Nation's oldest home show begins Friday in Indy

The Indianapolis Home Show -- the nation's oldest and the Midwest's largest home show -- launches Friday with more than 900 exhibits, a centerpiece home, and countless home remodeling and decorating ideas.

The 88th annual show lasts through Feb. 7. It's located at the West Pavilion and the Exposition Hall at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

This is one of my favorite annual events. There's really way too much going on at the show to list, although you can check out the show's stage schedule here.

But I still wanted to give you a few of the basics:

Centerpiece Home

Davis Building Group is building this year’s Centerpiece Home — a fully- constructed, decorated and landscaped house built entirely inside the Exposition Hall. The rendering is above.

The 2,650 square-foot home will show off "the most current and exciting trends in architecture and style," according to home show organizers.

Cheryl Seltenright from The Inside Job, located in Noblesville, will decorate the home, and landscaping for the Centerpiece Home will come courtesy of William H. Brown Landscaping.

Home Decorating "stars"

Paul DiMeo from “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” -- known for his imaginative work on children's bedrooms -- will appear at the Home Show on Saturday, Feb. 6.

HGTV’s Shari and Matt from “Room by Room” -- the very first show to air on HGTV and the longest running decorating show in history -- will appear at the Home Show Thursday, Feb. 4 and Friday, Feb. 5

Sarah from one of our favorite blogs -- Thrifty Décor Chick -- will be at the show Monday, Feb. 1 through Wednesday, Feb. 3 to show attendees simple, inexpensive ways to decorate their homes. I love the idea of calling her a star!

"In her bag of tricks is everything from bringing warmth with fabric to unique transformations with molding," organizers said. "She will also offer tips on how to repurpose thrift store items to make them look brand new."

Tips & advice

Members of the Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) will create a Ty Pennington-inspired “room” set up, decked out in the latest, edgy Ty-like fashion. They will also be working with interior design students from Ball State University on designer rooms.

Hockey mom turned business entrepreneur, Sue Whitney is back to share her unique way of re-purposing junk to suit any décor. Nationally recognized as one of the leading and most respected authorities on junking, Sue will make appearances at the Home Show on Saturday, Jan. 30 and Sunday, Jan. 31. You can see her book at right.

Home Show details

TICKETS:

$12 – Adult        $5 – Children ages 6-12     FREE – Children 5 and under

SHOW TIMES:

Fridays                    1/29, 2/5        11 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Saturdays                1/30, 2/6        10 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Sundays                   1/31, 2/7        10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Monday-Thursday      2/1 – 2/4        11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

COUPONS:   Coupons for $3 off adult admission, good Monday through Thursday ONLY, are available at participating Central Indiana Marsh Supermarkets.

ONLINE DISCOUNT:   Check out the Indianapolis Home Show Web site at www.IndianapolisHomeShow.com and get $3 off admission — good every day.