Home Show (1 Viewer)

T_Chan · Sep 25, 2016

Earlier this year in March I did my first home show at the BC Home & Garden show where I got a 10'x15' booth. I've signed up for another one coming up at the end of October, the BC Home & Design show. I'm in the process of making a solid Oak dining table cover for the display model poker table I'm using. It's the same table as the last home show which is a 42"x88" oval table with genuine leather rail.

A few things I'm changing is that my booth will be smaller this time, 10'x10' and I'm going to add some gold leaf to the claw feet of the table and the suits in the stretcher. Instead of using 2 full sized tables, I'll be doing 1 full size table and mini tables at 50% scale as examples.

Table in point:

My display from last year:

The topper I'm building for it will be dyed black to match. I'm thinking of adding a gold leaf inlay inset from the edge of the table to match the rest of the table but undecided.

Mini tables are in the works, so far just the bases are done. That giant wood slab is on my CNC machine so until that's done I can't cut the tops for the mini tables.

Full size table behind it. Plastic fill is still on these so the look very unfinished.

Spray can for scale:

Kyle · Sep 25, 2016

Very nice Chanman!

lnlver · Sep 25, 2016

How many tables do you have to make to hit your break-even point? This is probably your best method of advertising, IMO.

T_Chan · Sep 26, 2016

I get that questions a lot, "how many tables do you have to sell for XYZ". It's not all that easy to calculate since tables range in price by quite a bit, from $525 all the way up to $10k.

It's even harder to tell in the case of the home show because expenses incurred are a bit wacky, to put it in technical terms.

Last home show I rented the booth for a few thousand, then paid the insurance, parking, build 2 tables, bought brochures, business cards, signage, carpets, rented a touchscreen display, etc... Leftovers from the last show which I'll be using again include 1 of the 2 tables (the other was given away as a prize), carpet, signage, brochures and a lot of the samples.

I just bank on people buying tables as a result of the home show as well as get my name out there. 40,000 unique visitors who are mostly home owners is a very good target audience. The only better audience I can think of is if I had a booth in the hallway of the Rio during the WSOP.

whforde · Oct 22, 2016

T_Chan said:
Leftovers from the last show which I'll be using again include 1 of the 2 tables (the other was given away as a prize)...

That's quite the prize. That emerald lady above is elegant as all get out.

T_Chan · Oct 26, 2016

Yeah, the prize was a last minute decision. Originally I was going to give away some wood chip trays but there wasn't much interest from the general public. A flashing poker table on the other hand...

I just moved into the Home Show today, got mostly everything setup and my first show day is Thursday and goes till Sunday.

I still need to hang some banners on the side walls. The mini table on the left has a suited diffuser which lights up. I'm going to set it on color fade during the show.