josh’s Set Menu
• Sesame crusted seared tuna with chilli, cracked pepper and ginger w/ thinly sliced lime wedges
• Pork fillet w/ apple and maple syrup
• Gingerbread pudding, custard & poached pears drizzled with golden syrup

Melbourne Polytechnic

Ask an Interior Designer
Deconstructed House
Q&A Session

Curiosities were indulged at the Home Show’s first deconstructed house. Like peeking through a dollhouse, students paid homage to three years of interior design study. With the help of a qualified interior designer, undergraduates constructed a kids bedroom, design studio, study, outdoor room and laundry. Visitors then enjoyed these ‘windows’ into a contemporary home.

After this, there were design dollars to be saved during a complimentary one-to-one consultation. The vibrant final year students employed decorative techniques and strategies to beautify, adorn and enhance renovation plans. Visitors took plans, photos and ideas along and walked away with practical solutions to design dilemmas.

Finally, there are the hotly-anticipated Q&A sessions with our final-year design experts at the ‘Renovate, Design and Inspire Stage’. Students took us into the fascinating world of interior decoration and answered burning questions.

A well of knowledge:
•   Principals of line, texture, pattern, light, scale
•   Create unique and memorable spaces
•   Measurements and calculations
•   Analyse interior colour schemes
•   Technical and computer-aided drawings
•   Visual design practice

KBDi Ask an Expert

Kitchen & Bathroom Design Institute

KBDi is the who’s who of kitchen & bathroom designers, representing the biggest brands in the game. KBDi offers a FREE one-to-one consultation with an industry professional at select Home Shows. That’s 20-minutes to ask absolutely anything about that dream kitchen or bathroom.

Seminar Series

Colour your World
Renovate, Build, Decorate
Renovate, Design, Inspire
Green Living & Design

Each show, professional speakers from all over the home improvement stratosphere converge to share their expertise. Each 15 – 30-minute talk runs through a theme, always opening the floor for queries at the end. Be sure to get there nice and early if you want a seat! If you’re watching live, add a question in the comments.

Past celebrity influencers
•   Darren Palmer
•   Block and House Rules contestants
•   Three Birds Renovations
•   The New Joneses
•   Josh Catalano
•   Shaynna Blaze

Missed the talk? Head over to our Facebook page and click videos. All of our seminars have been recorded and available on demand.

Street of (Tiny) Houses

Home Show Sales Manager, Peter O’Flynn, said, “We’re really excited this year. This Show has been running consistently for 41 years and this year we have an amazing Street of Houses. The Street of Houses can be seen here at the show and capture five beautiful houses, all different styles for your living.”

Tiny houses have spawned an excitable culture in recent years and for good reason. We’ve seen renowned architects launching tiny homes at the Show, representatives from the Tiny House Association speak and many Tiny Houses converging at the Home Show in Melbourne.

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