Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2001 | 8:27 a.m.
It's a great deal, hard to pass up. In fact, at the low cost of $20, it's nearly a giveaway.
"It makes you wonder why you went out and spent all that money on a wet saw," said Bruce Kozak, who was wearing a microphone headset and demonstrating to a small crowd just how easy it is to cut ceramic tile using the Amazing Tile & Glass Cutter.
Huddled around a corner booth at the Home Decorating and Remodeling Show, held over the weekend at Cashman Center, passers-by were feverishly reaching into wallets and purses to purchase the hand-held device.
"I'm glad I brought extras," Kozak said. "I've already sold 40. And that's what I'd hoped to sell for the day."
At the semi-annual show, which is presented by Plus Events and draws thousands of homeowners, it seemed just about everybody came prepared to buy something.
With bulging wallets and blank checks, visitors perused the aisles in search of new ideas, decorative items, handy gadgets and unique inventions. They sought to make their home-decorating and remodeling projects a little easier, more cost-effective, and a whole lot prettier.
From artwork to landscaping to sushi makers, window tinting to the latest in water purifiers, some 400 vendors demonstrated their products, with some claiming once-in-a-lifetime offers.
"It's a good place to get ideas," said Henderson resident Barbara Edwards, looking at a display for photographic murals. "A lot of these things you'll never know about unless you come to these shows."
Aside from the traditional roofing materials, a manufactured home and state-of-the-art windows, a few unique ideas that were on display enticed the strolling event-goers.
Shafeer Meeran, owner of Graphix Zone on East Desert Inn Road, displayed samples of laser-etched images that his company produces on decorative surfaces, such as marble, glass and wood.
After scanning an image be it a photograph of grandchildren, family pets or even celebrities into a computer, a laser-etching machine can reproduce the picture onto various surfaces.
"You can practically take any picture and blow it up to any size," Meeran said. "You could have your entire floor engraved with in a Michelangelo painting."
Meeran has reproduced Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" on black-granite tiles; a spotted leopard on decorative slate that can encompass a cozy fireplace setting; and zebras etched into granite tiles that can be set into the floor of a home's entry.
Images sketched in granite can withstand the foot traffic, Meeran said, while marble and other surfaces cannot, and should instead be hung on the wall.
For his office, Meeran had portions of selected Michel- angelo paintings etched onto his glass-top desk. Decorative patterns can also be etched onto bathroom-wall tiles.
"The applications are unlimited," he said. "What other medium can you put this on that's going to last you a lifetime?"
Designer driveways
For homeowners looking to dress up their driveways and exterior walkways, vendors showcased alternatives from epoxy-rock surfacing (colored stones and adhesive enamel) to concrete texturing as a way to create a more elegant curbside view of a home, as well as a more grand entrance.
"The trend right now is a stamped overlook," Patrick Bingson, a representative from the local B & F Concrete Resurfacing, said while pointing to a glossy pattern of textured brown squares made from stamped concrete. It had been mixed with color and formed into the shape of natural stone.
"It's mainly because people see the casinos doing it," he added. "They figure that if it's good enough for the casino, it's good enough for their home."
Concrete driveways and patios can also be textured to resemble bricks, Bingson said, explaining that the technique can also be applied to entries within the home.
Other decorative options include custom-designed accents in epoxy-rock surfacing. Colored rocks can be formed into pictures, creating dice, playing cards, music notes and cowboy silhouettes on people's driveways.
"As long as we can make a template, we can do it."
Coloring the house
Local mural company Picture That Wall creates photographic-quality murals that can stretch across entire backyard walls, as well as smaller walls in the home.
By enlarging photographs and printing the image on vinyl, homeowners can install picturesque beach or wilderness scenes.
Using this type of mural in and around the home is a fairly new concept, Janice Hoffman, co-owner of Picture That Wall, said.
"We started on the cinderblock walls in our own yard," she said. "Then people said, 'We want this in our home.' "
Because the images are taken from photographs, Hoffman said, the vinyl murals offer a more realistic background than painted murals. And, she added, "If it gets dirty, you just hose it down."
Show-goer Barbara Edwards said that she and her husband, Bob, were considering the idea of covering a cinderblock wall in their backyard with one of the murals.
"We thought about stuccoing the wall to match the house," she said. "But this looks a lot more fun. It adds depth."
Window patterns
Those who want to add a little color to their windows without paying hundreds of dollars for the cost of etching or having stained-glass windows installed, took interest in a decorative vinyl static-cling film that features such digitally printed images as textured glass, autumn leaves, sunsets and floral patterns. The local Adera Corporation, which specializes in large-format digital printing, introduced the interior window laminates two months ago.
The laminates are made with the same ultraviolet inks (to protect the image from sun damage) that are used on the company's billboards, Jeanneatte Wilson, customer service representative for Interior Creations by Adera, said.
The vinyl is applied to the window using water, a bit of soap and a squeegee. It can be removed and reused on other windows.
"It's a lot less expensive than going out and getting a real stained glass," Wilson said. "I have them on the front bay window. We have some that are patio-door size."
For the bathroom
For a little enhancement to the bathroom, the American Biffy Company of Boulder City showcased its Biffy Personal Rinse -- a device that can improve personal hygiene after responding to nature's call.
The device was designed five years ago by Warren Smith, a Boulder City doctor who was looking for a way to help his patients suffering from hygiene problems.
Similar to other portable shower-head type devices for sale on the Internet, the Biffy Personal Rinse can be attached to any toilet bowl to help create a shower-fresh feeling. Amid the giggles and awkward stares inspired by the display at the show, Smith's son, Marcus Smith, sales representative for the American Biffy Company, explained the health advantages to the Biffy Personal Rinse.
"You'll use it once and you'll go, 'Whoa, that was interesting,' " Smith said. "You use it twice and you'll want one.' "
The Smith family introduced the Biffy Personal Rinse six months ago at the spring Home Decorating and Remodeling show, where about 50 devices were sold. Since then Marcus Smith said sales have come via word of mouth and from the website biffy.com.
As more people become comfortable with the idea, more people will want to use the device, Smith said.
"Most people know of bidets," he said, referring to porcelain fixtures next to toilets found primarily in France that serve the same purpose as the Biffy, "but that you have to get off the toilet for."
Deal makers
Among the other companies hawking products was Fire On Ice, of Irvine, Calif., which showcased its decorative alternative to imitation logs for gas-burning fireplaces.
The company replaces logs with 60-70 pounds of broken, colored-glass bits that fill the base of the fireplace. Gas rises through the glass and flames burn directly on the glass, creating the illusion of "fire on ice."
Sport Court of Las Vegas featured a custom-designed snap-together athletic court that can be installed indoors or outdoors to reduce high temperatures -- which normally swell on hot concrete and pavement during the summer months -- as well as athletic injury to players.
Las Vegan Wanda Deering, who attended the show with her son's mother-in-law, Jackie Anderson, took a break from the action.
As she sat next to a shopping bag filled with the latest in high-tech floor mops and stain removers, Deering explained that she and Anderson were most impressed by the retractable coiled garden hoses that many event-goers had purchased.
When asked whether she and Anderson were satisfied with their multiple purchases, Deering said with a laugh, "If we didn't get tired we'd have made several more. I'm having a blast."
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