Spruce up your space

By Diane Villano
Times Staff Writer

When it comes to dream homes, bigger isn’t always best.
In its 25th annual event, the Philadelphia Home Show will address the growing needs of homeowners downsizing or making their tiny spaces more livable when the extravaganza comes again to the Pennsylvania Convention Center from Jan. 21 through Jan. 29.
Summerdale Mills, at 8101 Frankford Ave., is one of several designers making the most of diminutive spaces in a a series of 120-square-foot vignettes.
"People are moving into townhouses and condos. It’s not that they don’t have that disposable income," said home show manager Joyce Mockus. "We’re focusing on smaller designer rooms and home offices. More and more people are bringing their offices in-home."
Mockus has seen the exhibits evolve over her 22-year tenure with the show.
"I’ve watched attendance grow (to 100,000 visitors) and watched the displays get more and more professional," she added. "Kitchens, baths, and outdoor living areas are big. It used to be with bathrooms that you’d get in and out in a hurry. Today they are more luxurious, more an area to relax. The same thing with the outside. People are extending space with brick patios and enclosures."
In addition to the "small spaces" designer room, Summerdale Mills will show new ideas for home decorating and window treatments in the main show area.
The business is catering to baby boomers at this year’s show, according to owner Abe Reichbach.
One such offering is nook seating, because a lot of them are moving into 55-and-older communities and need more seating when the family comes for dinner, Reichbach said.
He also has a solution for men, who often find that as they grow older and wider they have a hard time reaching over their girth to put on their shoes. His answer: furniture that’s lower to the ground.
Other featured show attractions include Dale Rohman, touted as "America’s Flower Man," who will show visitors how to extend the life of a bouquet and explain that vodka is not just for drinking.
"Renegade Gardener" Don Engebretson will provide pointers on avoiding the top 10 gardening blunders, and Dr. Gadget will be on hand to introduce and give away gadgets that will come out this year and in 2007 to make life a bit easier, according to Mockus.
Celebrity chef Jim Coleman, the executive chef at Normandy Farm and Coleman Restaurant in Blue Bell, will be at the home show on Jan. 21-22, giving short cooking demos. He plans to serve roasted acorn squash and jumbo lump crabmeat soup, a pan-seared gorgonzola and portobello stuffed chicken with saffron risotto.
Many fans know Coleman as host of Flavors of America, a TV program that airs weekly on WHYY and daily on Comcast’s CN8, in addition to his weekly radio show on NPR, A Chef’s Table, and a column by the same name in the Philadelphia Daily News.
Coleman had served as executive chef at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia and The Great Wall Hotel in Beijing, China.
"The biggest trend in cooking," Coleman said, "is that it’s become a hobby and not a necessity."
He credits this transition to the wealth of meal options out there for people who enjoy eating — from restaurants, to takeout and delivery, to even personal chefs who deliver a week’s worth of meals to your door.
"In fact, there is a whole generation growing up knowing cooking only as a hobby. (Young adults) are the largest-growing cooking-show audience," Coleman said by telephone last week, adding that cooking as a hobby paves the way for the emergence of other trends, like those gadgets.
Mockus, the event manager, hails the Philadelphia Home Show as the best resource for people in search of remodeling, redecorating and landscaping ideas.
"We all live such hectic lives. People are looking to come home to comfort, style and security," Mockus reasoned. "Come with an open mind. Leave inspired." ••
To sample Jim Coleman’s recipes, check out http://www.whyy.org/91FM/chef/about.html
Reporter Diane Villano can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dvillano@phillynews.com

No place like home . . .

The Philadelphia Home Show opens on Saturday in Hall D of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets. It concludes Sunday, Jan. 29.
Hours are Saturdays, Jan. 21 and 28, and Friday, Jan. 27, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, Jan. 22 and 29, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Monday, Jan. 23, through Thursday, Jan. 26, from 4 to 9 p.m.
Admission: adults, $9; children ages 6 to 12, $3 (children under 6 are admitted free).
For more information, call 1-800-756-5692. Coupons and information are available by visiting the Web site at www.phillyhomeshow.com