Home, Garden and Remodeling Show offers a spring break for grownups

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Spring springs eternal at Louisville's Home, Garden and Remodeling Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center this weekend.

"I like the way the water flows in," said Harvey Smith, admiring a backyard fountain with its own model railroad layout. "I got one part down in my yard that I could possibly put that in. But it'd be heck putting in all those rocks."

Smith was waiting while his friend was negotiating. The goal: cabinetry for the electronics in his Man Cave.

"It's definitely worth our time and effort to come here," said Pat Ballard, of Bardstown's M&H Custom Cabinets. "We tracked about 15 jobs from last year and that translated into about $200,000 worth of work."

Return on investment explains why the show is in its 65th year, drawing more than 350 vendors in grills, floors, windows, mowers, and almost all supplies and equipment in between. It's a reminder than more and more of us see our getaways as journeys that begin and end in our own backyards.

"You get great ideas out here," Smith said, as he showed off photos of his back deck, a testimonial to do-it-yourself projects.

"It would be nice if people would say that upfront," landscape sculptor Ardie Greenamyer said. "Because then we can help them to do that."

Greenamyer was glad that his custom fire pits were drawing raves and double-takes from passers-by.

One, a globe with cutouts in the shape of continents, took 155 hours to create. The downside? More than a few admirers were asking him how they could re-create it, rather than hiring him to do it for them.

"It's how I earning my living," he explained. "But more than that, it's cheapening the result. You can't go to school-grade school, high school or college, and get the answers to the tests and learn anything. Sometimes you have to go through and learn things the hard way."

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Home, Garden and Remodeling Show offers a spring break for grownups